Chord Company Clearway HDMI AOC: part optical HDMI cable

Chord Company has released the ClearWay HDMI AOC cable. This is an HDMI cable where the signal runs partly via glass fiber and partly via copper conductors. The big advantage is that it can effortlessly bridge large distances.

Chord Company Clearway HDMI AOC

UK-based cable manufacturer Chord Company has introduced a next-generation HDMI AOC cable, joining its Clearway product line. The cable is available in a range of lengths, ranging from 3 metres to 20 metres. AOC stands for Active Optical Cable, and in this type of cable, the electrical signal is converted into an optical signal by electronics within the connectors. The new cable features a high-performance, next-generation chipset at both ends of the cable for advanced performance over longer distances of up to 20 metres.

Unlike TOSLINK cables, where the entire signal is carried via glass fibres, the HDMI AOC cable is a hybrid construction of seven copper cables and four glass fibres. The advantage of glass fibre is that it does not pick up any RF noise. The same cannot be said of copper cables. This potential weakness, combined with the longer cable lengths, means that RF noise on the signal ground is inevitable. Even though this is a digital ‘optical’ cable, Chord Company has ensured that the copper cables are fully shielded from external RF noise contamination. Hence the external PVC jacket with double aluminium foil shielding.

The manufacturer has paid special attention to the construction of the plugs. The connector housing is made of gold-plated copper with 19 gold-plated copper connector pins, manual soldering and manufacturing of the connections and protection by a zinc alloy connector housing. The HDMI AOC cable comes with a lifetime warranty against material and manufacturing defects.

The new Clearway HDMI AOC cable has a bandwidth of 48Gbps and benefits from the highest OM3 class (more than 10Gigabit bandwidth fiber), instead of the usual OM2 (1Gb). The resolution is up to 10K (30Hz) from the four-fiber, seven-copper configuration, which is protected with foam and polyethylene insulation, double aluminum foil shielding and a PVC jacket. In addition to the full 4K/8K/10K HDR picture quality, the super-fast Clearway HDMI benefits from improved audio performance and is well shielded against unwanted RF noise.

The cable supports eARc (Enhanced Audio Return Channel); (SBTM (Source-based Tone Mapping); Variable Refresh Rate (VRR); Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM); Quick Frame Transport (QFT) and Quick Media Switching (QMS).

Chord Company Clearway HDMI AOC is available in lengths of 3, 5, 8, 10, 12.5, 15 and 20 meters.