Meridian HDMI 2.1 Cable

The HDMI connector was designed to carry video. The audiophile community repurposed it for I2S — the Inter-IC Sound protocol that separates clock and data into discrete signal paths, eliminating the jitter that plagues S/PDIF and USB interfaces where clock information is embedded in the data stream. The Meridian HDMI 2.1 Cable is engineered for both applications simultaneously. Its I2S-compatible pinout delivers a dedicated clock signal on its own conductor pair, isolated from the data lines by the nitrogen-injected PTFE dielectric that prevents electromagnetic crosstalk between adjacent signal paths. When connected to a DAC that supports I2S over HDMI, the Meridian provides the purest possible digital audio link. When connected to a display, it delivers 48Gbps of magnetically neutral video. It does not compromise in either role.

The conductors are drawn from single-crystal Equatorial-Grade OFC — a continuous, unbroken crystal lattice from connector to connector, with no grain boundaries to scatter electrons or introduce micro-reflections in the signal path. The silver plating extends this purity to the conductor surface where high-frequency signals propagate due to the skin effect, ensuring that the 48Gbps HDMI signal experiences the same low-impedance, magnetically neutral environment as the I2S clock running alongside it. The dual-hemisphere conductor geometry employs our Equatorial Splice at the cable's geometric midpoint, joining northern-face and southern-face strands to achieve electromagnetic symmetry that single-origin conductors cannot provide regardless of their crystal structure.

The nitrogen-injected PTFE dielectric deserves specific attention. Standard polyethylene dielectrics absorb and release charge over time — a phenomenon known as dielectric absorption or, more accurately in this context, charge memory. This stored charge interacts with the signal passing through the conductor, introducing a form of electromagnetic contamination that is entirely independent of the conductor material. Nitrogen injection restructures the PTFE at the molecular level, eliminating charge memory and providing a dielectric constant that remains stable from DC to the highest frequencies HDMI 2.1 demands. The Meridian achieves an Equatorial Purity Index of 99.9997%, representing the combined magnetic neutrality of conductor, dielectric, and shielding across the complete signal bandwidth.

For the serious videophile-audiophile — the listener who refuses to treat the HDMI connection as a necessary compromise — the Meridian represents a cable that takes both roles seriously. It is not an HDMI cable with audio pretensions. It is not an I2S cable in an HDMI shell. It is both, simultaneously, without apology.