AudioQuest Forest 48 HDMI Cable (5m Single)

AudioQuest Forest 48 — Ultra High Speed 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 Cable

The Forest 48 sits in the lower-middle tier of AudioQuest's 48Gbps HDMI range, above the Cherry Cola 48 at entry level and below the Cinnamon 48, Carbon 48, and Vodka 48 further up. It is Certified Ultra High Speed by HDMI Licensing — the formal certification defined by the HDMI Forum — guaranteeing full 48Gbps bandwidth and compliance with all HDMI 2.1 features. What distinguishes the Forest 48 from the entry-level Cherry Cola 48 below it is its conductor material: where Cherry Cola uses plain solid Long-Grain Copper (LGC), Forest 48 upgrades to solid 0.5% silver-plated LGC across both its audio/video data pairs and its eARC conductor pair. This silver plating is a deliberate, cost-effective performance strategy — placing a superior metal on the outside of the conductor, where 100% of the current density resides at all frequencies, delivers the greatest possible benefit on overall noise-dissipation performance without the cost of a fully silver conductor.

0.5% Silver-Plated Conductors

AudioQuest's 48Gbps HDMI range is structured around two variables that increase through the lineup: the thickness of silver plating on the Long-Grain Copper conductors, and the sophistication of the noise-dissipation system. Forest 48 uses 0.5% silver plating — meaning the silver layer accounts for 0.5% of the conductor's total cross-section. Moving up, Cinnamon 48 increases to 2% silver, Carbon 48 to 5%, and so on, culminating in 100% solid Perfect-Surface Silver at the top of the range. The conductors are solid rather than stranded, eliminating the strand-interaction distortion that occurs in conventional cables when the individual thin wires in a stranded conductor make and break electrical and magnetic contact with each other. At the 48Gbps data rates required for HDMI 2.1, the precision and consistency of the signal path are more critical than ever — each of the four balanced audio/video pairs carries up to 12Gbps, and the manufacturing tolerances required to maintain that data rate reliably are significantly tighter than at 18Gbps.

Noise-Dissipation: Level 1 (Direction-Controlled)

Forest 48 uses AudioQuest's Level 1 Noise-Dissipation — the foundation tier of their noise management system. All 19 of the cable's HDMI conductors (the four A/V data pairs, the eARC pair, all ground-reference drains, plus control and power conductors) are direction-controlled during manufacture. This means each conductor is oriented to direct and drain radio-frequency noise away from the most vulnerable signal circuits, addressing a class of interference that traditional 100% shield coverage alone cannot prevent. The noise environment in a typical modern home — saturated with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, and satellite signals — creates RF energy that conventional shielding captures but then dumps onto the equipment's ground plane, modulating the ground reference and degrading signal quality. Direction-controlling the conductors mitigates this by establishing a preferred direction for RF noise dissipation. Higher tiers in the AudioQuest 48 range add progressively more sophisticated noise-dissipation layers: Level 2 (Cinnamon 48) adds noise-dissipation materials around the data pairs; Level 3 (Carbon 48 and Vodka 48) adds a high-loss carbon layer sandwiched between metal layers around the four A/V and eARC pairs.

eARC: Equal Treatment for Audio Return

AudioQuest emphasises that in their 48-series HDMI cables, the eARC conductor pair receives the same quality of materials and construction as the main audio/video data pairs. In the Forest 48, this means the eARC pair also uses solid 0.5% silver-plated LGC conductors with Level 1 direction-controlled noise-dissipation — the same specification as the A/V pairs. This matters because eARC is the path that carries audio back from the TV to the AV receiver or soundbar, and it now supports uncompressed, lossless, high-resolution multichannel formats including Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio, and DTS:X. In many systems, this return audio path is the most critical HDMI function of all — it determines whether the full-quality audio from a TV's built-in streaming apps reaches the sound system intact. The eARC pair is also internally direction-controlled to run in the opposite direction from the A/V pairs, optimising the noise-dissipation performance for the audio return path specifically. For correct installation, the arrows on the cable's plugs should point towards the TV (or from source towards AV receiver).

48Gbps, 8K, and Gaming

The 48Gbps bandwidth enables the full HDMI 2.1 specification: video resolutions up to 10K, resolution/refresh rate combinations up to 8K/60 and 4K/120, Dynamic HDR (HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HLG), and HDCP 2.3 content protection. For gaming, this means support for 4K/120Hz gameplay on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and compatible gaming PCs, along with the HDMI 2.1 gaming features that reduce latency and eliminate screen tearing: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and Quick Frame Transport (QFT). All AudioQuest HDMI cables are fully backwards compatible with every previous HDMI generation, so the Forest 48 works equally well with existing 4K/60 equipment — and the improved conductor materials and tighter manufacturing tolerances deliver benefits to 4K systems even when the full 48Gbps bandwidth is not being used.

Build and Installation

The Forest 48 features a PVC jacket with CMG (CL3/FT4) in-wall rating, meaning it is approved for permanent installation within walls, ceilings, and floors without conduit. This is a meaningful practical advantage for custom installations and home cinema builds where a clean cable run behind the wall from an equipment rack to a wall-mounted TV or projector is the norm rather than the exception. The ground reference conductors use tinned copper — a plating applied to the copper base metal to improve noise-dissipation performance on the ground path. The cable is available in eight lengths from 0.6m to 5m, covering typical home cinema connections. AudioQuest Forest 48 cables carry a non-transferable, limited lifetime warranty for the original purchaser.

Forest 48 vs Blueberry 18: When 48Gbps Matters

The decision between AudioQuest's 18Gbps series (such as the Blueberry 18) and the 48Gbps series comes down to what your equipment actually requires. If your system runs at 4K/60 — which covers Blu-ray playback, streaming, and broadcast — the Blueberry 18 has the bandwidth and supports eARC, HDR, and Dynamic HDR. The Forest 48 becomes necessary when any of the following apply: you game at 4K/120Hz, you have or plan to get an 8K display, you need VRR/ALLM/QFT for gaming, or you simply want the headroom and future-proofing that comes with full HDMI 2.1 certification. The Forest 48 also has the advantage of 0.5% silver-plated conductors versus the Blueberry 18's plain LGC — an upgrade in conductor material that benefits even 4K/60 systems through improved noise-dissipation on all 19 conductors.