The Ethernet cables, Switches and Network related sound thread. Share your listening experience only.

[Tubewin]

Thanks! It is not difficult to roll of the highs on Susvara though

Yeah, that's the problem. I want to retain some of that.

 

[OCC7N]

Yeah, that's the problem. I want to retain some of that.

Off topic: Dont use to thick wires for Susvara = capacitance. If you want the rolled off highs use low awg/gauge(high capacitance)

My recommendation dont go over board than stock cables. Best performance regarding awg/gauge

 

[Tubewin]

Off topic: Dont use to thick wires for Susvara = capacitance. If you want the rolled off highs use low awg/gauge(high capacitance)

My recommendation dont go over board than stock cables. Best performance regarding awg/gauge

I really do like the stock cables. But I heard that the Danacable Nirvana, even though it is a thick cable, synergizes really well with the Susvara. I think it's because they're both copper silver fusion cables.

I agree with you that capacitance is definitely a factor, but Danacable addressed that in a review done by audiobacon,

"After measurements, and more measurements we concluded that capacitance was the culprit. By adding more and more conductors we were reducing the resistance and inductance, a good thing, but increasing the capacitance within the signal (intra) and between the L/R signals (inter). The intra-signal capacitance was affecting our top octave performance and the inter-signal was limiting our left to right separation. What to do?

From our speaker cable designs, we knew weaving would be the answer for the Nirvana. The weaving reduced the intra/inter signal capacitance by a factor of 40/1! Even with more copper & silver, the Nirvana has about 2.5% the capacitance of our Ultra & Reference"

I have high hopes for the Nirvana.

 

[OCC7N]

I really do like the stock cables. But I heard that the Danacable Nirvana, even though it is a thick cable, synergizes really well with the Susvara. I think it's because they're both copper silver fusion cables.

I agree with you that capacitance is definitely a factor, but Danacable addressed that in a review done by audiobacon,

"After measurements, and more measurements we concluded that capacitance was the culprit. By adding more and more conductors we were reducing the resistance and inductance, a good thing, but increasing the capacitance within the signal (intra) and between the L/R signals (inter). The intra-signal capacitance was affecting our top octave performance and the inter-signal was limiting our left to right separation. What to do?

From our speaker cable designs, we knew weaving would be the answer for the Nirvana. The weaving reduced the intra/inter signal capacitance by a factor of 40/1! Even with more copper & silver, the Nirvana has about 2.5% the capacitance of our Ultra & Reference"

I have high hopes for the Nirvana.

Good luck. I hope you will like them. I can already tell the ergonomics will drive me crazy.

 

[Tubewin]

Good luck. I hope you will like them. I can already tell the ergonomics will drive me crazy.

That is the one downside besides the price. Hopefully the plush flex option negates that completely.

 

[rawlit]

@rawlit, I keep seeing this Ethernet cable at over $1K USD and at half its list cost on some other sites. I wonder why? https://www.google.com/search?q=aim...oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari&hl=en_GB#ip=1

Buy It on Amazon Japan, lowest I've seen and should accept returns

 

[greenblured]

 

[bpcans]

@rawlit, thank you sir for the advice. But even if I had an extra thousand sea shells lying around, I don’t think my wife would be too happy if I spent it on a Ethernet LAN cable.

 

[TheR0v3r]

Summary and conclusion (part 2)
So without any further ado, in order of preference:

1. Inakustik Cat6 Premium
2. Furutech LAN-8 NCF
3. Belden Catsnake 6a
4. Shunyata Delta Ethernet
5. Neotech NEET-1008

The Inakustik is my preference - what a surprise (and purely by chance)! After writing yesterdays post I decided to give the Belden Catsnake another shot. So I disconnected the Inakustik from the router, connected the Belden so that it at least could ”burn-in” over night. That gave me the chance to try the Inakustik against the Furutech, which I hadn’t planned initially.

The Furutech is a really, really nice cable. It leans ever so slightly towards warm and soft, as opposed to thin and harsh. It has a certain ”heft” to its sound that is very appealing to me. As I listened to track after track, switching between the Hifiman and the Sennheiser, I enjoyed every second of it. It’s more of a laidback sound and slightly less dynamic and ”punchy” than the Inakustik. This softness is the main difference between them. Otherwise they both have a wonderful balance across the frequency range with nice extension to the sub bass and upper treble. The sense of space and layering is also great. In the end, let’s call this difference rather than one being better than the other. I prefer the Inakustik

This is not the case with the Shunyata. I feel comfortable in calling the difference between it and either the Furutech or the Inakustik as being not as good (worse sounds so harsh!). Its tonal balance lends itself to systems with bloated bass. This is a cable that is lean, lacking the lowest bass, and therefore gives an impressive first impression as it comes across as having great ”technicalities”, ie separation etc. In the end it just doesn’t sound right to me, too bright - ”look at me!”. Enough said.

I’m keeping the Belden Catsnake. It replaces the Inakustik in connecting the router to the switch. It’s a sombre black cable that is more discrete than the Inakustik, looks cooler/more expensive and does no harm at its place behind my rack. One day I’ll compare it to the Inakustik, but not today. The Neotech is just too unwieldly so I didn’t even bother...

That’s it. Looking forward to your comments

Update
Some months have passed and my system has seen some updates. As my system improves with better tonality, lower noise and increased resolution it has made me want to revisit the two ”winners”: Inakustik Cat6 Premium6 and Furutech LAN-6 NCF. And at this point the Furutech is the better fit!

Previously:
Router -> Belden Catsnake -> Switch -> Inakustik Premium -> iMac (Roon) -> USB

Now:
Router -> Inakustik Premium -> Switch -> Furutech LAN-8 -> iMac (Roon) -> USB

The Furutech is very pleasant to listen to without any sense of losing out on details (nice resolution). I’m sure that there are better Ethernet cables out there but this good enough, at least for now.

 

[cpurdy]

It's interesting, but will make zero difference in the audio. Some packets might need to be re-sent, but that's normal behavior in TCP/IP traffic.

 

[OCC7N]

Has anyone tried comparing the Linksys LGS108 with CBS220(cbs220-8t-e-2g) ?

I am trying to decide if I should get either the SW8/Linksys or the SW10/CBS220.

I did order both switches(not LHY), but maybe some of you have tried both?

The advantage of the CBS/SW10 is the possibility to turn of all the EEE, power saving stuff. All this is still managable on the SW10 as it is on the original CBS220
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/do...0/Adminstration-Guide/cbs-220-admin-guide.pdf

---

I am only after sound and not features. Even though SW10 has optical fiber, it will not be used in my scenario of testing.

 

[camrector]

It's interesting, but will make zero difference in the audio. Some packets might need to be re-sent, but that's normal behavior in TCP/IP traffic.

My favorite part is when he says “the external clock make the low frequency modulation WORSE.. and the jitter has increased to 10.7”
lol
Enjoy those distortion/jitter box external clocks friends!

 

[cpurdy]

I am only after sound and not features.

They're both silent.

 

[OCC7N]

They're both silent.

Which ones do you have?

 

[Jake2]

Hey just a tip for folk interested in Xangsane cables, you may find it cheaper buying direct from Xangsane rather than their AliX store... Works out around 20% cheaper for me due to slightly lower face price even after AliX repeat buyer discounts (no AliX margin I guess) and no VAT collected. No shipping for either.

https://www.xangsaneaudiocable.com

Sorry meant to post this to the AliX cable thread..