[teknorob23]

two penneth.. i've tried quite a few budget to highend cables, Supra cat 8, audioquest vodka and tellurium Q black diamond and i've made my own using Viablue silver plated solid-core cable. They all sounded noticeably different from one another when used in my main set up which is a pretty resolving system. On my office Imac with RME DAC and genalec monitors the differences were much harder to pick-up. The TQ cable made by the far the biggest improvement and the improvements were comprehensive across most aspects of the presentation. The supra cable is also a signifcant step up from a standard network cable, but it sounds muddy compared to the TQ and AQ vodka. The biggest areas of improvement i can here is in the mid to top end where definition improves significantly with better cables. There is also a noticeable graininess when you switch back to a lesser cable. But the TQ cable is stupid expensive, so i decided to have crack at making my own, not from scratch (yet) but using Viablue's bulk cable, but not the stranded version they use in their own, instead i went with solid core silver plated copper. I tried to makes of plugs, telegartner which are used in most high end plugs and LinkUP which are very similar diecast construction but which have gold plated contacts. The results have been very impressive, the cable is considerably better than the Supra and i would say on a par with the AQ vodka, which has touch better extension, but its marginal. Its not as good as the TQ cable but it cost me about £40 to make a 1m cable as opposed to £780. I am using a cisco switch which is better than my old TP link, but i am interested to try the SOTM one as soon as my dealer can get one as i'm sure this will have an even bigger influence than the cables. I can strongly recommend the viablue/linkup DIY cable, its easy to make and the performance is outstanding for the money.

 

[bluenight]

two penneth.. i've tried quite a few budget to highend cables, Supra cat 8, audioquest vodka and tellurium Q black diamond and i've made my own using Viablue silver plated solid-core cable. They all sounded noticeably different from one another when used in my main set up which is a pretty resolving system. On my office Imac with RME DAC and genalec monitors the differences were much harder to pick-up. The TQ cable made by the far the biggest improvement and the improvements were comprehensive across most aspects of the presentation. The supra cable is also a signifcant step up from a standard network cable, but it sounds muddy compared to the TQ and AQ vodka. The biggest areas of improvement i can here is in the mid to top end where definition improves significantly with better cables. There is also a noticeable graininess when you switch back to a lesser cable. But the TQ cable is stupid expensive, so i decided to have crack at making my own, not from scratch (yet) but using Viablue's bulk cable, but not the stranded version they use in their own, instead i went with solid core silver plated copper. I tried to makes of plugs, telegartner which are used in most high end plugs and LinkUP which are very similar diecast construction but which have gold plated contacts. The results have been very impressive, the cable is considerably better than the Supra and i would say on a par with the AQ vodka, which has touch better extension, but its marginal. Its not as good as the TQ cable but it cost me about £40 to make a 1m cable as opposed to £780. I am using a cisco switch which is better than my old TP link, but i am interested to try the SOTM one as soon as my dealer can get one as i'm sure this will have an even bigger influence than the cables. I can strongly recommend the viablue/linkup DIY cable, its easy to make and the performance is outstanding for the money.

Nice, they look well made.

 

[teknorob23]

Nice, they look well made.

thanks, but they really are very easy to make, no soldering or crimping tools required, just a craft knife. I sleeve the cable in carbon infused sleeve and finish with heatshrink but that’s it. I’d be happy to share the recipe. If you’re interested ping me a DM

 

[gregorio]

Yes, ethernet cables make a difference. I wish they didn't. Should also look at LAN isolators such as Pink Faun. These can bring large improvements in sound.

Ethernet cables do not carry any sound and therefore cannot make any sort of improvement to sound let alone large improvements! And following on:

Hearing is believing!

Firstly, that's clearly not true, there are obviously aural illusions for example and if it were true, music and film/TV sound would not exist in the first place. Regardless of this fact, which has been known, demonstrated and routinely employed in music for about 500 years or so (!), you can't hear digital data anyway (which is the ONLY thing an ethernet cable carries)!

G

 

[teknorob23]

Quick shut down the thread, we have the answer!

 

[Ards]

Ethernet cables do not carry any sound and therefore cannot make any sort of improvement to sound let alone large improvements!

Straw man.

So, the question becomes, IF ethernet cables CAN make a difference (and they can), how could this possibly occur...? You've already ruled out the data stream (the "sound"), so what else in this infrastructure could be making a difference...

 

[kelvinwsy]

Ones and Zeroes are transmitted thru the cable but along with noise. In my system my modded Cat 6 sounded better than a standard Cat 8 cable!
After modding and burning in, the Cat 8 sounded better After the EtherRegen was installed, Another jump in Sound Quality! Please no Flaming! This is what I hear in my system .. As always YMMV...

 

[kelvinwsy]

Sorry shuld add Ones and Zeroes in packets ..,

 

[gregorio]

[1] Straw man.
[2] So, the question becomes, IF ethernet cables CAN make a difference (and they can), how could this possibly occur...?
[2a] You've already ruled out the data stream (the "sound"), so what else in this infrastructure could be making a difference...

1. No it's no, it's a simple fact!
2. Obviously not! The question would become as you state, IF ethernet cables carried sound but they provably do NOT carry sound, they carry data! The actual question is therefore: What can an ethernet cable do to the data that overwhelms the error correction protocols built into the ethernet standard? Being broken is an obvious example or being used inappropriately (outside the ethernet protocol).
2a. As an ethernet cable only carries a data stream and if we've ruled that out, the obvious thing in "this infrastructure" that could be making a difference is what's between one's ears, although that doesn't rule out the possibility of some actual fault in the down stream equipment or how it's being used.

Ones and Zeroes are transmitted thru the cable but along with noise.

Unless that noise is so great that it overwhelms the built-in the error correction, the noise cannot make any difference, the ones and zeros will be identical. Digital data has just two states, one and zero, there is no third or fourth state (noisy one or noisy zero). Therefore the end result can only ever be ones or zeros and the ONLY consideration is if enough ones have been changed to a zeros (or vice versa) that it overwhelms the error correction, in which case playback will stop.

G

 

[arkangyl]

So FWIW Fortune-50 companies use the cheaper Ethernet cables in their data centers - there is zero performance benefit to these designer cables

The cables linked in the first post are CAT7 vs. CAT8 which explains the price delta more than anything else. For anyone not aware, CAT = category, which refers to the max data rate, at a rated distance, and a rated bandwidth the cable can support.

THAT part could impact audio (depending how you're sending the audio over the cable) since the lazy answer is: higher category number = more shielded the wires in the cable are

This link has the charts and some good cross-section images to illustrate the shielding
http://www.fiber-optic-components.com/will-different-ethernet-cable-speed-affect-network.html

 

[kelvinwsy]

Ha I must hv golden ears then as I hear the greater realism in my music playback as I improve on addressing earthing and noise transmission in my system .. of course YMMV

 

[Whazzzup]

i have AQ high end ethernet cables, look great dnt know if i can hear a difference. my usb sarum T digital did tho

 

[gregorio]

Ha I must hv golden ears then as I hear the greater realism in my music playback as I improve on addressing earthing and noise transmission in my system .. of course YMMV

Addressing noise can indeed make an audible difference to a system but only the analogue and acoustic parts of the system, not the digital (again, unless it's so great it overwhelms the error correction)! Does having "golden ears" mean hearing a difference when there isn't one?

G

 

[Ards]

Addressing noise can indeed make an audible difference to a system but only the analogue and acoustic parts of the system, not the digital (again, unless it's so great it overwhelms the error correction)! Does having "golden ears" mean hearing a difference when there isn't one?

G

You're getting there, but you need to do some homework... come back when you've figured it out

 

[gregorio]

That's funny (because it's so hypocritical), thanks for your advice!

G