ETHERNET CABLES


When using ethernet for hooking up streaming devices and dacs, what cat level of  ethernet cable should be used. Is there any sonic improvement by going to a  higher dollar cat 7 or 8 cable?

128x128samgar2

Yes, I never expected this thread to be so active and want to thank everyone for their input.  I did not expect sticks and stones to be thrown at each nor that there would be a  comparison between NJ and NY pizza!

In any case, my take is that upgrading an ethernet cord is not a big expense and if you feel it sounds better, that is great, however if there is no difference you have not wasted much money. It is not like buying high dollar interconnects or power cords.

The bottom line is that we are all looking for tweaks to improve our systems and going from a $10 cord to a $200 version is not that big of a deal.

The main objective is to keep enjoying the music!

Sam

 

 

@audphile1 

You beat me to it, I was just thinking of asking OP what did he end up trying? 

This week I am going to order a Blue Jean 6A to replace my 35 foot length of Insignia cable purchased from Best Buy about 5 years. My exposure will be about $70.00. No big deal in the scheme of things considering the value of my current system.

@samgar2 

As a suggestion, I would look into a mesh network to eliminate the 35ft cord. You will have much more flexibility to play with better and shorter Ethernet cord and passive filters from the ‘pod’ located near your streaming device. IME, this will yield much larger improvement over a Blue Jean 6A Ethernet cable. As a experiment, I have compared a 80ft Supra Cat 8 cable direct from my router and streaming device vs mesh network + 1.0M Ethernet cable + filter and heard much larger improvements in SQ. 

Are you currently using any passive filters prior to your streaming device?