Ethernet Cables - what are you using and why?

DHLabs from wifi extenders to Aurender W20SE and N100. Have tried a number of equivalent and less expensive. One notably more expensive one sounded notably poor. But in general, with my W20SE the difference was small in comparison with interconnects and power cords. 

SoTM dcbl Cat 7 cable, chosen after reading several reviews from owners impressions and pro reviews. The improvement in sound quality over the Audio Sensibility modified Supra cat 8 cable is obvious, but yes in agreement with what you have surmised, and as ghdprentice reported, the difference is perhaps a 2/10 given that a power cable difference is 9/10. 

Check out Audio Bacon's review of a few of them; I agree with his findings comparing the Supra to the SoTM. 

Audio Bacon ethernet cables

I use short runs of Audioquest Dragon Ethernet and where a long run is required I use fiber optic.  I do think that if your plan is to upgrade your streaming system, and assuming your Ethernet cables are not the cheapest thing you can find on Amazon, there are better ways to spend your money to improve sound.  In my system the best bang for buck was the DAC (buy the best you can afford). After that a good/capable streamer). If you are playing music off your PC … consider a Roon Nucleus. If you have a long run of cable from source to DAC (and you should have) then add fiber optic. Ethernet cable upgrades would be low on my list of upgrade priorities.  They are not going to give you bang for buck unless you are using very low quality Ethernet cable. Some people will disagree with my priorities and that’s what this hobby is about.  My main point is be patient and save up for upgrades that really move your listening enjoyment forward in the most noticeable/enjoyable way.

I’ve seen some mind-bogglingly high end home theater setups and don’t recall one of them using a fancy Ethernet cable (e.g. for streaming 4K). Atmos didn’t seem to have any issue with regular Ethernet trimmings; perhaps 2Ch HiFi streaming responds differently. 😉

Cardas Clear CAT7 from modem to DAC