Goodbye Sonos, hello ????

Kgnhifi - do you happen to know the rating of both new and old cables?

Are the old ones cat5 or cat6

Alternately what is the tested bandwidth of both old and new cables

Knowing this will help me determine the kind of improvement I might be able to attain.

Also - what software/hardware are you using to stream to the dac

Many thanks

Vicdamone, Thanks for the tip.

Williewonka, old are Cat5. New according to AQ website, Cat7, 300 MHz??. There's enough bandwidth in Cat5 100 MHz so don't think bandwidth is why AQ is superior. I'm only running AQ from router to DAC.

My setup is very very simple. Music store internal hard drive. Running PS Audio or Logitech Media Server (can never get JRiver to sound good on my machines) on my computer. Use Lyric app on iphone for control.

I have a modest level system but high enough resolution where I can easily detect direction of a fuse. Every parameter improved, detail, resolution ... but most obvious is 3D, better separation between images in soundstage where I'm hearing new things in familiar recordings, some hi-rez no longer sound light weight ... just PRAT.

I had whole family over last night and they couldn't believe all I changed was a stupid Ethernet cable.

I don't know your system but only way to know is to HEAR it in your system.

For an audiophile, removing anything from Home Depot is always a good thing. LOL!!!

Knghifi - not everything - I've found Home Depot MDF is good for shelves :-)

It would be nice to now how the various streaming devices actually stream data, then the impact of good network cables would be easier to assess.

For instance, when I was using the Apple TV to stream it seemed anything I tried improved the sonic quality - even upgrading the power cord to a Furutech on the Apple TV made a real sonic improvement.

Since switching to the iMac and Audirvana Plus, which loads the entire track into memory, I found that having the same Furutech power cable on the iMac did not make any difference to sonic quality once I removed it.

I received an email from Damien of Audirvana and he says, for streaming content directly from the web e.g. radio, it loads several seconds of a track before it starts playing and by the time that 5 seconds has finished playing the rest of the track has been buffered in computer memory - and by the time that track has finished playing the next track is buffered and ready to play - and so on.

He also believes cat5e will suffice for most music when using Audirvana.

So I am thinking that since Audirvana buffers so much data, upgrading network cables might not be as beneficial in my setup as it is in your own.

But since the upgrade to cat7 is relatively inexpensive and the fact I will have to do it at some point in time - I'll give it a whirl - what the heck:-)

Will keep you posted.

Knghifi - not everything - I've found Home Depot MDF is good for shelves :-)

Good point :-)

It would be nice to now how the various streaming devices actually stream data, then the impact of good network cables would be easier to assess.

For instance, when I was using the Apple TV to stream it seemed anything I tried improved the sonic quality - even upgrading the power cord to a Furutech on the Apple TV made a real sonic improvement.

Like audio cables, just trust your ears and don't think too hard. Well, that's what I do when dealing in this stupid hobby.

Since switching to the iMac and Audirvana Plus, which loads the entire track into memory, I found that having the same Furutech power cable on the iMac did not make any difference to sonic quality once I removed it.

I'm not surprise. The operation has changed to asychronize. With whole track in memory, DAC just process data in memory and doesn't care if the data was loaded from the cloud, computer, transport with Home Depot PC ...

I received an email from Damien of Audirvana and he says, for streaming content directly from the web e.g. radio, it loads several seconds of a track before it starts playing and by the time that 5 seconds has finished playing the rest of the track has been buffered in computer memory - and by the time that track has finished playing the next track is buffered and ready to play - and so on.

This is similar to what Adobe flash player does. It wants to buffer enough data so when plays begin to avoid interruptions.

Next time you talk to damien, ask if he tried loading whole disc in memory before play and compare sound quality. Only down side is lag time before play begins. He can make it an option to load track or whole disc before play.

So I am thinking that since Audirvana buffers so much data, upgrading network cables might not be as beneficial in my setup as it is in your own.

But since the upgrade to cat7 is relatively inexpensive and the fact I will have to do it at some point in time - I'll give it a whirl - what the heck:-)

You'll probably correct so buy the less expensive AQ Forest. Everything is system dependent. In my system, this is one of the best ROI tweaks. I have to check out Audirvana next so thanks for the tip.

Properly installed cat5e or cat6 should be more than sufficient for streaming audio on a local network. Cat5e *properly installed* is rated for gigabit speed. Cat5e, slightly sub-optimal, should get you 100 megabit, which should also be good enough for streaming audio without buffering issues.