2. cables
  3. 128927-305

Most Important, Unloved Cable...

Ethernet. I used to say the power cord was the most unloved, but important cable. Now, I update that assessment to the Ethernet cable. Review work forthcoming. 

I can't wait to invite my newer friend who is an engineer who was involved with the construction of Fermilab, the National Accelerator Lab, to hear this! Previously he was an overt mocker; no longer. He decided to try comparing cables and had his mind changed. That's not uncommon, as many of you former skeptics know. :)

I had my biggest doubts about the Ethernet cable. But, I was wrong - SO wrong! I'm so happy I made the decision years ago that I would try things rather than simply flip a coin mentally and decide without experience. It has made all the difference in quality of systems and my enjoyment of them. Reminder; I settled the matter of efficacy of cables years before becoming a reviewer and with my own money, so my enthusiasm for them does not spring from reviewing. Reviewing has allowed me to more fully explore their potential.  

I find fascinating the cognitive dissonance that exists between the skeptical mind in regard to cables and the real world results which can be obtained with them. I'm still shaking my head at this result... profoundly unexpected results way beyond expectation. Anyone who would need an ABX for this should exit the hobby and take up gun shooting, because your hearing would be for crap.  
douglas_schroeder
azbrd
102 posts
 
I work in data centers on IP storage (VERY large NAS systems), we do use CAT 6 cable for 1g and fiber optics for 10g, but we never worry about the cable brand.  If you are using 1g and a CAT 5 cable (which is rated for 100mb) you should replace that with a minimum of a Cat 5e cable.

Now to suggest that better sound is possible by changing Cat 5e to 6 or 7 does not make any sense, are Better 1s & 0s transmitted?  If changing a network cable did somehow effect the sound you might want to check your DAC,thats really where the 1s & 0s become sound.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,500 posts
 
We know it doesn't make sense to many of us, but just because we cannot explain it (yet) does not make the experience of better sound impossible. We cannot explain many things around us that are true and happening. Life itself...
douglas_schroeder OP
3,281 posts
 
azbrd, as I and grannyring have said many times in the past and now once again, we are well aware of the theoretical inability of such cables to influence the sound, however, obviously theory is insufficient to explain the obvious differences. 

Are those differences obvious? Well... so far only one Ethernet cable in five has been obviously, wildly different. I can't blame people who have tried a few and found there to be no difference. If I had not come up with the "right" one I would have made the same conclusion. 

As far a s the DAC is concerned, sorry Azbrd, but the results are consistent regardless of which DAC is used. It's not a "DAC quality" question.  :) 
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
As an electrical engineer having extensive experience designing high speed digital, analog, A/D converter, and D/A converter circuits (not for audio), I don’t find the reported differences to be either surprising or mysterious. And I consider them to be well within the bounds of established science and engineering.

Most likely what is happening is that differences in the characteristics of the cables, such as bandwidth, shielding, and even how the pairs of conductors that carry the differential signals are twisted, are affecting the amplitude and spectral characteristics of electrical noise and/or RFI that finds its way via unintended pathways to unintended circuit points "downstream" of the ethernet interface in the receiving device. "Unintended circuit points" may include the D/A circuit itself, resulting in jitter, and/or analog circuit points further downstream in the component or system, where audible frequencies may be affected by noise that is at RF frequencies via effects such as intermodulation or AM demodulation.

"Unintended pathways" may include, among other possibilities, grounds within the receiving device, parasitic capacitances, coupling that may occur into AC power wiring, and the air.

What can be expected regarding such effects, however, is that they will be highly system dependent, and will not have a great deal of predictability.

Regards,
-- Al

grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,500 posts
 
Thanks Al. I should say I replaced an old unshielded Cat 5 cable going through several junction points and terminations with a straight run of the double shielded Cat 7.  No mystery I hear better sound quality on my streamed audio based on your post. 
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