Most Important, Unloved Cable...

shadorne
Since there is no audio clock timing information conveyed over an ethernet cable it can’t make any difference at all UNLESS your gear is crap (something extraneous affected by the cable used like grounding or load or digital noise related crosstalk on to the audio signal). Same for an identical file streamed on the internet halfway across the world or one from your local server.

Why can’t folks understand this?

>>>>Uh, there is no clock timing information conveyed over a fuse that is located right where the AC comes into the amplifier, either. Yet the fuse is directional. Imagine that! 😳
So much for that theory. Next!

shadorne
@geoffkait

Sigh! Yes of course digital propagates as an analog signal. The key is to understand that the threshold between a 1 or a Zero is so large and that checksum and other additional packet error checking information allows a packet of digital data to arrive in the memory of downstream devices perfectly.

If digital was not such an incredibly robust method of data storage and transmission then internet and computers and software would not function at all. What errors we do encounter are down to hardware or programming errors in the devices and switches themselves and not the ethernet wires which work to spec or don't work (in which case a dropout can occur).

>>>>That's pretty much the same ridiculous argument the CD industry has been cramming down our throats for the past 35 years. Perfect Sound Forever. But obviously the error detection/correction for CD is not perfect. That's why you can improve CD playback so much. Why should I believe any digital device is perfect just because it's digital? 

Geoff,

Can you answer a simple question or not?

What happens to the SQ when the Ethernet cable is removed and the music still plays? 

"I still don’t have an answer to the video I made where I removed the Ethernet cable and the audio still plays and nothing changed about the quality of it"

"What happens to the SQ when the Ethernet cable is removed and the music still plays?"

@jinjuku,

The whole crux of your tiresome argument is that you can’t discern any audible difference between a $5 or $300 Ethernet cable. Well you’re not going to cause laptops are not designed to use as a dedicated source for high fidelity audio. No video or argument is going to convince or sway your opinion. I am sure you have heard the term ’garbage in garbage out’.

As @shadorne so eloquently conveys in every discussion, you can’t improve the sound from a faulty and badly designed component with cable upgrades...upgraded cables or any other tweaks are like band-aids to faulty components.

You read earlier, grannyring heard the audible differences in his tricked out Sound Science Music Vault computer,

"I changed my ethernet cable from a Cat5, if I recall, to a shielded CAT 7 and liked the change. Again, more relaxed and natural sounding. Less of that digital glare we sometimes hear. The USB cable used made a significant sound quality improvement/change. I ended up with the Curious USB cable. I tried several and the sound quality differences were easily discernible. The Curious cable was the most full bodied and relaxed and met my personal subjective sound quality needs"

May be you should conduct a A/B test with pair of Belkin Ethernet and USB cables vs. Wireworld Starlight Ethernet and USB cables on a decent dedicated audio server. You may be able to hear the audible improvements cables on 1's and 0's. 

Take the advise of your buddy shardorne and ditch your crappy laptop. You can also read up on tons of discussion on Computer Audiophile forums on how everyone’s is trying whole bunch of band-aids to improve the sound from a laptop which only tells me one thing.....consumer laptops are not ideal for bit perfect audio nirvana let alone conducting A/B cable tests :-)

Here is another one: why do the numbers in your bank account not get confused because your bank uses cheap cable?