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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
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,511 posts
 
Interesting idea.  
jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
226 posts
 
All of of this is so system dependent as to make your test rather limited in conclusions. Nothing wrong with your test or trying, but what is true in that one system is often not perfectly transferable to another system. Just the way it is.  
If the Ethernet connection is implemented properly then it won't be an issue. If you have a device that is susceptible to just 12 out of 328 feet of cabling you have a problem IMO. 

Even it if I take what you say @ face value I still believe blinded testing is going to change the perception radically. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The test has no value for the claimant either.but you are free to believe whatever you want to.
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,574 posts
 
@grannyring,

You make a very valid point. We all waited for this test and it was quite disappointing to see the poor choice of source and cables. I have been saying all along, laptop is not the best renderer to stream music let alone testing out cable differences.

To your point, it does take time to fully appreciate a cable in your system. Frankly, this 10-20 second cable swap is nothing but a cheap gimmick. The cables used in this test regardless of price point wouldn’t have yielded any audible differences.

A while ago i did a shootout between USB cables using my windows laptop as a source going direct into a $7K DAC and I couldn’t discern any audible differences between Platinum Starlight 7 - $500, Furutech ADL USB - $200 and a $10 USB cable generic printer cable.

On flip side, Wireworld Platinum sounded amazing compared to other two USB cables between Aurender N100 / N10 and Modwright Elyse DAC.

Coming back to your cable trial, I have tested Wireworld Ethernet Cable in my system and didn’t care for it in a direct comparison with SoTM dCBL-CAT7 and Purist CAT7, YMMV.

I am currently using these cables and found them to be best among the one’s I have tested below in my system,

Belkin CAT6
SR Active SE CAT6
Purist CAT7
SoTM dCBL-CAT7
AQVOX CAT7
Wireworld CAT 8 (SME)
RAL Cryosilver Reference CAT8

Source components:
Aurender N10
Bluesound Vault 2

I don’t expect everyone to hear or appreciate audible improvements be it cables, room treatments, fuses and so on. IMHO, cables are just as important as picking out speakers and components. At the end of the day, it comes down to trusting your own ears and enjoying the music.
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