Ethernet cables

@mesch That’s a sensible approach. That’s what I did with digital cables and power as well over the past year as I was open to WHETHER cables and power make a difference, but wanted to spend as little as possible for a given level of subjective sound quality. This is what I listened to in my own system (with cables loaned by friends so I had no out-of-pocket expense for listening to these other than the Jitterbug that I had already and Supra Cat 8 cable). My objective was to figure out how little I could spend and still get pretty decent sound.

• USB cables: generic HP USB printer cable (straight out of a HP printer box, Belkin Gold, Pangea Premier SE, Shunyata Venom, Phasure Lush
• Power cord (for Denafrips Ares II DAC): $17 Tripp-Lite Heavy Duty 14 gauge power cord, Shunyata Venom, Audience Forte F3, Synergistic Research UEF Black
• Noise filters: Audioquest Jitterbug
• Ethernet cables: AmazonBasics Cat 6, Supra Cat 8
• Power: $75 car battery jumpstart pack to power a Qutest DAC & compared to the stock Qutest switch-mode power supply

First up was the generic HP USB printer cable, because ’bits-are-bits’ right? That cheap HP cable sounded absolutely horrible and opened my eyes to the impact of cables on a system. Perceptions were: Sound feels shut-in and veiled. Trailing edge of notes have an overhang. Treble is a bit harsh. Bass sounds tubby

Low priced products that were pretty good:

• Tripp-Lite Heavy Duty 14 gauge power cord: This seemed to be quite good sounding with any differences from the Synergistic cable not immediately obvious unless I focus more on differences.
  
• Belkin Gold: It doesn’t sound bad, but the more expensive USB cables clearly sounded better without having to go back and forth on cables at all. (other than the Pangea cable)
• Jitterbug: This made a surprisingly noticeable improvement for a $60 product. FWIW, I just heard on The Hi-Fi Podcast that the Jitterbug tends to clean up high frequencies better and the EtherRegen does better for low frequencies.
• $75 car battery jumpstart pack: Immediately noticeable benefits over the stock Qutest switch mode power supply are lower noise, better flow to music, smoother tones (less harshness), better flow. better pace. Using the battery pack provides the same character as with the standard power pack, but more refined.
  

Thinking back to all of these changes, turning off WiFi and using Ethernet made the biggest improvement. Switching from the AmazonBasics Cat 6 Ethernet cable to the Supra Cat 8 cable made the 2nd biggest improvement.

Basically it is the same advice I give to those putting together their 1st system. Put their money into the active components, purchase quality inexpensive cables, and tweek thereafter once one has become familiar with the system.  I sometimes take my own advice. :-)

+1. I really like starting with equipment that is inexpensive, because I don’t subscribe to the view that more expensive must be better & my hearing seems to bear that out. However, sometimes expensive equipment truly is better, but even then I want to hear the level of improvement from an inexpensive baseline to figure out the cost-benefit of spending more. At a certain point in audio spending, the difference becomes the difference between good and better rather than good vs not good. 'Good enough' is still tremendously enjoyable for me & why there is a lot of audio equipment that I would get before even considering upgrading from the already high bar of the Supra Cat 8 cable. Not to mention that I would rather use my limited time to listen to music than play with equipment.

I can definitely tell that the Supra Cat 8 cable is most definitely worth $65 ($50 more than a basic cable) and probably one of the best values I’ve found to improve sound quality. The Phasure Lush USB cable is more expensive at $200-250, but I’m willing to spend on that as well given the sonic benefits I’ve experienced. I do think that the marginal returns most likely decrease as prices go up even higher. A $1000+ cable would have to work some sort of miracle to justify my spending that much. Maybe down the road, but I still have to consider value when spending on a working person’s budget with kids about to go to college.

+2. Exactly my thoughts. Been there done that. Many years ago. Whether you continue to experiment with everything down the road, including with cables, it depends on how passionate you remain with the hobby 

mesch2,572 posts03-17-2021 7:58amBasically it is the same advice I give to those putting together their 1st system. Put their money into the active components, purchase quality inexpensive cables, and tweek thereafter once one has become familiar with the system.  I sometimes take my own advice. :-)

If they are to spec, it will not make a difference.  Believe me, I am in the industry. Unless you are running more than about 200 ft, there will be no difference.  The signals on the cable are digital, they have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with sparkle & weight.