Cat 5 - 6 -7 or 8

For music streaming, the speed of CAT 5e and up Ethernet cables should all be adequate and I doubt any speed differences would be audible. If differences are audible, my guess is they could result from shielding (STP) vs. no shielding (UTP), wire gauge, number of twists, termination quality, and possibly solid core vs. stranded wire. Here is an article that explains some of the differences from the perspective of audio uses and this article explains the differences between CAT 5, 6, 7, and 8. I find it interesting that many here stick with CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cables while the well-regarded Supra cable is CAT8 and SOtM’s highest level network cable is CAT7. Here is a listening comparison of different Ethernet cables by an audio reviewer.

I have dbillion cat8  at the in coming signal from modem to router and PC . In comparison vs that of Cat 6 flat unshielded to my gear the Cat 6 booted up faster even though the Cat 8 has the highest overall speed (up to 40g tested) but pixelated a bit when used to Nvidi shield before locking in fully but tested to the PC its rock solid with a substaial speed increas over cat 5 I previously had in place all cables are carefully  of course . In the end I went the safe route to my gear using a TP Link 2000mbs powerline adapter with unshielded Cat 6 to my shield and AVR . Why? Pontentialy the grounding scheme reqiured for Shielded applications can be tricky, if there is more than one grounding path from your home, you could be turning what you think is a shielded cable into an antena  behind your gear!

That's all I know about it for now!

Thanks all, one more question: Does the cable need to be shielded through the entire house or is it just the shorter that runs from the wall outlet to the router, switch, audio equipment, etc?

Personally, I'd just stick to cables around the audio rack.

@eric_squires,

your answer applies in low density, rural areas. Anywhere else, and in particular near radio and telephone masts I'd stick to shielded.