Go Cat8!

Last week I bought 2 x Furutech CAT 8 cables and 2 x Furutech New Model HDMI cables specifically for my OPPO Blu Ray, Smart TV and Android TV Box.

Besides an upgrade in picture and sound quality I got a large sound improvement in my main system.

I can only put this down to the heavy shielding in these cables. Ordinary HDMI and Lan cables must create a lot of RFI.

I'll be getting some ONTI cables soon too.

So my Onti cables arrived today. I used the free shipping to save $40 and it came in less than 2 weeks as opposed to the well over a month Aliexpress indicated. (I’m in NYC)

I ordered a 12 meter and a 1 meter. The long cable goes from my Mac Pro tower’s second ethernet port to the EtherRegen and the 1 meter goes from that to the Directstream Bridge II card input.

I haven’t been listening to my rig lately as I’m extremely preoccupied embarking on a true crime feature film crowdfunding venture I may post here about at some point, but I did play 2 familiar tracks several times before the cable swap.

I used Sufjan Steven first 2 cuts from his Illinois album, since there are some nice flutes with a lot of detail and air on the opening track, and the second track starts with a ensemble of drums building to a crescendo.

The cat 8 cables were brand new so perhaps there will be some further improvement over time?

The first thing I noticed was that Sufjan’s voice had so much lower energy then before. It was not subtle in any way. Everything seemed to have more bandwidth and I noticed some detail in the mid-upper range that I hadn’t previously.

While the drum crescendo didn’t seem to deeper, it also seemed a bit more forward and articulate.

I wish I had more time and energy to do a more exhaustive comparison (the old cables are still there so I could swap back some time)

Although I didn’t listen to Alexander Desplat’s soundtrack to Wes Anderson’s French Dispatch before the cable switch, I’ve never heard it sound better. Before it sounded nice but now it’s closer to a demo track. The individual horns seem to have more inner detail.

Another wild thing is that when I mute the subs via remote, they seem to have more effect than previously.

Overall I would say theses cables open the window onto the music wider, letting more energy come through.

I really thank you @antigrunge2 for bringing this to our attention.

It’s absolutely crazy that 95$ Total for 2 Ethernet cables can improve a system so much. I can’t remember what rating the cables I was using are - maybe cat 6A, I seem to remember buying years ago to replace cat 5.

The law of increasing returns (or as JA wrote I think, “accelerating return?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@emailists,

 

I am glad you enjoy the little tweak. Like you I keep marvelling at how little we still know about digital sound transmission and how spending not very much can have such good effect.

Enjoy the music

 

 

Funny thing is As I I did the switch my GF kept asking why I keep listening to the same tracks over and over again.  
I explained that if she told any of the IT people she knows that I heard a difference switching Ethernet cables, they would laugh and say I was crazy.  

Anyone else have a chance to try these cat8 cables out?

Now that I have some more time on them, I’m realizing their benefit throughout the spectrum.  Listening to Hubert Laws Rights Of Spring DSD really shows off the added realism of the flutes.  

I’m still shocked at what an Ethernet cable upgrade can do.  
 

I’m also wondering if I’m hearing even more benefit than @antigrunge2 because I’m using two of the cables, while he only ran one?