Ethernet Cables

Here is a pretty decent review. Make sure you read all the comments below the article.

http://www.audiostream.com/content/audioquest-vodka-ethernet-cable-and-diamond-ethernet-cable

Even if they do, it's no point to pay 100...1000 x price vs. generic ones to get itsy-bitsy-tiny-shiny-microscopic improvement. The whole idea beyond that is to capture rich dad's foolish son typo market.

I was using a cheap Belkin 25 ft UTP CAT-5 cable to connect my PerfectWave to my router. I then bought a cheap SSTP CAT-7 cable to see if it made any difference. I swapped them back and forth several times and my impression was that the CAT-5 was a little more laid back and the CAT-7 a little more detailed. The time it takes to swap them is a factor though as the PerfectWave and router lose their DLNA connection each time so I have to do a reset on the DAC. I do believe there are likely differences between cables but in similarly constructed cables probably not enough to discern ... and I find it hard to believe that different metals alone create any differences assuming all are premium quality metals. The difference I thought I detected may be due to the shielded/unshielded difference between the 2 cables. The CAT-7 cable does have a different type of connector also that is shielded and uses gold-plated conductors, and seems to seat better.