Value of a premium Ethernet cable
In my current setup, digital music from a Roon ROCK NUC server travels through an Uptone Audio EtherRegen and a short link of fiber, thence to a long stretch of ordinary contractor-grade Cat 5a cable, and finally to a dCS Bartók streaming DAC.
At substantial effort and expense, I could rearrange things so the final length of Ethernet would be replaced by a single run of something like an Audioquest Vodka Ethernet cable. I'm wondering if anyone has experience of whether this is worth the trouble and expense. Well mostly the expense; the "trouble" is the hobby part of it.
That looks like the HD Plex 300W. I nearly took that route. Are their DC cables okay? When upgrading, I initially went for Ghent Audio Cables. A decent product for reasonable money. https://ghentaudio.com/products/dc-7n16c?VariantsId=11241,11264,11286 |
jerrybj Yes that is the HD-Plex LPS. It wasn’t cheap but provided outputs for all the different voltages that each of those boxes below it demanded. The supplied DC cables are a bit on the cheap-feeling side but met most of my needs as shipped. I did make a couple of splitter cables and learn to solder those XLR jacks, which wasn’t difficult/ I’m a lucky audiophile indeed. My wife is remarkably tolerant of my audio endeavors, which is one of her many virtues. Another is that she had the house wired for Cat 5a when she designed and built it, with outlets at every imaginable location. I recently discovered that the phone jacks, which are terminated in the wall next to each Cat 5, are actually wired with the same type of cable, and can thus be easily converted to Cat 5. Most of this stuff used to be in a hallway under the stairs where the printers and cable modem and a big Cisco switch, a patch panel, the main mesh router, the alarm system control box, a phone controller and other potentially noisy gear has to live. There’ve also been substantial-but-theoretically-reversible sound treatments in the listening room.... |
My findings with ethernet cables were that silver plated copper wire works best. Reasonable cost cables (5x over basic ethernet cables) that are silver plated can be had. I have used both Pangea SE (advertises Cardas wire) and AQ Cinnamon ethernet cables. Both are a clear step up in sound to basic ethernet cables. Some of the more expensive ethernet cables feature a thicker silver plating. The question might be how much plating is enough? I stopped when I got satisfactory results with the AQ Cinnnamon. |
antigrunge2 The cable you recommended arrived today, and was installed between the EtherRegen and Rock server. I noticed an immediate improvement in presence and sound stage. I really get a kick out of modestly-priced system improvements. Thank you for the suggestion. |
