Ethernet cables

Ethernet is, in fact, zeros and ones.  What's important are that the end connections are tight.  I don't know that the cable itself is super important as long as it's capable of not breaking down through twists and turns.  When we talk about digital, think about a typed message.  It doesn't matter much what kind of paper it's on, or what screen you  read it on. As long as it's clear and legible, the message is the same.  If, however, the connections are not secure, the components can retransmit the packets until the other end gets a good read. That retransmission takes time and can degrade performance, just like if the typed message is smudged or misspelled. Then you have to read it several times before you understand it.  Ethernet is the same.  Shielding can help reduce RMI interference.  The wires themselves are twisted pairs to reduce interference.  By the way, we don't talk much about the quality of the air when we talk about wireless or bluetooth.  That's because, wi-fi and bluetooth are digital.  Digital means that no matter how you get the message, it says the same thing.

@garrettc

Shielding can help reduce RMI interference. The wires themselves are twisted pairs to reduce interference.

True for “copper” Ethernet cables, false for fiber optic. There are streamers made today that accept this type of connection and with it you completely eliminate noise.

By the way, we don’t talk much about the quality of the air when we talk about wireless or bluetooth. That’s because, wi-fi and bluetooth are digital. Digital means that no matter how you get the message, it says the same thing.

Nice view of earth from space!
However, in audio and video applications Bluetooth is a lossy transmission due to the method’s inherent compression. WiFi is definitely better. But you’re missing a huge part of the equation here, which is the receiver that is now required to be part of the streamer’s design in order for your streamer to be wifi or Bluetooth. These devices, because they’re bidirectional when it comes to commission with the host, send and receive data. By doing that inside the streamer there’s quite a bit of noise that will be generated inside the unit. In addition this may potentially negatively impact other components in close vicinity to such device. Not to mention the receivers need to be powered and will consume some of the streamer’s power supply capacity. The noise must be dealt with to mitigate impacts to audio quality. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to completely eliminate this problem.
So the quality of air, to your point, is immaterial. You got bigger fish to fry there.

• .......I started a very similar thread  ( my apology ) and much to what has been discussed here, the quality of the cable is important to a degree but it is the connections that seems to play the most importance. I am new to this side of the audio world but just purchased the Accuphase digital separates and they have a coaxial as well as an ethernet connection between the DAC and transport. It seems that Accuphase likes the ethernet connection between these two pieces. So with that said and true to Cardas Audio ......they use their own copper wires but use the very good German Ethernet connector ; Telegartner. So the wire is important but what I am reading is that the connector is critical. Thoughts ....?           

@tonywinga Just some humour not mocking. I learn

plenty of info on these threads, the cable discussions are “interesting”. As another poster above states audio streaming files have gone through umpteen connection points on Internet and arrive as intended. Pretty sure Tidal etc. does not instant that their Data Centres use Cardas interconnects but that last couple feet in the living room. As far as what people think they hear, go for it. 

I found the wire in the ethernet cables matter. Bits are bits but the high frequency internet data transmission rates behave like an analog wave. The Signal to Noise ratio of digital is superior to analog but it is still not impervious to noise. My theory is that the 5-80 MHz ethernet signal is affected by the skin effect of wire. Therefore, silver plated ethernet wires might be sufficient for improved sound vs. full silver wire. The required thickness of silver plating for the skin effect can be calculated based on the frequency of the ethernet signal. My theory could be all wet but it seems to work in practice. Pangea ethernet cables are relatively inexpensive- about 8 times the cost of a basic budget cable. For the money however, you get silver plated cardas wire and good, robust connectors. I found them effective at improving the sound with my NUC based music server, but as I said, they are not marked but are directional.

Another good experiment that was discussed in these forums a few years back is to have someone disconnect the ethernet cable from your music server while listening to the music. Since the music is delivered in packets and buffered, it will continue to play for several seconds. Many of us noted an improvement in the sound for those few seconds of disconnected playing. Interesting, especially since that last packet of music was already downloaded. That implies the ethernet cables are carrying in noise that affects the server and DAC. It would seem that my NUC based music server that I had at the time had no isolation. So I added a fiber optic link to my ethernet to disconnect my music server galvanically- or electrically. The sound improved. Next I tried the Pangea silver plated ethernet cables and found more improvement. And finally I did the big step and bought an audio grade network switch. I didn’t expect much but found it a good step up in sound. I also found it performed better without the fiber optic link.

To summarize: The ethernet behaves like an analog wave. It’s not analog but the high frequencies have characteristics that mimic analog.

Streaming music files behave differently than downloaded music files.

Line noise/EMI is a factor in streaming music.

Silver conductors seem to work better with high frequencies- i.e. above the audible range. Maybe.

The better servers, streamers and DACs are moving towards isolation and reclocking. My new DAC and Music server/streamer have double isolation and reclocking. They sound fantastic but the downside is that I cannot turn them off. Otherwise it takes a couple of days for the clocks to stabilize for optimum sound. Hard for me to reconcile since I grew up in the midwest with a Dad who didn’t allow lights to be left on in a room unattended. And another thing, it took me about 20 years to stop eating all of the food on my plate.  So maybe in a few years I'll get over having to leave half of my stereo on all the time.