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What's the consensus on ethernet cables?


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one first has to have a basic knowledge of digital signals, and their transmission - then it will be obvious that Ethernet cable materials are not a major issue

 

the only possible bump is from wired to fiber, due to tiny amounts of noise makinig past (around) the transformers used in Ethernet

 

google 'capacitive leakage' if interested

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Blue Jeans ethernet is a nice cable.  I swapped out my Blue Jeans cable for a Sablon ethernet cable simply out of curiosity and subjectively I found sonic differences between the two.  I preferred the Sablon.  It wasn't a jaw dropping difference or anything like that but it was enough of a difference that I kept the Sablon (Sablon had a money back guaranty).

 

I am keeping the Blue Jeans though in case I have a need for it in the future.  I've bought a number of cables from Blue Jeans (both analog and digital) and they are terrific to deal with and the quality is very good.

 

 

Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | Revel subs  

Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC 

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1 hour ago, mansr said:

There's still plenty left of the Cat-5e reel I bought years ago. If I botch a termination, I just cut it off and try again.

 

I'm red green color blind (to a significant extent - red traffic lights are red, yellow are yellow, but green lights are just dirty, off white no different than halogen headlights), so during my years in network/system administration it always took me an ordinate amount of time to terminate, as it was an essentially random process 😂

Hey MQA, if it is not all $voodoo$, show us the math!

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3 hours ago, Blake said:

Blue Jeans ethernet is a nice cable.  I swapped out my Blue Jeans cable for a Sablon ethernet cable simply out of curiosity and subjectively I found sonic differences between the two.  I preferred the Sablon.  It wasn't a jaw dropping difference or anything like that but it was enough of a difference that I kept the Sablon (Sablon had a money back guaranty).

 

I am keeping the Blue Jeans though in case I have a need for it in the future.  I've bought a number of cables from Blue Jeans (both analog and digital) and they are terrific to deal with and the quality is very good.

 

 

What was the ethernet cable connecting?

Main System: QNAP TS-451+ NAS > Silent Angel Bonn N8 > Sonore opticalModule Deluxe v2 > Corning SMF with Finisar FTLF1318P3BTL SFPs > Uptone EtherREGEN > exaSound PlayPoint and e32 Mk-II DAC > Meitner MTR-101 Plus monoblocks > Bamberg S5-MTM sealed standmount speakers. 

Crown XLi 1500 powering  AV123 Rocket UFW10 stereo subwoofers

Upgraded power on all switches, renderer and DAC. 

 

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5 hours ago, crenca said:

 

Specifically in an audio setting?  Who cares.  We have this giant electronics/internet/military industrial complex that is utterly dependant on the reliability of digital communication ( and thus ethernet cables).  This tiny niche of audio artisans and subjectivists have nothing (absolutely nothing) to contribute, not even "scientifically".   It's like Lee says, they "hear" things... 😋

 

5 hours ago, Axial said:

Ok, you seem to be well informed and knowing what you're talking about. 

 

5 hours ago, crenca said:

 

Sarcasm aside, yes what I said is true.

 

No sarcasm, that was also true from me.

• http://archimago.blogspot.com/2015/02/measurements-ethernet-cables-and-audio.html

 

Stay tuned because ...

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1 hour ago, Paul R said:

(grin) Personally I am waiting for quantum entangled transmissions between our music servers and DACs. When the signal outraces all electrical effects... ah, that's the ticket! :)

 

 

Talk about a wireless connection!  Stream from anywhere, literally...  haha.

No electron left behind.

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Paul

 Good to see you posting again.

 Regards

Alex

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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14 hours ago, audiobomber said:

What was the ethernet cable connecting?

 

It connects my Apple Airport Extreme to my UltraRendu.

 

 

Speaker Room: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Pacific 2 | Viva Linea | Constellation Inspiration Stereo 1.0 | FinkTeam Kim | Revel subs  

Office Headphone System: Lumin U1X | Lampizator Golden Gate 3 | Viva Egoista | Abyss AB1266 Phi TC 

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15 hours ago, crenca said:

 

I'm red green color blind (to a significant extent - red traffic lights are red, yellow are yellow, but green lights are just dirty, off white no different than halogen headlights), so during my years in network/system administration it always took me an ordinate amount of time to terminate, as it was an essentially random process 😂

:)

 

I friend of mine from high school was a Navy electrician until they discovered he was color blind.

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51 minutes ago, KingRex said:

I am an electrician.  I have run cat5 and cat6 to and from my rack and associated equipment.  Cat6 is a lot better than Cat5.  If you don't hear the difference, you probably have a jumper of 5 still in the chain.  It only takes one bad jumper and it all goes bad.

I replaced my entire loom of cat 6 with Blue Jeans Cat 6.  I did not notice any big  change so I never took the time to really compare the 2.  I just figure the Blue Jeans is good so I left it alone. 

 

FWIW all my digital audio is routed through a Linear Solution Switch.  You can clearly hear the upgraded switch is better than a decent Netgear switch. 

I could also note, I did not get into the Ethernet cabling changes till I got the Linear Solution switch.  That improvement made me much more conscious of the changes the cables made.  With no validation on this next statement: maybe the better switch cleaned up noise enough to better distinguish the changes the cables were making.  In short, the whole chain matters.

 

In a separate post I also noted the following.  I use to have a Aris Router/Modem doing all the work.  It was a modem and router with a netgear switch in the chain.  That means the Aris is not only the demarcation of the utility at my house.  It is also doing double as a router assigning IP addresses to my gear.  I was experiencing slow connection times and dropouts.  I then added a Asus AC5300 router/wifi.  Not only did my speed greatly improve and drop outs go away, the digital sound got better.  I noted this on another forum and some very credible individuals validated what I was hearing and noted they configure their networks the same way.

 

In summation:

1 Use a Modem as only a modem.  It demarcates the utility signal to your house network

2 Use a quality Router as the device to assign IP addresses.  You will have to go into the preferences of both your modem and router and tell them to do as such.  Otherwise they will conflict with each other both trying to assign IP addresses.

3 Use an audio quality switch.  There are a few choices people talk about on this forum

4 Use quality Cat6 minimum throughout your network.  One bad patch cable and you shunt much of the good from everything else.  I suggest Blues Jeans as its already terminated and very inexpensive.  If you run your own you have to punch down to a terminate strip and use jumpers from there.  Or you need a good crimping tool such as from Belden to crimp male ends on your cable. 

5 keep your digital cables from paralleling power cables.  They can cross as 90* but I would try and give them a good foot separation form power.

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33 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

 

I use nothing.

I gather you are saying all music is stored on one the server and you stream usb to your DAC?

 

The alterations I made to my setup make distinguishing between files stored on my server pretty much indistinguishable from streamed Qobuz or Tidal tracks.  My internal SSD has its own PS.

 

Since the thread was about Ethernet cables I thought I would include other design criteria I find to influence the sound I hear via my Ethernet.  I think cables matter.  But I also believe the whole network heavily influence the purity and quality of the data transmission. 

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My router is in a remote location.  I want to run cable to my PS Audio DAC Is there a distance limitation for Ethernet cable as far as audio application go?

 

 

Serious Question.

In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake ~ Sayre's Law

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