Top Audiophile Ethernet Cables - any comparisons?

Hopefully William will chime in.

I don’t use Tidal but William does. In goofing around found that Tidal does indeed buffer the entire track.

We started up one of his favorite pianist’s and an 11 minute track. 10 seconds into it I pulled the network cable and we listened to the entire thing with no network connection.

Impressed with Tidal in that regard.

Jinjuku, thank you for your feedback!

The objectively expensive cable is any cable that cost the most. That would be the 5 meter cable William had his friend Gordon (really nice guy BTW) make. But it only spec’d to CAT5.

The objectively best performing cable is the BJC cable since they come with validation of their adherence to the standards body that writes the spec.

I’m keeping in mind this is a singular session but it was using their equipment. When I had my two machines setup for client server and running JRiver I was randomly swapping while playing back and showing William that. This moved the conversation forward because we were able to talk about 1. Are we actually listening to the cable 2. Or are we listening to cached data?

The conversation went something along the lines that, from Williams POV, that you’ve transferred data with a good or bad cable then the stored data is only that good or bad. I posited then what happens if I setup two folders and transfer a 24/192 file over using one cable and then another cable. Would the files sound different or the same. I think he opened up to the reality, and yes it IS reality, that if they hash out to the same MD5 then they are indeed the same.

I discussed with him how CRC32 works and even on his own laptop, even though we’ve been swapping out cables while playing, that with the NETSTAT -e his laptop had received well over 4GB of data, 0 receive errors and 13 send errors, and 0 discards.

@jinjuku,

Which one of the above cables you would consider a high-end or $$$ cable?

We did:

Custom 5 meter cable with Siemons industrial connectors

30 meter CAT 6 from Amazon

5 meter BJC

3 meter Best Buy Insignia.

The ears only evaluation was the custom 5 meter and the $13 30 meter.

Hi jinjuku: Did you guys audition/compare any high end Ethernet cables to the generic cabling you brought over? Did you audition Gordons cable?

Am I right that the executive summary of the event is that, apart from the enjoyment,  neither of you was able to reliably tell a difference?

My day with William (wgutz) was great. Just to hand and talk audio, hear a nice tube setup. Hi system is accurate and images really well.

We did some subjective evaluation and that was fine. When it came to the unsighted evaluation William did no better than 60%. I didn't do any better blinded.

@belcantor 

Yes, Doug's review was a good read. I'm using a network switch > SotM iso CAT 6 SE >  the SotM dCBL CAT 7 > Sonore Signature Rendu SE (and previously the microRendu and then the ultraRendu). It is performing and has performed superbly with these components after it.

I'll have to get the Wireworld and Purist LAN cables in at some point to test those out. 

@lalitk  did a test with a few of his audio friends and I believe some preferred the Purist and he preferred the SotM. Perhaps he can post specifics since my recollection is secondhand and may not be correct.

I wish Douglas could have been present today as we test this out blinded. 

WGUTZ also has a pair of Sennheisers we can evaluate with. I've brought a 100 foot CAT6, unterminated CAT5 (approx 30 feet), my Emotiva DC-1, two computers, Cisco SG 200-08 L3 managed switch.

@david_ten:
Thanks a lot - that is a very informative review.

In all reviews I have read so far the cable by Purist Audio Design came out quite high with a transparent and warm sound.
I will probably order this cable from my dealer and compare it with the SOtM dCBL-CAT6, which I have already ordered.

Here is a comparison of a few LAN cables by @douglas_schroeder

https://www.dagogo.com/audio-blast-ethernet-cables-xlr-y-adapters-survey/

I used a silence only 0dBfs wav file played back through and captured with the RME UFX. 

I then in both Reaper and ARTA did some analysis and there is no mains induced noise or it's spurs. 

> And the Cary Audio DMS-500?
When I get you right you use a computer as a file server in all set-ups, or am I wrong? So unless you use a linear PSU with the computer you get noise right from the beginning (affecting jitter). And the switched PSU we use in our computers generate a lot of hifreq noise.

The laptops are different if you ran them on battery only. That should be much better. But from what I heard, a very good linear PSU generates less noise than a battery. However, here I am just repeating what others say, I have no experience by myself. 

And the Cary Audio DMS-500?

@jinjuku,

thanks for the details! So far I could only compare Audioquest's Forest Ethernet cable with a standard Cat7 cable. There was a clear difference. But I will do a blind test when my girlfriend is back and report.

System with which the test was done: mac mini with a Mojo external power supply, ayon NW-T network streamer, AQVOX switch between the two, ayon  CD-35 as a dac, Einstein power amp (Light in the Dark), Einstein The Preamp, Verity Sarastro II and a bunch of cables.

I think that especially if you do not use a high-grade (external) linear power supply for the computer (as server) you already get so much noise in the signal path from the computer's internal switched PSU that exchanging cables does not make a difference. When I switched the internal PSU of my mac mini with the external Mojo PSU I got a huge leap in sound quality.

Laptop as server <> Cisco SG 200-8<> Cary Audio DMS 500 <> RME UFX <> AKG 701 HP

Laptop as server <> Cisco SG 200-8<> Cary Audio DMS 500 <> RME UFX <> USB to PC for recording of tracks. 

Swapped out the cable between tracks. 

Computer (as server) with Intel Dual Port GBe NIC<>Cisco SG-200<>Computer as client with Intel Dual Port GBe NIC/JRiver<> Emotiva Stealth DC-1 <> AKG 701 HP

Swapped out the cable while PLAYING tracks. No one could tell when the cable was swapped even though the music was never interrupted (continued playing even with the Ethernet cable disconnected). 

@jinjuku,

Please eloborate on ‘anyone’ and the system details these test were performed.  

Thank you!

Cables that I've had:

Audioquest Vodka 1 meter $340 ($82.5 / foot)
WireWorld Starlight 3 meter $340 ($27.5 / foot)
Nordost Heimdall II 1 meter at $700 ($233 / foot)
Berktek Hyper 5e    98 meter at $90 ($0.30 / foot)

Differences that anyone could hear: 0

@david_ten: Thanks for the most helpful link - haven't found that site yet!

@willemj: Thanks for the link. Despite the theoretical considerations I did hear a difference between the two cables I was trying out. Measurements only help if they measure the relevant things.

@jinjuku: A lot of people (including me) would be grateful if you will share the results of your blind test.

Looking forward to your full report on the blind test.

I'll be going out to WGUtz's on the 11th with managed L3 switch. I have ports 7/8 in a LAG that will allow for one generic and one 'audiophile' Ethernet cable to be swapped without his knowing what is in use.

Will follow up after with listening impressions and whether or not they track with the cable in use. 

the one lookin' best and priced high will work.

Cable Naysayer troll alert 👺!

Here's a good one to start with: Supra CAT8

And if you need a reviewer's take on it:

https://audiobacon.net/2017/05/31/supra-cat8-ethernet-cable-review-an-amazing-spotify-and-tidal-expe...

Other LAN cables also reviewed at this site, since the one above.