Ethernet Cables, do they make a difference?

No need to A/B my Cat6 cable with the new Cat7 cable. The difference with the Cat7 was a transformation, I would never have believed it. SQ improved to a degree of significance I find hard to describe. More detail, air, articulation, speed of transients and a lower noise floor just to begin. This is truly a cable not to overlook! 

What is "too much" for an ethernet cable?
some folks think that means a $200 ethernet is too much, some think $800 would be too much. Everyone has different systems.

but I hope we all agree that the signal difference, even very small, will make a difference by the time the signal gets from NAS to renderer/server/DAC to pre amp to amp to speakers.

e.g. an ethernet on the lower end will eventuate lower level SQ returns in the final signal from the speakers, and a a higher end ethernet will produce higher end results. The ethernet from the NAS is near the signal origin, and will thus flavor the SQ all the way through the signal chain to the speakers.

@1graber2 what you are talking about makes sense for analog signal.
From DAC out all the way to the speakers - yes your cables MUST be as good as you can get (or as good as you want to spend money for)

However your digital signal, especially from file source (NAS or streaming server) is a different story. Media player cashes the digital information as it comes from the source over the network cable and has enough bytes to play "smoothly". Network protocol takes care of packages transfer, ordering, re-sending lost packages (if any) and so on. Digital data is sent in discrete packages - that is defined by TCP/IP protocol. No cable can change that, Media player converts bursts of data into contentious stream of digital data over the optical cable (for example) to DAC.

I hear you @acepilot71, but then what would account for the differences in SQ that many people are reporting when they A/B different ethernet cables? or the difference many people report b/w USB and Ethernet cables on the final SQ?

I have kindly asked above to post the results of a blind tests...
No one posted them yet.
I also suggested to use cheap cat5 cable and compare it to playing file right from the storage of the device with media player (if for example you are playing from the computer) - blind test again.

With digital data transfer - your system is as weak as your weakest link and weaknesses do not usually add up.

p.s. reasonably priced good looking cable is worth the money just for it's look and high quality of the connectors.
p.p.s. Each of us can define "reasonably priced" for themselves ;-)