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Most Important, Unloved Cable...

Ethernet. I used to say the power cord was the most unloved, but important cable. Now, I update that assessment to the Ethernet cable. Review work forthcoming. 

I can't wait to invite my newer friend who is an engineer who was involved with the construction of Fermilab, the National Accelerator Lab, to hear this! Previously he was an overt mocker; no longer. He decided to try comparing cables and had his mind changed. That's not uncommon, as many of you former skeptics know. :)

I had my biggest doubts about the Ethernet cable. But, I was wrong - SO wrong! I'm so happy I made the decision years ago that I would try things rather than simply flip a coin mentally and decide without experience. It has made all the difference in quality of systems and my enjoyment of them. Reminder; I settled the matter of efficacy of cables years before becoming a reviewer and with my own money, so my enthusiasm for them does not spring from reviewing. Reviewing has allowed me to more fully explore their potential.  

I find fascinating the cognitive dissonance that exists between the skeptical mind in regard to cables and the real world results which can be obtained with them. I'm still shaking my head at this result... profoundly unexpected results way beyond expectation. Anyone who would need an ABX for this should exit the hobby and take up gun shooting, because your hearing would be for crap.  
douglas_schroeder
jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
223 posts
 
That doesn't mean that your audio reproduction gear is going to be susceptible to it like an AM Antenna is. The Antenna is doing what it's designed to do. 

It’s an interesting experiment. It’s also why when I do structured, low voltage cabling, I take all external factors into account when choosing what and how I’m going to run.

But if there are no cofounders then there is nothing to mitigate. That is going to be the norm for most installations and it’s an easy norm to hit.

Shield is part of the 6A spec. Again the IEEE standards body defines the #’s to hit. This in turn dictates cable construction. There are only so many ways to do this. If a string and two cans could hit the spec then that would work also.

I prefer wireless. Try to pick up 2.4GHz or 5GHz with AM sometime. 
jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
223 posts
 
And perhaps more significantly there are jitter effects that will arise as a result of noise whenever D/A conversion is performed, of course.
Is this jitter at the DAC or else where?

If at the DAC then it's nothing to do with the Ethernet cable since there is no audio clocking on Ethernet.

If it's on the Ethernet cable then it's of no issue since FIFO will take care of all that and make it 100% a non-issue. 



almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
Jinjuku, I'm referring to jitter at the point of D/A conversion, within the DAC component. If the explanation for the reported differences that I stated in my post dated 3-27-2017 is correct (and both I and Shadorne have stated that we cannot conceive of any other possible explanation, assuming the reported sonic perceptions are correct), it **does** have to do with the ethernet cable, **even though** the signals being conducted by that cable ostensibly have no relation to the timing of D/A conversion.

Careful reading of my 3-27-2017 post should make what I am saying clear.

Regards,
-- Al
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,333 posts
 
@almarg 

Of course AM radio is affected by unshielded Ethernet wires. This quite normal observation does not mean that in corollary the Ethernet signal has all kinds of digital static from the radio. Digital signals are extremely robust and there are error detection methodolgies to reject and retransmit packets of data in the event of interruption or data Tx collision from multiple devices (to the point of a hot swap of cable).

Your assertion proves nothing except you are gulible to the appeal of authority of your so called "experts". Your main argument is based on the idea that your "highly experienced" audiophiles are infallible even in the face of ludicrous claims:-

They claim that the sound output of great SOTA audio equipment SHOULD and CAN be audibly affected by changing Ethernet cables. It should NOT.

IMHO This is poorly designed or faulty equipment and there is no way around this because "high fidelity" is supposed to be as faithful as possible to the source audio and NOT extraneous factors. I contend that an audiophile should NOT use or purchase this type of equipment but rather find equipment that works properly - this is hardly an extreme position!


geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 

+1 Shadorne


:-0

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