2. cables
  3. 135048-81069

Ethernet Cables, do they make a difference?

I stream music via TIDAL and the only cable in my system that is not an "Audiophile" cable is the one going from my Gateway to my PC, it is a CAT6 cable. Question is, do "Audiophile" Ethernet cables make any difference/ improvement in sound quality?

Any and all feedback is most appreciated, especially if you noted improvements in your streaming audio SQ with a High-End Ethernet cable.

Thanks!
grm
grm
jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
223 posts
 
Member Bryoncunningham, who IMO is an especially astute and perceptive listener, and is very thorough in his evaluations, described realizing a substantial sonic improvement by changing from a garden variety unshielded ethernet cable to an **inexpensive** shielded type.


I would question the quality of the streamer that is so susceptible. Both the $4000 Cary and the $1600 851N were impervious. Broke no sweat with my 315 foot cable.

Also the 315 foot generic I made and the 3 foot Nordost both had sub 1ms ping times and both were able to transfer at a sustained 107MB/second.
jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
223 posts
 
And in fact several of the improvements I and a number of others have referred to in this thread involved "upgrading" to inexpensive cables.

My proposal is that gear that is susceptible to a change in a short length of Ethernet cable is faulty.

I'd rather have gear that works with in spec cable reliably, consistently, without variation.


kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
That's EXACTLY what I think. Where no difference should be heard, but is heard, there's something wrong. 
joecasey
365 posts
 
I have never said or implied anything that would be suggestive of a high degree of correlation between cable performance and cable price, when it comes to ethernet cables. And in fact several of the improvements I and a number of others have referred to in this thread involved "upgrading" to inexpensive cables.
This is true with everything not just cables.  As far as Ethernet cable, least expensive of 4 won big time in my system.

Less a factor for what?
I thought you're computer savvy??  Why computers improve performance from caching?   Why does online videos buffer data before play?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
kosst_amojan
That’s EXACTLY what I think. Where no difference should be heard, but is heard, there’s something wrong.

>>>>There’s something wrong alright. There’s something wrong with your theory. This is an excellent example of the scientific method. You have a hypothesis. You observe. It’s also an excellent example of how pseudo skeptics are in denial.
More to discover