Ethernet Cables, do they make a difference?

gdhal"Basically this means you and I can walk in to home depot and ask the rep for wire to fix a table lamp. Something like this:https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pyle-18-Gauge-High-Quality-Speaker-Zip-Wire-50/20551674?wmlspartner=wlpa&...

And you want me to compare this cheap inferior wire not made to audio purposed for $25K USD to what cable another one from your Home Depot store?

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gdhal

”I agree with ABX test. Please confirm the parameters of the ABX test conform to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABX_test and that you agree to 95% confidence level (25 trials). In other words, please confirm you can audibly detect with 95% confidence that ordinary speaker wire is or is not reversed.”

>>>25 trials? Are you crazy? That’s a lot more trials than even The Amazing Randi demanded. And he never lost a blind test challenge. Why? Because nobody can sit there and pay close attention for 25 trials. Not even for ten trials. Gimme a break. What a ripoff! If the differences are of the subtle variety nobody can pick the correct one many times in a row. That’s the scam. Capish?

@markalarsen 
Oh.... So your explanation has nothing to do with anything happening inside the cable itself. It only makes a difference if you're running them parallel to other cables, eh? What a crock of crap. 

https://goo.gl/images/kQp5bB

Click the link. That's a SCSI Ultra320 cable. That's not moire effect you're seeing. That's twisted signaling pairs. All SCSI parallel cables required that at the 40MHz bus speed and faster. I should know because I've been building machines with SCSI since the days of SCSI 2. Just like Ethernet, the faster varieties of SCSI use twisted pair wiring to mitigate crosstalk and differential signalling to mitigate inductance effects in the wire. Ethernet cables generally see differential voltages of 1 volt or less. That's comparable to the line level voltages of an interconnect. If you're getting crosstalk effects from an Ethernet cable that's audible, your other cables are garbage. 

@vtech2000 

Hello Brad,

Do you individually measure each of your cables on a tester (e.g. Fluke) and include the results? Have you by any chance examined signal integrity and PHY power consumption with your cables?

Have you compared different lengths of your own cable, such as 0.5 meters vs. 2 meters? Did you find any differences? If so, which one was preferred?

@zoom25 also important to descrime the differences observed, i.e. noise, distortion, clarity, etc.