Do Ethernet cables Make a Difference

Thanks and, for me, very timely.

Do you (or anyone else) have any idea as to what the $700 "red" cable was?

Separately, has anyone heard or compared the following for use between a NAS/server (Melco) and DAC:

- Sablon Audio LAN cable

- Acoustic Revive LAN (LAN-1.0PA) cable

- SOtM dCBL CAT7 LAN cable.
 
nicoludio said:
Thanks and, for me, very timely.

Do you (or anyone else) have any idea as to what the $700 "red" cable was?

Separately, has anyone heard or compared the following for use between a NAS/server (Melco) and DAC:

- Sablon Audio LAN cable

- Acoustic Revive LAN (LAN-1.0PA) cable

- SOtM dCBL CAT7 LAN cable.
Click to expand...



You can email Cookie Marenco at Blue Coast Records. She has personally responded when I emailed her. There is a email link at the bottom of the review page.

Larry
 
If it's an ethernet cable that costs $700, that tells you that it comes from an audio cable company and not straight from a manufacturer of ethernet cables which are dirt cheap. Doesn't mean it won't be the same cable on the inside of the wrap though. It will be interesting to find out who makes the "red" ethernet cable.
 
Everything makes a difference!

My girlfriend putting Christmas cards on the coffee table makes a difference!:wacko:
 
The only Ethernet cables that have made a difference for me are the ones that were broken in (and I don't mean broken-in) one way or another. :huh:

But on the other hand for streaming music, Streaming via Comcast is much better than the same stream over Cablevision. Or was it the other way 'round? :P:lol:
 
Ethernet cables do not make a bit of difference. As long as they’re of reasonable quality. A “audiophile” Ethernet cable is just a method to take money out of your wallet. I was a Cisco certified network designer in college.. before I left that world for finance. I assure you it’s a giant waste of money and anything you hear is placebo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Jim Smith said:
Au Contraire, Phishphan...
Click to expand...

Haaaaa...I used to work with engineers...they always explained cables, fuses, tubes...it’s all the same...but we know it’s not...

i used to to make diy cables out of cat wire...all different windings...all different types...they all sounded different.

Thats why I’ve come to the conclusion...everything makes a difference...
 
I agree.

Everything matters. Price on cables make NO difference. I will say that within a company price seems to make a difference but not between brands.

AND even then it depends on system synergy.

START OF RANT (please ignore)

I hate and Love the Voodoo part of audio - sorry engineers, I know you think you know what is going on - but bottom line - YOU DON'T, at least yet. You only have to listen with your ears to know this is true.

Unfortunately, companies need to make a profit - thus the marketing CRAP that is put out. If it was real - the scientific community would be turned up side down. And maybe I'll eat my words when it is. I will proudly eat them.

NOBODY seems to know what is really going on any more than the guy down the street. Too many times over the last 10 years, the home cable guy or etc has made cables that sounded better than the company selling for 100 times more. Come on guys - how many times has somebody covered up the fact they were using a mass market cable only sold in 500' reels so us the user had no idea or that they were caught exchanging the cable they were using at a show with another and after 3 months all is forgiven and people still think their cable are THE BEST? We as a audiophile community suck. Why do we accept this? I know I have before.

Power cords seem to be more scientific and uses physics as scientists know at this point in time. Other than the extreme markups some companies have (using the asian market as their excuse) the wholesale prices of great power cables seem to be in line with each other.

END OF RANT
 
For those who are interested in Ethernet cable upgrade, a less-costly alternative is to use a pair of fiber media converters, and supplement the receiving side unit with a LPS. The theory is that by converting Ethernet to fiber then back to Ethernet again, whatever noise that might have been in the Ethernet cable from the NAS/router/switch side is isolated, because fiber is immune from EMI and RFI.

For network players that use 100Mbps Ethernet ports, such as Lumin S1 / A1 / T1 / D1: TP-Link MC110CS
For network players that use 1000Mbps Ethernet ports, such as Lumin U1 / M1 / D2: TP-Link MC210CS
 
Setting aside the issue of price, there are several technical reasons for differences in Ethernet cables.
https://planetechusa.com/blog/ether...t3-vs-cat5e-vs-cat6-vs-cat6a-vs-cat7-vs-cat8/

There was a marked difference when I moved from CAT 5 to CAT 7 due to shielding.
Moving to CAT7 cables in my home network noticeably improved the sound
In terms of sonics, it removed a background hash from the signal.

CAT7 is a braided shielded design with support for >10GB and frequency up to 600 MHz.
It also uses GG45 connectors which are superior to the old RJ45 connector
In technical jargon, the CAT7 offers a superior signal to noise ratio.

Regards.
 
I have no doubt shielding matters. It's great that a shielded cable improved your setup - I recall reading another positive report about using shielded CAT7 cable here. However, as with any audio debate, there is an opposite camp that prefers unshielded network cable for audio purpose (aside from yet another camp that does not believe cables can be different). I'm not saying one camp is right and the other is wrong - it's more likely it's system specific, as always.
 
Peter,

My post was addressed to the original question asked by the OP. The point being that there is a very clear explanation for the differences one can notice between CAT cables i.e. primarily shielding, bandwidth and cable/connector design. I mentioned CAT 5 because it was used extensively due to low cost. CAT 6 replaced CAT 5 but there is a big jump from CAT 6 to CAT 6A and another step up when you go to CAT 7.

Regards.
 
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