Does Ethernet Cable Category Matter for a Home Audio Network?

[frankmike]

I've been thinking about how much Ethernet cable category really matters in a home audio setup.

Cat5e can handle Gigabit Ethernet, and Cat6 offers additional performance headroom. For a network streamer, music server, or NAS, I'm curious how people decide which cable to use.

Do you stick with standard Cat5e or Cat6, or have you found a practical reason to use higher-category or shielded Ethernet cables in your audio system?

I'd be interested to hear what others use and why.

 

[RepublicOfTexas69]

I use CAT6 Unshielded no reason for CAT7 or 8 I also have a optical break in my digital chain. I use Triode Wire Labs.

 

[Bones13]

I am positive all systems are different. Home network, server, streamer, DAC. I’m sure that some systems benefit from different cables, in certain positions.

However, thats a lot to experiment with. I agree with @RepublicOfTexas69 that an optical “break”, placed as close to the streamer as possible is the best first thing to implement. I have Cat5e I think, in the walls.

I use standard Ethernet cables through my network (mainly UniFi cables, and network components), with my particular system incorporating a fiber cable between my streamer and DAC (MSB Premier DAC + Digital Director + Renderer V2) Made my network setup easy.

In a past iteration, with an EtherRegen feeding a microRendu, adding an optical Ethernet segment between my desk Hub and the EtherRegen blew away any other setup I was trying at the time.