Ethernet Cable

Kingrex

Kingrex

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Joined
Dec 17, 2017
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Seattle Washington USA
Can we discuss how we are making ethernet connections between equipment. Maybe what grade cables or manufacturer have been tried. Lets assume its Cat6 and above. How much gain was there from 6 to 7 or 8.

Also, what sort of isolators are being used. Some people are talking optical. Other use medical grade. What sort of change in performance do you hear. Did you add external PS upgrades to the isolators.

Is the bang for the buck in the better cable or the isolator.

Has anyone done any comparison between building your own cable with a tool such as the Belden Revconnect and say buying a Blue Jeans cable or Audioquest, Nordost.

Is anyone all optical cable.

How important is mechanical isolation to ethernet cable. Anyone try stands or bushed holes in new construction.

Lets leave switches and routers elsewhere.

Thanks
 
No one. oK. I will give the first poke. I have done is Cat 6 to Blue Jeans Cat6. On first pass I could not tell the difference between store bought jumpers and cable I terminated. I have not done any more comparison. If it is better, It is very subtle. Not like other changes that jump out as better. At the time the cables were brand new. Don't know if ethernet needs to break in.
 
I like the AQ Diamond ethernet for connecting to my streamer, and I use black box fiber media converters and a short run of fiber for isolation. I tried other ethernet cables from cheap to fairly expensive (short of something like Gobel) and preferred the AQ. I also tried upgraded ethernet cables in other locations (eg to Lumin L1 NAS) but simply didn't notice a difference.

I believe the AQ is Cat6, and I'm not sure there's actually a real standard for Cat7 or 8 yet, even if a vendor is calling their cable that in anticipation of a standard. I could be wrong, I haven't checked that for a little bit....
 
Is the chain: Switch > AQ > fiber converter > fiber cable > streamer? This is where the upgraded cable helped? It did not help so much from the Lumin to swith or NAS to Switch? Your lumin is not connected direct to a NAS, or is lumen the company with the dedicated storage device that is direct connected.
Thank

jmusica said:
I like the AQ Diamond ethernet for connecting to my streamer, and I use black box fiber media converters and a short run of fiber for isolation. I tried other ethernet cables from cheap to fairly expensive (short of something like Gobel) and preferred the AQ. I also tried upgraded ethernet cables in other locations (eg to Lumin L1 NAS) but simply didn't notice a difference.

I believe the AQ is Cat6, and I'm not sure there's actually a real standard for Cat7 or 8 yet, even if a vendor is calling their cable that in anticipation of a standard. I could be wrong, I haven't checked that for a little bit....
Click to expand...
 
Questions on Fiber Converter.

Does a fiber converter take the signal path from a RJ45 and turns it into optical?

If so, does this then uses a Toslink?

If not, then how does it connect into the component?

Then comes the question of purity of signal; my thought is the straightest path is the best path.

The more a signal breaks up between various connections, it affects sound quality especially when we are trying to stay near the original master assuming quality of the music recording.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Fiber network is different from toslink. Typically people use a pair of fiber media converters (FMC), one end to convert from copper Ethernet (from network switch) to fiber, the other to convert from fiber back to copper Ethernet (to a network streamer/player). Lumin X1 is a special case in that it accepts fiber network natively via a SFP module.

The reason we bother with optical network is to eliminate electrical noise that travels through the copper Ethernet cable (but not through the optic fiber) to affect the downstream DAC. "Straightest path is the best path" makes more sense for analog signal, but when we're talking about network packets of digital data, it is different.
 
Kingrex said:
It did not help so much from the Lumin to swith or NAS to Switch? Your lumin is not connected direct to a NAS, or is lumen the company with the dedicated storage device that is direct connected.
Click to expand...

I'll let jmusica to describe his setup in more details, and correct me if I'm wrong.

Here's what I understand from his post. He owns the Lumin U1 streamer, and the Lumin L1 music library (a music-only fanless NAS). Between the fiber media converter isolation box(es) and the Lumin U1 he preferred the AQ Ethernet cable. Between the switch and the Lumin L1, the Ethernet cable does not make a difference - this is expected.

By the way, anyone who use fiber media converter(s) must use a LPS (instead of a cheap SMPS) for the receiver side converter.
 
I still don't get it. What is feeding the fiber media box?
wklie said:
I'll let jmusica to describe his setup in more details.

Here's what I understand from his post. He owns the Lumin U1 streamer, and the Lumin L1 music library (a music-only fanless NAS). Between the fiber media converter isolation box(es) and the Lumin U1 he preferred the AQ Ethernet cable. Between the switch and the Lumin L1, the Ethernet cable does not make a difference - this is expected.

By the way, anyone who use fiber media converter(s) must use a LPS (instead of a cheap SMPS) for the receiver side converter.
Click to expand...
 
Kingrex said:
I still don't get it. What is feeding the fiber media box?
Click to expand...

One possible setup:

NAS - (Ethernet cable) - WiFi Router or switch - (Ethernet cable) - FMC - (fiber) - FMC - (Ethernet cable) - network streamer
 
you know, it sounds like the last feet before the network streamer is the critical point. That is where the good cable and the isolators are being put. I bet I don't need an isolator as I have a audio switch that already has good isolation, and OCXO clock and a linear PS. I pretty much did everything the isolator does and probably better. I only have Blue Jeans cable there, but I am getting some CAT8 and some of the Revconnect ends in grounded and not grounded. I can make a CAT8 cable with good Benden ends. Should get me most of the way there.
 
I just picked up a Wireworld Starlight Ethernet CAT8 cable along with my new Innuos server. Since I upgraded both at the same time, I can't say how much of a difference the $270 WW cable made in my system vs the $10 installer cable I got from my local dealer. But at least I "feel" like I'm doing the right thing with my cable, like it isn't a potential bottleneck in SQ.
 
JSQT said:
I just picked up a Wireworld Starlight Ethernet CAT8 cable along with my new Innuos server. Since I upgraded both at the same time, I can't say how much of a difference the $270 WW cable made in my system vs the $10 installer cable I got from my local dealer. But at least I "feel" like I'm doing the right thing with my cable, like it isn't a potential bottleneck in SQ.
Click to expand...

Your Innuos is a top player, and better cables do contribute to the overall sound in this crazy hobby - enjoy!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
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