Are my CAT5 and router my weak link?


I have paid a lot of money for my PS Audio PW DAC II with the bridge....as well as all of my interconnects, power cords and speaker cables. After all that, I have an inexpensive (relative to my system) wireless router that connects my computer to the PW DAC and CAT6 cables that are not too special. Are those components letting the signal come through fully? I am curious what others may have done.

Thanks
Jeff
jeffatus

Showing 7 responses by bryoncunningham

I can confirm what Al has reported about my experiences when I replaced an unshielded Cat 5 cable with a shielded Cat 6 cable. The result was more resolution. A lot more.

The $7 shielded Cat 6 cable resulted in a bigger improvement in SQ than several $1,000 power cords and several $2,000 interconnects. Yes, I know that sounds crazy. I can't explain it.

I'm not saying that other systems will benefit similarly. In fact, I doubt it. But it's certainly an affordable experiment.

As far as the router goes, I too have a router indirectly connected to my audio system (outside line -> 15' shielded Cat 6 -> router -> 1' shielded Cat 6 -> ethernet switch #1 -> 20' shielded Cat 6 -> ethernet switch #2 -> Sonos -> audio system). Ethernet switch #2 is a bus between the computer and the Sonos. Ethernet switch #1 has only one function: to sever the connection between the router and the audio system...

The router is left on all the time. I have the PSU for ethernet switch #1 plugged into a rocker switch, which is itself plugged into the wall. When I listen to music, I flip the rocker switch to kill the power to ethernet switch #1, which kills the connection between the router and the audio system. Don't know if any of that is relevant to your setup, but it's another easy and affordable thing to try.

Bryon
Kijanki - Your expertise in this area far exceeds my own. There may be good technical reasons to doubt that an ethernet cable can affect sound quality. Nevertheless, the effect I heard when I replaced an unshielded Cat 5 with a shielded Cat 6 was, from my point of view, too obvious to be attributed to placebo.

When a listener reports an experience that challenges an accepted explanation, it raises the question of the reliability of the listener. But it also raises the question of the reliability of the explanation.

Bryon
08-07-12: Sgr
...I saw CAT 7 on Amazon. I tried a piece or two. Drat it sounded better.
This comment made me buy some CAT 7. Today I changed the 50 foot run between my computer and my ethernet switch. I replaced shielded CAT 6 with CAT 7.

To begin with, it improved my internet speed by about 3Mbps. Theory? Maybe...

Better shielding = less RFI/EMI = fewer errors = fewer resends = faster speed.

Also, it sounds better. More resolution. More relaxed at high volume. Too audible to be placebo, IMO. Maybe...

Better shielding = less RFI/EMI = ??? = less jitter.

Don't know what "???" is.

Bryon
08-12-12: Jeffatus
I have my computer hard drive connected to the router via cat6 cable, non shielded. That run is about 10 feet. Then I have a 50 foot run, cat6 unshielded, from the router to the DAC.

It sounds like a relatively inexpensive experiment to try the shielded runs, but what about the router? I just keep thinking about all of the money I have spent for high end gear and their fancy connectors, etc. and want to know if a $120 router will be my weak link.
I'm hesitant to contradict Al's opinion, since he's eminently qualified in these kinds of technical matters, while I am not.

Having said that, I suspect it's possible that your router is degrading SQ. I would consider two experiments...

1. Replace your unshielded Cat 6 with either shielded Cat 6 or Cat 7 (always shielded by specification). Cost = about $25.

2. Remove your router from the system, run a direct ethernet line (preferably shielded) between your computer and your dac, and see if it sounds better. If it does, but you need the router for functionality, you can either...

(a) use the router wirelessly, so that there is no hard line between it and the computer, or...

(b) add a simple ethernet switch downstream from your router. So the arrangement would be...

computer -> 1' Cat 6/7 to ethernet switch...

...ethernet switch -> 10' Cat 6/7 to router
...ethernet switch -> 60' Cat 6/7 to dac

If you added all new cables and an ethernet switch, cost = around $65.

As I mentioned above, I experienecd significant improvements in SQ when I went from unshielded Cat 5 to shielded Cat 6 and then more improvements going from Cat 6 to Cat 7.

As for the router, in my current arrangement, I have two ethernet switches in the configuration, so that when I listen to music, I can kill the power (with a simple rocker switch) to the ethernet switch closest to the router, which severs the hard line between the router and the audio system.

You may just wonder why I don't just shut off the router. The reason is that I don't want to interrupt the other wireless devices in the house from communicating with it, and I don't want to wait for a long reboot when it turns back on. With the ethernet "kill switch," the reboot is about 5 seconds and there are no settings to be lost/changed, so it's idiotproof. Good thing for me.

Bryon
08-14-12: Jeffatus
The modem will still be connected to the router....then to the switch....then to the computer.

I am basically just adding a switch between the router and computer, while bypassing the router from the computer to the DAC....via the switch.
That's right, Jeff. But Al is correct when he says...
...Bryon's suggestion of the switch seems worth trying, although whether or not it will make a difference for the better is anyone's guess. Among many other things, it would depend on how the characteristics of digital noise generated by the switch may differ from the characteristics of noise generated by the router; on the degree to which router-generated noise can propagate through the switch; how the risetimes and falltimes of the output signals of the router and of the switch compare; and on the sensitivity of the DAC to all of these things, if indeed it has any sensitivity to them at all.
That is why I would add a SECOND ethernet switch. Yes, I know, I'm sounding crazy. But bear with me...

If you add a second ethernet switch, you can kill the power to the second switch and SEVER the ethernet connection between the router and the computer/system. I drew you a picture, which you can see here.

That is the configuration I'm currently using. When I listen to music, I kill the power to ethernet switch #2, cutting off the ethernet connection between the router and the system. That way...

1. The router remains on all the time.
2. The router is disconnected from the system when listening to music, and reconnected to the system with the flip of a switch (pun intended).

How does your brain feel now? :-)

Bryon
Oops. I missed that. Then what about connecting the router to the computer wirelessly, Jeff?

bc
Jeff - Sorry this has become a bit complicated. Al is making a lot of good points. IMO, many of the possibilities he's raised suggest that you should experiment. Some of the experiments we've discussed are free and the others are relatively inexpensive.

IME, computer audio is filled with mysteries and magic. So sometimes it's difficult to know the best approach without experimentation. Hopefully, you'll find it fun.

Keep in mind also that you are likely to get good results with any of the approaches we've discussed, in light of the fact that you have an excellent dac. So we're really talking about the last few % of sound quality.

If you do nothing else, use Cat 7 for the hard lines. If you decide to experiment, keep us posted with the results.

Bryon