Audio Grade Ethernet Cable


I've been thinking about getting a DH Labs ethernet cable. My thought is to get my crappy router as close to my Bryston BDP 3 as possible, so that the cable is only 0.5 meters. I do have a TeraDak LPS connected to the router. Is this a waste of time and money? I know the cable is just a couple hundred dollars but I don't want to spend that much just to realize again that my local files will always be preferable.

goofyfoot
Post removed 

+1 @cleeds

 

There’s no case to be made for a router being co-located next to your audio gear as having any benefit compared to say 30’ away if we are talking about a wired connection.  

On the other hand, picking up noise from the internal CPU and power supply is possible. I admit to having an Ethernet switch behind my rack, but given the number of devices I have it’s pretty unavoidable.   Is it better? Only because of the convenience of attaching my TV, DVD, receiver and music streamers together with short Ethernet cables. 

My router on the other hand is located for the convenience of the cable modem and data closet, far away. 

I'm a fan of DH Labs cables in general. I own several and used to own several more. I bought one of their ethernet cables once then got curious and ordered one from Blue Jeans Cable at a much lower price. I could not tell any difference whatsoever so I returned the pricier cable. BJC does seriously good work and tests every ethernet cable they make. I only buy ethernet cables from them if it has anything to do with my system. 

I clearly stated the advantage or benefit of providing clean AC via my dedicated lines and power conditioning to both modem and router. The greatest benefit for diminishing router noise is the disabling of wifi. As for self generated noise, minus rfi leakage into other components having modem and router far away doesn't somehow magically decrease noise on streaming chain, router does what it does. The improvements and/or advantages of powering these components via clean AC is the same as it is for all the other components and devices we power with clean AC from dedicated lines and power conditioners. The other advantage is short LAN cables and//or less or no need for optical conversion.  I also power the router and modem lps with quality dc and ac cables. no cheap outs here.

 

To argue against the above points means providing clean AC to modems and routers is of no consequence, having short runs of quality LAN cable is no better than long run of inferior cable. Wifi contamination of the router itself and closely situated modem is of no consequence, and yet at the same time wifi contamination is of great consequence when it sits close to other components. Does it not also matter for the router itself and modem?

 

I'll also add these optimizations are incremental improvements, streamers and dacs are by far the most important components in any streaming setup. The most important thing when addressing incremental improvements is while each on it's own may not be noticeable, adding these improvements in multiples is what makes all the difference. I've instituted these improvements pretty much as a single variable and through long term listening have a pretty good handle on what each optimization brought to the table.

 

 

OP,

I'm pretty sure that @sns must have addressed this somewhere. 

There are two approaches. Fix the network or get a better streamer. "Fixing the network" involves becoming and IT person and upgrading / quieting the router, and lines for the whole house. Typically audiophile router, special power supplies, etherregen... stuff like that. 

Or, just get a better streamer. I would recommend an Aurender N200 or better. I own two Aurender and internal files and streaming sounds the same and simply stunning. My main system runs off a wall wart wifi extender and my $45K vinyl rig = CD = stored files = streaming... audiophile level sound quality. 

I'd recommend a high end streamer... just a whole lot easier for those of us who do not want to fiddle with the network. I was in IT most of my career... I'm retired... I want to stay that way.