I know very well the importance of cables in a system, and I know very well the difference in the sound they make. I have been assembly audio cables for my own use for years now, but I never expected how a LAN cable could change the sound of my liquid music so much. Do you guys have experience in LAN cables? Do they make a difference also in your audio setup?
Yeah, that's right. My router is pretty far away from my audio setup, so I'm using a range extender. Tha audiophile 2 meters LAN cable I bought and that makes a significant improvement in sound, it's from the range extender to my audiophile PC. Also, my new audiophile PC does not have a Wi-Fi antenna, so I'm using a wired internet connection.
Some may argue here but to my ears wired connection sounds more dynamic and detailed compared to WiFi.
And yes, the LAN cable did make audible improvements between my Apple router and streamer (N10). After trying few, I end up with JCAT LAN cable reviewed as below,
As I mentioned, I was going to purchase a higher end LAN cable this morning and came across the review I attached.
Interesting that both reviewers come to the same conclusion regarding better LAN cables greatly improving the sound, but the reviewer I linked said the only place it did not make a difference was from router to streamer.
I wonder if the fact the reviewer had a Node 2 and I have a Node 2i has anything to do with it. The old system not having enough resolution to tell the difference?
Thanks for the info gill_92. The Meicord does seem to garner good reviews. Do you mind me asking from whom you purchased them? Looking around I only see them being sold out of England.
IMO, shielded ethernet cabling is the way to go. Jetter, try a Monoprice Cat8 ethernet cable....costs very little. I swapped one in between my router and Small Green Computer Roon server. I honestly didn't hear any sonic drop off. It is a "thick" cable.
For Node 2i, try Supra Cat 8 LAN cable. It’s a very high quality cable...I am using one with my Vault 2. The authorized seller ‘zendada’ is listed on eBay.
Just get a high quality Cat-8 cable. Wire world carries a good selection. No need to buy “audiophile grade LAN cabling, whatever the he’ll they might be. Bits is bits, ya know?
The Supra is a great cable. Haven’t tried many but over Office Depot and such Ethernet cables it’s a noticeable improvement and the price is right. It can be purchased in bulk as well.
I have done extensive research on this and developed a filter to greatly reduce the problem, which is our old friend ‘RFI’. Ethernet cables are great aerials to channel RFI straight into the back end of your streamer. An expensive screened cable can reduce some RFI and will definitely improve sound quality a bit compared with a standard patch lead. The best solution though, and is a lovely improvement to the sound, is a cable with inbuilt Common Mode RFI suppression in both the transmit and receive twisted pairs. These are uncommon and very expensive, that’s why I developed a filter that does this. It’s the removal of RFI that improves the sound, not ‘better data’ or anything like that. My filter is at http://www.transformaudio.uk/eno.htm
Thank you everyone for your suggestions, now I have something to work with. I checked out your cables online and they all look like winners. I am going to take a couple of days to decide.
I set up my streamer with a Cat 6 cable initially. After researching different ethernet cables I came to the conclusion to go with a Cat 8 cable. Not due to the massive amount of data transfer that it can handle but for the way it is built with increased shielding. My thought are it made a positive improvement to my sound quality. It cost $50 dollars shipped to my door.
To come full circle, I did decide to order the Supra CAT8, partly because it was the least expensive of the "audiophile" rated cables and truth be told no one had anything bad to say about it. Other than it was not quite as "full" sounding as the WireWorld. We shall see.
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