Ethernet cable for Streaming

WiFi extends WiFi, not hard wire..

Bingo!

WI-FI wireless connectivity is REALLY good …. The current Wi-Fi range extenders simply plug into the home wall sockets and use the home electrical wiring as the cable conduits

Yeah, but home wall wiring is EXTREMELY noisy, which is the enemy of good digital sound.  I went through training at Magnolia from uber geeks who really know their sh*t, and they were NOT fans of going through a home’s noisy electrical network, and that makes a lot of logical sense to me given all the other appliances, etc. that run through it.  Their advice was to run wired from the router for best sound.  I’m definitely gonna run a CAT8 cable with an optical conversion at some point.  My main question is, would it be better to run a long CAT8 or optical fiber run?  My instinct is to run optical longer as it’s more immune to infusing noise, but I don’t know and would love to hear more experienced people’s thoughts on this. 

Well, I am not the one to provide an opinion on optical vs. CAT8 but based on info from other threads on this site I believe a long optical cable with ethernet/optical converter for each end of a long run may be best. 

Shortly after initiating this thread I installed a long CAT8 cable prior to installation of drywall. Not going back at this time. 

Here is a very interesting reply from Blue Jeans cable when I asked about Cat8 cable.

Begin forwarded message:
 

From: Blue Jeans Cable <sales@bluejeanscable.com>
Date: February 25, 2022 at 10:09:12 AM PST
To: 
Subject: Re: Cat 8 Cables ?
 

There is CAT8 bulk cable, and a spec for using it in BaseT applications, but no spec for ethernet patch cords. So one could buy the bulk wire and put RJ45 connectors, but wouldn't be able to certify it to any spec or confirm that it passes any more information than CAT6A.

-- Jeff
 Blue Jeans Cable
 sales@bluejeanscable.com