Ethernet Cables, do they make a difference?

kosst_amojan

Bill Nye ... is hardly any authority on science by training or trade seeing as he's a mechanical engineer.

Mechanical engineering is very much a science, kosst. That makes him more of a scientist than you.

I have to concur with the naysayers but also want to add another angle to consider.  No device takes the bits off the network and immediately converts the information into sound.  There are buffers in the receiver that are likely several MB in size.  This is why something keeps playing for a few seconds even if you cut the network connection.

So ... the bits come over the wire and get stored in the buffer and your equipment, DAC or whatever, drains that buffer and turns it into sound.  So I don't see how the quality of network cable affects the sound since all its doing is filling a buffer.  

As a follow-up to the hypothesis I stated in my previous post, here is a quote from another post I had made in the "Most Important Unloved Cable" thread:

Almarg 3-19-2017
Those reading this thread may wish to also read a series of posts beginning around 2-16-2012 in the following thread:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/shielding-components-from-emi-rfi-help-please

Member Bryoncunningham, who IMO is an especially astute and perceptive listener, and is very thorough in his evaluations, described realizing a substantial sonic improvement by changing from a garden variety unshielded ethernet cable to an **inexpensive** shielded type. I described some technical effects which may have accounted for that.

Also, this thread will be of interest:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/are-my-cat5-and-router-my-weak-link

A comment Bryon made on 8-7-2012 in the latter thread:

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 I’ve said in a number of past threads, the existence of differences does not necessarily mean that more expensive = better results.

It should be noted, though, that Bryon's experience involved an Ethernet cable that was connected directly to one of his audio components, not to a computer that was in turn connected to the audio system.

Regards,
-- Al
 

kosst_amojan
I didn’t even bother to shield the 600VA transformer in my amp. And why?

>>>>I’m guessing monkey see monkey do.


Because Nelson Pass doesn’t bother to.

>>>>Ah, just as I thought.


And it makes virtually no difference.

>>>>and you know this how?


Twisting is generally the safeguard against crosstalk between signal pairs.

>>>>But in the case of transformers the magnetic field is an issue for everything in proximity to the transformer. That’s why shielding is used around transformers. If there’re smart, anyway. You know, the low frequency high permeability stuff.