Ethernet Cables

I was using a cheap Belkin 25 ft UTP CAT-5 cable to connect my PerfectWave to my router. I then bought a cheap SSTP CAT-7 cable to see if it made any difference. I swapped them back and forth several times and my impression was that the CAT-5 was a little more laid back and the CAT-7 a little more detailed. The time it takes to swap them is a factor though as the PerfectWave and router lose their DLNA connection each time so I have to do a reset on the DAC. I do believe there are likely differences between cables but in similarly constructed cables probably not enough to discern ... and I find it hard to believe that different metals alone create any differences assuming all are premium quality metals. The difference I thought I detected may be due to the shielded/unshielded difference between the 2 cables. The CAT-7 cable does have a different type of connector also that is shielded and uses gold-plated conductors, and seems to seat better.

I retired from the IT field myself.....all the way from old school telecom using coax to 10/100 ethernet. I really don't care what I've learned or what should be or shouldn't be. I've always kept an open mind to the unexplainable. There have been the exact same types of arguments over the years regarding analog and digital IC's, speaker cable, power cables, DAC chips, USB cables, capacitors, resistors, wall outlets....you name it....and now ethernet cables. Errors or no errors, packets or no packets....I'm not ever going to tell someone something is impossible.