Ethernet Cables

06-20-14: Dragon1952
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.
Dragon1952 (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

+1

On top of that, drawing conclusions and disputing one's results WITHOUT any details on the components and situation.

I have just experimented my setup by replacing my two audioquest diamond ethernet cables with cheap stock cables. The cables run from by router to the NAS and the d/a processor. It is very certain in the first note that both upper and lower octaves are largely compressed. The clarity of the whole picture is reduced significantly.

There is no doubt high quality ethernet cables are vital to high quality sound in high end equipment. BTW my d/a processor is dCS.

Buy a Cat 5e, 6 or 6a from Blue Jeans Cable that meets spec and be done.

To try this, I first bought CAT7 to replace the old CAT5 and CAT6 and see (on TV) and hear improvements. Then I bought AQ Cinnamon and see and hear improvements. After a while I decided to try AQ Vodka when a deal came along, now I found I am listening to music a lot more. It’s more natural, detailed, and musical. It simply draws you into the music a lot more than even the Cinnamon does. I’m sure Diamond is better but that is way too expensive. If you don’t see or hear improvements, then your components and/or other cables are not up to bar. Or you can argue they are all 0’s and 1’s. :)