Go Cat8!

@Mceljo,

thanks for your thoughtful response. Meicord (sic) until a couple of years ago was the gold standard for ethernet patch cables. Through my journey over the years I have learned that avoiding RFI/EFI and ground level distortions is primordial for good digital music reproduction. By upgrading a longer run cable from Cat 6 to Onti Cat8 I had a wakeup call through substantially improved resolution, dynamics and soundstaging. It was therefore a bit of a no-brainer to also address the Meicord (apologies for misspelling the name in my original post) as well.What got me interested in Onti was the thick OCC copper gauge, the double shielding as well as the very high quality connectors. The reduction in noise floor is very impressive.

May I ask what led you to choosing the Onti Cat8 cable as an upgrade to your previous Maicord Opal Cat6 cable?

It appears that a Cat8 cable uses a lot more shielding compared to the others and is expected to be quite rigid.  From what I've read on the Blue Jeans Cable website the terminations are key to ethernet cables and the reason most cables do not meet the advertised specification.  I have several of their Cat6 cables and they come with a test sheet for each cable to certify that it meets the specification.  I reached out to them today out of curiosity and they said that there isn't a patch cable certification for Cat8 so there's really no way for a manufacture to ensure that it's compliant.

For what it's worth, I'm not totally against the concept that cables can make a difference.  In my limited experience I've heard clear differences with power cords and analog interconnects, but didn't hear anything with an upgraded digital interconnect.  I just know that ethernet cables are just part of an overall system where an individual patch cable can become a weak link if poorly constructed, but no individual component can elevate the capability of the system.

I am reporting on what I hear: replacing cables between Etherregen and server had a major impact.

I am certainly not an expert on Cat6 vs. Cat8 cables, but I'm fairly certain that unless your entire network is at the Cat8 level (highly unlikely) the only explanation for a Cat8 cable performing better is that your Cat6 cable wasn't doing it's job.

I don't think there's even an official specification to define CAT8 and maybe not even CAT7.