Thanks, Kalali. A minor point: Aside from a few oddball exceptions, I believe that nearly all BNC connectors have either 50 ohm or 75 ohm impedances, not 110 ohms.
Regards,
-- Al
Regards,
-- Al
High End Ethernet Cables ....Real Deal or Snake Oil
Digital streaming and network-based storage systems are now mainstream. I have notice more and more cable companies are coming out with 'fancy' Ethernet cables ranging from $25-$2500.
Purist Audio, Cardas, Chord, Wireworld and Stealth Audio to name a few. I am assuming, AudioQuest is probably the first manufacturer to recognized the potential for a fancy Ethernet cable and started this trend (sorry no offense to anyone).
Let's for a moment assume that there is a audible difference in sound quality when streaming music files from a NAS or intranet to a server. Ethernet is an error corrected transmission protocol, it is going to be bit perfect. Are these fancy cables banking on the same principles of other digital (SPDIF/XLR) cables ~ a well made cable reduces the margin of errors resulting in less requests for re-sends, and if there are less errors and subsequent re-sends, perhaps this higher performance results in less noise, fewer dropouts at the receiving end, and subsequently better sound quality?
I do not know a lot about networking so I chose an easier path to stream music in my rig. My setup involves a music server, DAC and Apple Extreme base.
I am wondering how many of you using a high end Ethernet cable vs. a generic Ethernet cable.
Is there a test data or device that tells us how many errors and re-sends happen in Ethernet data transmissions to justify the use of uber 'pricey' ethernet cables?
Thank you all for your feedback!
Purist Audio, Cardas, Chord, Wireworld and Stealth Audio to name a few. I am assuming, AudioQuest is probably the first manufacturer to recognized the potential for a fancy Ethernet cable and started this trend (sorry no offense to anyone).
Let's for a moment assume that there is a audible difference in sound quality when streaming music files from a NAS or intranet to a server. Ethernet is an error corrected transmission protocol, it is going to be bit perfect. Are these fancy cables banking on the same principles of other digital (SPDIF/XLR) cables ~ a well made cable reduces the margin of errors resulting in less requests for re-sends, and if there are less errors and subsequent re-sends, perhaps this higher performance results in less noise, fewer dropouts at the receiving end, and subsequently better sound quality?
I do not know a lot about networking so I chose an easier path to stream music in my rig. My setup involves a music server, DAC and Apple Extreme base.
I am wondering how many of you using a high end Ethernet cable vs. a generic Ethernet cable.
Is there a test data or device that tells us how many errors and re-sends happen in Ethernet data transmissions to justify the use of uber 'pricey' ethernet cables?
Thank you all for your feedback!
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- 38 posts total
I once heard from professor of quantum physics that a hex nut placed in the empty drinking glass still have probability(extremely small) of jumping out of it using its own potential energy, but it isn't happening in real life. Same thing with Ethernet wires sharing same magnitude or 'head room' of sound quality improvement. |
Hey Eric, I guess everybody got bored of talking about speaker cables and the more 'typical' interconnects 'twixt 'regular' equipment...now it's off on digital signal transfer quality. I can't wait for the discussion on fibre optical cables.... *L* First post, last post, good night, y'all. Have fun...;) |
Audiophile Ethernet cables are 100% snake oil. Here is why and how I tested and also a proof of concept video here (YouTube). In the video I test out into my ADC a 315 foot generic cable CAT5e that I made and a $330 12 foot WireWorld CAT8. Player is Jriver, server is a Windows 7 machine, playback computer is Windows 8 with an Intel CT GBit PCIe adapter. The switch is a Cisco SG 200-8 with ports 7/8 in a LAG and port 1 going back to the file server. During capture into the ADC I’m able to swap the 315 foot generic CAT5e and the 12 foot WireWorld. Here are the tracks for you to download and evaluate: https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/5NUQOsUEqZKVgon85pYhxnlNYlAhoHhT3FF9cP0NKfr?ref_=cd_ph_share... https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/bD0Z87vfscWzA3PhyE42JuVGagNXmvcKTxqWhQpLIKO?_encoding=UTF8&a... Here is the question I would like to pose: You can pull the Ethernet cable and playback will still continue. If my options are fancy cable, generic cable, no cable and play back continues: 1. Does my SQ increase with no cable? 2. Does my SQ decrease with fancy cable 3. Does my SQ decrease even more with 315 foot of generic CAT5e Some other quick information: Ping rates (*out of 500 pings) were neck and neck. Transfer rate direct connect (bypassing the switch since it slowed things down for both cables due to the LAG) was averaged at 107MBps for both cables on a 3.57GB folder transfer. Switch stats for both cables in the 3.57 GB transfer showed 0 errors. |
- 38 posts total