Ethernet cables
I’m of the opinion given what I’ve read that Ethernet cables, along with everything else in the streaming chain, can make a significant difference in ultimate streaming performance (please those who think it’s just 1s and 0s please stay out of this). Due to this I bought a Wireworld Starlight 8 Ethernet cable because it seems much better than generic cables but certainly far short of the higher $$$ Ethernet cables (the WW platinum would be an obvious case in point). My question is, with the Starlight 8 how much good can I expect over lower-priced or generic Ethernet cables and how much more performance can I expect from stepping up to better Ethernet cables? Please be specific if you’ve directly A/Bed the Starlight 8 versus better cables as that’d be very useful and helpful info. Thanks!
I suggest the Blue Jeans Cat 5e (Belden 1700A) patch cable - https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/data-cables/index.htm. Proven performance as every cable is tested before it ships to make sure it's within spec (you're given the test printout in the package).
If you want to future-proof your in-wall run, I would go with the Blue Jeans Horizontal 6A cable. |
Interesting. Running an obsolete cable is future proofing your in wall network run. Who would’ve thought…. |
1. Yes Cat8 is the highest rated cabling but guess what - Gigabit Ethernet has been around for a long time (~1998) and only in 2027 is it projected to overtake 100 Mbps. See https://www.lightwaveonline.com/home/article/14302651/gigabit-ethernet-service-adoption-continues-to-rise. It will be a long time before 10G interfaces become the norm in home networks.
2. I agree that Wi-Fi is excellent, but there are some audiophiles who insist on wired connections nonetheless. (I use a mesh Wi-Fi setup myself.) However, my Wi-Fi 6 mesh node negotiates a ~2.9 Gbps link with the base station for the dedicated wireless backhaul. This is about 30% of the theoretical maximum. I bet Wi-Fi 7 setups will struggle to reach speeds beyond 10 Gbps. Most likely copper will still be the way to go if you want maximum throughput at reasonable cost. |
