Do expensive ethernet cables improve sound quality?


Please refer to: 
https://audiobacon.net/2019/11/02/the-jcat-signature-lan-a-1000-ethernet-cable/amp/#commentform

This can of worms might be ugly...but I'm curious - like the cable brand.

Tell me what you think...
mastering92

Showing 5 responses by calvinandhobbes

@mastering92 Well, I have to say that from my experience, it’s important to actually do some listening to equipment. In this series of videos, Rob Watts, who designed the Chord line of DACs, talks about how he finds it important to do both measuring tests AND listening tests, because everything you can measure is audible, but there is a lot that is not currently measurable in digital audio that is also audible.

Interview with Chord Electronics’ Rob Watts:
https://youtu.be/k9Sp9KCq1B4

I came to similarly interesting results when comparing power cords. Synergistic Research is another company that produce products that some would call snake oil, but I've been testing four power cables with a Denafrips Ares II DAC (a $15 Tripp-Lite Heavy Duty power cable from Home Depot, a $150 Shunyata Venom, a $200 Audience Forte F3, and a $500 Synergistic Research UEF Blue). The Audience cable sounded both harsh and congested. The Shunyata Venom and the $15 Tripp-Lite cable seemed somewhat close in sound quality, but the Synergistic cable was noticeably smoother in sound as well as sounding more detailed. But those differences were perhaps 25% of the sonic improvement of the Supra Cat 8 cable over the the AmazonBasics USB cable.
+1 on the Supra Cat 8 USB cable as well. I compared the Supra Cat 8 to an AmazonBasics Cat 6 cable and the sonic improvement was immediately evident. Cost-benefit matters to me so I will probably most likely never spend more than this on a USB cable. But going to the Supra was definitely worth the $50 extra cost over the AmazonBasics cable which I also purchased for testing purposes. My plan was to sell the Supra cable if it sounded about the same as the AmazonBasics cable, BUT it sounded quite a bit better.

Differences I notice are:

Benefits that I heard from the cleaner sound from the Supra cable are:
  • More presence to voices and instruments which sound more forward and distinct in presentation
  • Richer tonality
  • Less grain to the sound
  • Better resolution due to a lower noise floor (This is audible when comparing a cleaner signal to one that is less clean)- Easier to follow bass lines- Pace seems faster due to more clarity and better definition to the leading edge of notes.

NOTE: Your listening perceptions may vary from mine. I’m not looking to debate whether my hearing is working.)
Some reasons why Ethernet cables might matter to audio sound quality from people who are actually designing audio equipment. The factors that can impact sound quality are not the integrity of the digital signal, but the digital and analog noise (i.e., RF) that can creep into the audio signal chain.

Bob Stuart, Meridian Audio: "Of course digital bits-are-bits and with due care, each of the three interfaces (USB, Toslink, coaxial) can deliver the same data at approximately the same time. But the audio we hear is analog and real-world devices are subject to a variety of interferences including data-induced jitter, other process-induced jitter, (and) common- and differential-mode electromagnetic noise. In the ideal world, the data are clocked in by and buffered in the DAC (asynchronous mode) and then de-jittered before conversion. In my experience this can never be perfect, just made closer and closer to irrelevance."


Gordon Rankin (introduced the digital audio world to asynchronous USB transfer)when I transfer a file over USB to an external hard drive it doesn’t make transfer errors – the file at the destination is the same as the source – so why should sending digital audio over USB be any different? https://darko.audio/2016/05/gordon-rankin-on-why-usb-audio-quality-varies/

It’s possible that is is the Cat 8 cable architecture. I’m just happy that I got that much improvement for $50. To your point, even if I had $14k to spend, I would expect my audio system to walk on water if I spent $14k on a cable. I do think that there is a point at which "good enough" truly is good enough for me. And my experience shows that point doesn’t need to be too terribly expensive...certainly not at the $1,000+ price point for cables.

@mastering92 I think your comments are more than fair and not at all argumentative. I often include that note when posting my listening impressions for some forum posters that feel the need to attack others that perceive audible differences that they don't.
It was hard for me to believe that power cords would make a difference, let alone have different sound signatures, but lo and behold, my ears tell me that they do.

To your question about stock power cables. I would consider a power cord to be a way to get more performance out of your existing equipment. Enjoy your equipment as it comes stock & if you get the itch to see if it can sound better, one route for doing so can be getting an aftermarket power cord.