hey i have used shunyata ethernet cables over stock and found very big improvements in sound coming from my digital rig. the improvement was so much that i ended up buying the omega e/net cable.
a LPS on the router also made a massive difference in my setup.
weirdly this was even when the e/net cable was connecting to a server which was not streaming music (music is on hard disk on server). it seems noise comes in via the e/net cable in my system and shunyata cables helped with that.
the difference the cables made were those standard things when noise is lowered (biggest impact on bass and mid-bass i find).
i did try a reunion cat 8 cable which was much cheaper than the shunyata cables. it was okish but as you indicate sort of gave the sound a stripped out hollowness which was unpleasant. i went back to stock rather than use that.
a LPS on the router also made a massive difference in my setup.
weirdly this was even when the e/net cable was connecting to a server which was not streaming music (music is on hard disk on server). it seems noise comes in via the e/net cable in my system and shunyata cables helped with that.
the difference the cables made were those standard things when noise is lowered (biggest impact on bass and mid-bass i find).
i did try a reunion cat 8 cable which was much cheaper than the shunyata cables. it was okish but as you indicate sort of gave the sound a stripped out hollowness which was unpleasant. i went back to stock rather than use that.