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  3. 128927-305

Most Important, Unloved Cable...

Ethernet. I used to say the power cord was the most unloved, but important cable. Now, I update that assessment to the Ethernet cable. Review work forthcoming. 

I can't wait to invite my newer friend who is an engineer who was involved with the construction of Fermilab, the National Accelerator Lab, to hear this! Previously he was an overt mocker; no longer. He decided to try comparing cables and had his mind changed. That's not uncommon, as many of you former skeptics know. :)

I had my biggest doubts about the Ethernet cable. But, I was wrong - SO wrong! I'm so happy I made the decision years ago that I would try things rather than simply flip a coin mentally and decide without experience. It has made all the difference in quality of systems and my enjoyment of them. Reminder; I settled the matter of efficacy of cables years before becoming a reviewer and with my own money, so my enthusiasm for them does not spring from reviewing. Reviewing has allowed me to more fully explore their potential.  

I find fascinating the cognitive dissonance that exists between the skeptical mind in regard to cables and the real world results which can be obtained with them. I'm still shaking my head at this result... profoundly unexpected results way beyond expectation. Anyone who would need an ABX for this should exit the hobby and take up gun shooting, because your hearing would be for crap.  
douglas_schroeder
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,436 posts
 
Sorry as I just ran a 25 foot length under my house directly from my main router right into my computer server. No need to terminate for me. Also purchased 3 foot patch cords already terminated for TVs and other home computers.

You would need a special tool available to cut, strip, and connect the wires to the proper jack. Best just buying what you need already terminated. 
old_scribe
5 posts
 
Douglas, I have to agree that cable skeptics are merely suffering from confirmation bias (of their skepticism) but also want to emphasise that cables are completely context dependent, so the experiences of others, with different systems, are at best irrelevant and at worst misleading
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/bitsofwire_e.html
Lots of experience does enable us to form hypotheses of what will work in what context and then making our own bits of wire takes our knowledge to the next level. Thanks for starting this thread.
azbrd
102 posts
 
I work in data centers on IP storage (VERY large NAS systems), we do use CAT 6 cable for 1g and fiber optics for 10g, but we never worry about the cable brand.  If you are using 1g and a CAT 5 cable (which is rated for 100mb) you should replace that with a minimum of a Cat 5e cable.

Now to suggest that better sound is possible by changing Cat 5e to 6 or 7 does not make any sense, are Better 1s & 0s transmitted?  If changing a network cable did somehow effect the sound you might want to check your DAC,thats really where the 1s & 0s become sound.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,436 posts
 
We know it doesn't make sense to many of us, but just because we cannot explain it (yet) does not make the experience of better sound impossible. We cannot explain many things around us that are true and happening. Life itself...
douglas_schroeder OP
3,281 posts
 
azbrd, as I and grannyring have said many times in the past and now once again, we are well aware of the theoretical inability of such cables to influence the sound, however, obviously theory is insufficient to explain the obvious differences. 

Are those differences obvious? Well... so far only one Ethernet cable in five has been obviously, wildly different. I can't blame people who have tried a few and found there to be no difference. If I had not come up with the "right" one I would have made the same conclusion. 

As far a s the DAC is concerned, sorry Azbrd, but the results are consistent regardless of which DAC is used. It's not a "DAC quality" question.  :) 
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