Supra Cat 8 Ethernet cable

The main difference is that Cat 8, which is totally unnecessary for home audio, has a shield and metal connectors and potentially will transfer noise through its shielding. Cat 6 and 7 (MORE than enough) do not have that "feature" and will isolate one unit from another.

Many think that a little noise transferred over the grounding scheme can cause brightness, harshness, forwardness. It strikes me as a little odd that audiophiles rave about galvanic isolation for USB, where it costs a lot more, and then pay more for an Ethernet cable that defeats galvanic isolation. it’s almost like they think that whatever costs more must be better. I’m glad for you that at least you didn’t pay hundreds or thousands for it!

I suggest using a Cat 6 or 7 cable and not believing half of what you read on the Internet. Most of the review sites are just propagating nonsense, IMO. What qualifications do the reviewers really have? How good are their systems? Rooms? Ears? Who is holding them responsible? Why would they have less expectation bias (e.g.) than any other human being?

One old guy’s opinion.

@mike_in_nc  Thanks for the valuable advise. You make a lot of sense. Now I realise why my system sounds bright. Its quite a reality check cause I was reading most reviews and these  Supra Cat 8 cables were very well reviewed by most. But I didnt not come across the sheilding issue. Never knew ethernet cables could make such an impact on sound. I was intially  skeptical that I would experience any change  from upgraded  ethernet cables but was surprised how my system became rather bright. The ethernet cables do make a difference!  In my case, for the worse. Thankfully I didnt spend too much. Guess I learnt something.   Will look out for  a good cat 6 or 7 cable then.  Just bought a Gotham power chord for my node 2i. Hope that cheers me up!  Thank you for your very informative sharing. 

Supra are so so cables. Maybe consider a Furutech CAT 8 NCF or a WireWorld 8 CAT 8 Starlight. Both very reasonably priced, the Furutech being a tad warmer.

WireWorld 8 CAT 8 Platinum is excellent but very detailed and probably too bright for you.

Some thoughts and questions:

By what mechanism -- other than noise transfer -- could an Ethernet cable carrying packets make the eventual analog sound be warmer or brighter? Is this measurable? Detectable in a blind test? Persistent over time?

Would "a tad warmer" suit every recording? If not, wouldn’t it be more efficient to just buy a good equalizer that could be adjusted per recording?

How musically significant are differences among Ethernet cables, compared to other things one might do to improve sound with $275 or $600, like buy a bass trap or two, or acquire some very good Scotch, or spend a day finding the best position for one's speakers and the listening chair and then take the SO out for dinner?

Why should defeating the galvanic isolation of Cat 7 Ethernet be a good thing?

@mike_in_nc as far as ethernet cables go I agree. Just get AQ Forest and call it a day.