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How can different CAT5/6 cables affect sound.

While is is beyond doubt that analog cables affect sound quality and SPDIF, TOSlink and AES/EBU can effect SQ, depending on the buffering and clocking of the DAC, I am at a loss to find an explanation for how different CAT5 cables can affect the sound.

The signals over cat5 are transmitted using the TCP protocol.  This protocol is error correcting, each packet contains a header with a checksum.  If the receiver gets the same checksum then it acknowledges the packet.  If no acknowledgement is received in the timeout interval the sender resends the packet.  Packets may be received out of order and the receiver must correctly sequence the packets.

Thus, unless the cable is hopeless (in which case nothing works) the receiver has an exact copy of the data sent from the sender, AND there is NO timing information associated with TCP. The receiver must then be dependent on its internal clock for timing. 

That is different with SPDIF, clocking data is included in the stream, that is why sources (e.g. high end Aurenders) have very accurate and low jitter OCXO clocks and can sound better then USB connections into DACs with less precise clocks.

Am I missing something as many people hear differences with different patch cords?

retiredaudioguy
panzrwagn's avatar
panzrwagn
692 posts
 

@megabyte Succinct. Correct. 

@foggyus91 His answer is based on a technical understanding of Ethernet and the TCP/IP and UDP transmission Layer protocols. TCP is a reliable byte stream delivery service that guarantees that all bytes received will be identical and in the same order as those sent.

Here is a good summary. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_Control_Protocol 

Yes, that is a summary. A full operational understanding of TCP/IP can take years of study, lab, and field experience. As a Cisco Certified Network Engineer once told me, "Next time I'll try something easier, like medical school."

Microsoft used the TCP/IP class as the filter to separate the wannabes from the serious candidates for the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer program beginning over 30 years ago. I know this, as I was MCSE #414, and the week long TCP/IP class was brutal. That program was retired in the last few years and replaced with new ones reflecting Microsoft's current application, security, and development offerings, but Ethernet and TCP/IP and remains the transport and  transport Layer Protocols underpinning the entire internet.

 

 

 

foggyus91's avatar
foggyus91
612 posts
 

@panzrwagn Did not ask you. 

fastfreight
1,284 posts
 

No, better to stick with Network Engineering.  Medicine requires observation of ever evolving treatment modalities and an open mind.

foggyus91's avatar
foggyus91
612 posts
 

@devinplombier Your post makes zero sense to me. 

devinplombier
1,657 posts
 

Nothing that runs TCP makes any difference in sound quality. That's because it cannot.

The only exception to this rule is SFP cabling, because unlike metal wire cabling it physically cannot pick up EMI or RFI, thereby galvanically isolating your components, and, conceivably, lowering the noise floor of your system. 

Make no mistake: a $8 SFP patch cable from Monoprice is superior in every respect to all metal wire CAT cables, including cryogenically treated pure silver wire ones costing $5,000 or even $8,000.

 

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