The Shunyata Research OMEGA-X-Ethernet Cable

@frank009 +1 on your summary for @jrareform 

Bear with me expanding the discussion on the sequence of the digital stream from the above discussion where redundant Ethernet protocols assure bit perfect sequenced data where shielding from RF is critical but there is no direct impact on timing that would impact sound quality.  I am unfamiliar with optical cables from a quality engineering perspective so I will not wax on this subject.  USB and SPDIF cables carry a clocked (timed) data package between the streamer and DAC.  The DAC then locks onto the signal and reclocks the data, removing and y jitter introduced over the USB cable to the DAC.  AES in certain system configurations with equipment capable can synchronize the streamer and DAC clocks.  Logic prevails that cable design of these cables can impact sound quality significantly, in my opinion and based on my experience. High purity copper or silver conductors, better dielectric materials (like Teflon or foam), and better connectors reduce reflections, electromagnetic interference, and signal degradation resulting stable digital stream without electronic or electromagnetic anomalies.  The cables require impedance matching especially SPDIF.   USB design includes galvanic isolation, separating the ground of the source and DAC preventing noise from the computer’s USB ground from getting injected into the audio circuit, reducing jitter, and lowering noise floor.  The better the galvanic isolation the better the SQ.  So the design and quality of these cables have more of an impact than the Ethernet cable.  The physics support the and we can continue to discuss ad nauseam the degree and benefit/ cost ratio of expensive USB, SPDIF, and AES cables.  
 

While I have no experience with optical cables, but rather photographic equipment, I agree that glass and cable quality will logically have an effect. Just consider the image quality of Leica and Hasselblad over more consumer based cameras.  

@jsalerno277 

Thanks for chiming in. 

I read your post and what you're saying is correct. 

A CAT6A, CAT7, or CAT8 cable that meets spec is already operating with enormous bandwidth margins for audio streaming

Don't have to read far to uncover the first major misconception.

Bandwidth margins are absolutely irrelevant.  Ethernet packets are always transmitted at full Ethernet speed.  These days, the wires used are unshielded twisted pairs.

Error detection and retransmission take place at higher protocol levels than Ethernet and must be implemented at the endpoints.  Ethernet itself is unreliable.

Streaming is the word coined by the data transmission industry to indicate re-transmission is dropped in favour of timeliness.  In Internet terms, User Datagram Protocol (UDP) rather than Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), both of which run under Internet Protocol (IP).

USB comprises four families of technology with some level of backward compatibility.  The number of pins has increased from four to twenty-four.  USB has always offered a streaming mode which does not correct errors.

If you don't know exactly what protocol stacks your devices use, don't assume TCP/IP will be delivering pristine data!

@richardbrand 

With all due respect...

You’re taking what I said out of context and writing your own interpretations of what ethernet is.

Please study a real Cisco textbook and please stop stringing words together.

If what you were saying were true, then banking systems around the world would require constant maintenance, the internet as we know it would too, and the hardware, not the cables makes the biggest difference in a data center, a server room or where data warehousing takes place. The cables need to be up for the task and match the needs of what the hardware is being used for.

Ethernet is very robust today. We are not in the days of dial up connections anymore. 

Please fill in the words: 

A

P

S

T

N

D

P 

What does each letter stand for? - Hint, it’s called the OSI model.

Look it up. It seems you used an AI agent to string together your response.

Once you understand the OSI model and how it actually works, then ethernet is not such a mystery anymore.