The Shunyata Research OMEGA-X-Ethernet Cable

Honestly, I’m no engineer — far from it.  So all of this highly technical talk about Ethernet cables is pretty much above my pay grade.  However, it makes some amount of logical sense that a well-made Ethernet cable will sound somewhat better than a cheaply made one.  The real issue to me is the degree of improvement versus the cost.  Does a $5000 Shunyata Ethernet cable sound better than a $100 one?  I sure hope so.  But how much better? Is a marginally audible difference worth the price?  I am a big Shunyata fan and have a full loom.  The power cables were a noticeable improvement over stock power cords, and the speaker cables were a noticeable improvement even as I went up the Shunyata line from Alpha v1 to Sigma V1.  So at least as to power cables and speaker cables, the difference in my system was easily discernable.  But I speculate that the amount of audible improvement becomes less and less with digital cables like Ethernet or USB cables.  For those who want to blow $$ on the “best,” hey, it’s your money.  Is it worth it?  That is a very personal decision.

What is puzzling to me in the whole “cables don’t matter” argument is that logically, I would think that if there is a sonic difference, that sonic difference should be capable of measuring, with REW or something.  If the soundstage is deeper or the background “blacker,” shouldn’t that be acoustically measurable?  Those are the types of differences that might not be answerable by frequency response or oscilloscope, but I would think could be measured.  I know that my first foray into power cables — a switch from a stock cable on a Plinius SA100 Mk. III to an Audience Power Chord, resulted in an immediately noticeable improvement in bass  response. What can’t that be measured (or can it be?)

@frank009 thanks for your thoughtful reply.

I would agree with most of your statements, except for the part about USB not being an "audiophile" cable.  Not sure why that makes any sense.  You'd think companies that design cables specifically for audio would make the best solutions for this particular application.  Also I am curious what your system comprises and have you ever tried different cabling in the digital realm to see if you can ascertain the difference?  It is highly system and user dependent in my experience.  My system consists of very high end electronics, speakers and subwoofers in a professionally treated room including massive bass traps and first reflections with cloud.  In my experience, each time I went up the USB tier with Shunyata, there was a noticeable improvement in my audio playback. This was not subtle or where you have to "squint" with your ears to hear it.  It was apparent quickly.  I don't pretend to know why (reduced dialectic interference, etc etc) but I do know that companies spend their whole lives on the issue of transparent audio playback.

I don't pretend to think everyone can hear these changes or even care about them.  But when you run a professional mastering/mixing/recording studio like me, it is imperative I have the cleanest signal.  And in my experience going from a standard USB to a platinum starlight from wire world, to a gamma Shunyata USB, to a theta USB to an alpha USB, each tier showed improvements.  I base "improvement" around if I can hear in to the mix more, less masking, better transient unpacking, and better sense of realism (space, timing etc)

Just food for thought.  If you have a solid system @frank009 with a well treated room, I highly recommend trying your hand with different USB (or AES or Spdif whatever you use) and see what you hear (or don't hear) - your theoretical knowledge seems solid but I do believe there is a reason companies spend their entire existence trying to solve these problems.  And it's not just to sell a $3000 USB cable to someone so they can laugh about it.  They truly believe in the science behind their claims.  And have a ton of real world experience to back it up.  I won't be buying any $3000 cabling. But then again I don't have a million dollar system that may reveal these changes.  Just sayin - sometimes it's worth suspending your disbelief and trying these things for yourself.  If you're ever in central Virginia, I'd love to show you even the difference with a USB in my studio or upgraded coax in my living room.  It's honestly not subtle.  I believe your heart is in the right place (not wanting people to shell out funds for what you believe are sham companies) but also I think real world experience is important with this as the science of cabling can get fairly complex and there are many proprietary technologies that are being researched to address these issues!

@richardbrand 

Re-reading my yesterday's post, its tone now seems unduly harsh. The deleterious ambience of this thread must have gotten to me. Apologies.

@jrareform 

I do believe there is a reason companies spend their entire existence trying to solve these problems.  And it’s not just to sell a $3000 USB cable to someone so they can laugh about it.  They truly believe in the science behind their claims.  And have a ton of real world experience to back it up.  I won’t be buying any $3000 cabling. But then again I don’t have a million dollar system that may reveal these changes.

That is exactly the reason - Money. Businesses solve problems for customers and in return, they earn it.

But that doesn’t mean there was a major problem with said cables to begin with. The problems occur only in the very lowest rung of cables that would fail long term testing and in sensitive environments. 

System cost is one thing. The intent of the system is another. Truly transparent audio equipment is the only way to go forward with being able to actually hear differences like this. 

Vintage systems and modern systems alike can achieve astounding levels of transparency. The "engineering first" examples are what you want, not pages upon pages of marketing babble or heavy aluminum blocks being CNC milled to perfection.

Ask to see the internals - the proof is in the pudding. Amplifiers that cannot modulate electricity consistently enough to keep up with the signal have some of the cheapest surface-mount parts. On the other hand, all discrete amplifiers offer real heavyweight power and a much more robust sound.

Another thing to stay away from is excessively high SINAD, SNR, and extremely low THD. Global feedback in amplifiers when done with the intent to score well on the test bench with resistive loads results in worse transient response and lower fidelity overall. Amplifiers with carefully applied, local feedback are the ones that truly allow you to hear fine detail because the signal is passing through mostly unchanged.

Audio is first and foremost a time domain problem. If you can reduce the errors and timing irregularities, you improve how close you get to hearing the live sound, or the sound that was captured.

I would agree with most of your statements, except for the part about USB not being an "audiophile" cable.

@jrareform 

It doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. It just needs to prioritize careful isolation between the DATA and POWER lines (wires inside) good shielding/noise rejection. Adding  clip on ferrite cores to both ends of the cable will cancel out environmental noise as I said previously, which is a step in the right direction. I would recommend trying this inexpensive change first.

Ordinary printer cables will work, but you are better off buying something made for the purpose. Afterall, it’s what you hear.