From the Ethernet perspective either is fine. Any packets lost due to noise or anything get retransmitted and error corrected. Ethernet is not S/PDIF. Bandwidth is several orders of magnitude bigger than ever needed for audio data. Your SO watching Netflix in the next room or kid playing World of Warcraft consume 100 more bandwidth than any Tidal stream.
If DAC is in the same box with the streamer there may be some concern with noise coming via Ethernet leaking into analog stage. But that may be rectified by optical isolation stage.
Talk to me about CAT 6 in wall cable
I am about to install a CAT 6 cable into my audio room. I am planning on running this cable to my main router which is in another room. If I want to get the best quality signal to a new Aurender type server, is this the best connection to use..or is there a preferred method? Would anyone think CAT 5 would be better..or something else?
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@daveyf sounds like a plan. But in my opinion mesh is the way to go. Gives you high speed internet throughout the house. The inwall cat6 is redundant. I’ve used eero with Aurender. Aurender loads pretty much your entire playlist into a queue that resides on the internal SSD. You can literally pull your Ethernet cable out and it will play the entire playlist. You just won’t be able to control it because the streamer won’t be connected to network. But it will play your music thru to the end |
@audphile1 Thanks. I will certainly try my current mesh system and hopefully it will be up to the task. Nonetheless, I think a CAT 6 in wall would be a nice option to ahem, particularly since I and about to take the system down and remodel the room. |
Crap, now you’ve got me thinking is there a in-wall audiophile Ethernet cable? Googling I found this Audioquest in-wall cable. I only need maybe 100 ft max which is a budget friendly ~$150, but is only sold as a bulk spool of 1000ft at $1500! |
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