Talk to me about CAT 6 in wall cable

@daveyf , if i were remodeling, i would look at fiber optic in the walls instead of Ethernet cable; thinner, more flexible, easier to work with, etc.  And most importantly, no potential for EMI (or electrical surges); Just need a nice little FMC and transceiver SFP (e.g., a Finisar one that is compatible with your fiber optic cable) and a short Cat6 (or Cat8 is you want shielded) cable to connect to the Aurender.

If your existing router doesn’t have a slot for a SFP, you would need either get a new router that does —there are quite a few — or add an FMC at that end too, but the EMI isolation seems worth it to me. 

We built a new home 2.5 years ago. I wired Cat 6 to all rooms as well as a second Cat6 to each room that would have Roon endpoints. We also have a Mesh system strictly for WiFi phone and iPads. While redundant and not so funny thing happened. One of the cell companies erected a 5G tower a football field away from our home. That wiped out our ability to use the phone without it being on FaceTime and we must use WiFi calling to avoid computer voice/mumbled conversations that can’t be understood. This also induced internet noise into my audio system particularly the MC Phono which had to changed to MM. All my endpoints are now hard wired which stopped the issues. I’m truly glad we spent the extra money for the Cat6! 

@kirkwallace  Hmm, what you stated about CAT 8 makes me question whether I should forgo CAT 6 and simply install CAT 8 to get the benefits of the shield??

@skyy92677   This is what several folks have told me, stating that a hard wired solution off-sets the possibility of noise and drop-outs. I have dedicated electrical lines into this room already, just no digital connections.

Something to think about in terms of bandwidth. Before switching to optical fiber (Lumin T3X) I had a hardwired connection using 30ft of BlueJeans Cat 6a from the switch/router to a StackAudio SmoothLAN which throttles bandwidth to 100 Mbps.

Never had an issue with dropouts. But the point is you don’t need much bandwidth for Hi-Res audio, stability is key, and optical fiber seems like the way to go...and good patch cords with corning glass are inexpensive.  

@macg19 +1

@daveyf Cat8 is certainly an option too, but it is more costly and stiffer than Cat6, so harder to work with, as i understand things.  And both are more costly and harder to work with than good Corning glass fiber, which is obviously quieter from an EMI perspective than Cat8. Do you have thunderstorms in your area? If so, glass fiber eliminates the risk of electrical surges frying any equipment.