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?

daveyf

Whenever I put network cable in I always double up. You should really put a Fibre cable in as well. SM or single mode fibre. Cat6 just like the data centres. Armoured SM cable. You just need to make sure the people doing the cable run know what they are doing with data cables. Hope this helps.

 

As a network person CAT6 is too thick and hard bend or manage. For things like connecting a network DAC or network streamer I prefer fiber, this is of course assuming you don't need PoE for anything. I actually switched from CAT6 to fiber, and I think the fiber sounds cleaner. I really like simonb comment/idea.

Unfortunately, I think putting in fiber could be problematic. I have a long run over my house, which is two stories and the audio room is a dedicated room, which stands on its own at the farthest point from my router. I am not sure I can trust the installer to make the install.

Every ethernet cable sounds different. Get 2M runs of each one you're considering and have them terminated. Let them break in for 2 weeks anywhere in your network, and then do some listening comparisons. That will give you an idea of what you want to install. It may well be worth spending more at this stage.