You could also look at the excellent Supra ethernet cable cat 8 which I believe has similar qualities and price level.
If money is no object, I would recommend you to have a look at ANSUZ´products. I use an ethernet cable A2 between switch and dCS Network Bridge with outstanding results.
Supra is from Sweden and Ansuz from Denmark, both within the EU.
I wonder if it is the use of DRAKA UC1500 HS22 Cat.7A S/FTP 4P LSHF simplex cable inside of the Ansuz A2 that makes it that good or the use of Telegärtner MFP8 connectors?
The name of the cable is visable if you move the sleeve around a bit (you can buy it in Germany for 8SEK per meter and Telegärtner contacts is around 100SEK a piece. After seeing this a ordered the Draka cable and Teleärtner contacts and will build it my self for a cost around 250SEK.
Just face it many brands take rather ordinary cables, puts on a nice sleeve and makes the marketing department write some cool stuff about what they came up with.
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Googling Ansuz now. Thanks.
Thank you for your eye-opening reply, octaviars! I think this is a good example of the value of a forum like this - we can learn to be more insightful when practising our hobby!
I congratulate you on having such skills as to be able to make your own cables.
Even if I now have a different perception of value of the Ansuz A2, I can still hear that it does a good job in my system. So I will continue to be happy for that even if I wish I had come up with a smarter solution before.
So, I have been using this cable…
https://uk.rs-online.com/mobile/p/cat7-cable/8427343/
… with Telegärtner RJ45 connectors. I made them myself. Until Sunday I had no reason to question them until I tried a mates AQ Vodka. I’m not even going to try and explain why, but the improvement was night and day. In the context of a Rossini, I think I’d be silly not to invest in something that has been designed and optimised specifically for audio benefits. Hence the reason to ask like minded souls here what they are using. I’m always learning!
Big thanks.
Paul
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Have tested WireWorld Platinum Eclipse Ehternet , Supra Cat 8 , AQ Diamond Ethernet , and the Supra Cat8 is in line with the other two.
“Just face it many brands take rather ordinary cables, puts on a nice sleeve and makes the marketing department write some cool stuff about what they came up with.”
And the pricing can have no relationship at all to either the materials used, cost of construction and other “on” costs (wages, rent, tax, advertising etc.).
There is one very well known audiophile cable company who, like many such companies have several ranges of cable at various price points. However the price points are just that and often seem to have little to do with the cable itself but only with the range in which it finds itself. For example this company makes one cable in their lower price range that sells for 190 gbp. They do not offer a cable for a similar purpose until two further ranges up. There the cable of the same length and purpose sells for 710 gbp. The difference between the two? They are basically identical except for different coloured sheaths and the expensive one uses its single strand conductor of the same copper as the cheaper one but one AWG thicker ( for a 1m length probably costing, what?, a penny more at best). That is it. Same design, same construction, made in the same plant and probably by the same staff; different colour and one wire slightly thicker.
I am not decrying the fact that these cables may well offer good sound. It is just that the prices charged are often difficult to find any kind of justification for. One UK audio journalist refers to these companies as " cable bandits" . I’ll leave you to decide 
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Well in context to a Rossini the cable is of low cost 
But I still would like to know how a cable can be optimised for audio proposes when it is transferring a packet based tcp/ip signal that gets buffered in the dac. If you search for Audioquest LAN cables you can find dismantled ones and they dont look much different from regular cat7.
I wonder what @Andrew thinks about this?
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Thanks everyone. I’ll pick up a cable very soon.
I did not mean to open up the “cables do / cables don’t” debate.
For now, over and out.
Thanks again.
Paul
I went ”crazy” and bought Esprit Aura ethernet cable for my DCS Bartok and Melco. And I love it.
Check it out.
https://www.esprit-audio.fr/en/aura/
I am using a SoTM dCBL-CAT7 1.5-m ethernet cable ($500) from modem to router, and a 6-m TLS (The Linear Source) ethernet cable (~$600) from router to Bartok. While Audioquest and Wireworld are the mainstream choices, I relied on reviews by Jay Luong at Audio Bacon. He is the only person I have seen who actually does direct comparison testing of numerous cables placed between a Chord Dave DAC and Focal Utopia headphones, with extensive commentary. Doesn’t get any better than that as test bed. He was not thrilled with the Audioquest Vodka. He gave top marks to the SoTM; elevated the system in every respect. TLS (a small Seattle company; good to deal directly with) was a runner up and very reasonably priced for a long run. How do they sound? Well, I got the cables same time as Bartok, and haven’t tried anything else, so I really can’t separate the sound. Pretty good, I hope. Go to audio bacon.net/reviews/cables/digital cables and scroll down 9 items to the SoTM dCBL-CAT7 review. You’ll be glad you did!
Here’s my question. I think, without doubt, the premier US cable and accessories manufacturer is Synergistic Research, at both the high end and the low end. I have their duplex outlet, HFTs, Orange fuses (Bartok and tube amp), and speaker filters–and would like to have a lot more. They make 4 ethernet cables at $350, 650, 1250, and 2995 for 1 m. These seem to incorporate their latest materials and technology. Has anybody tried or heard any of the cables? I’m pretty sure there is some SynRes ethernet in my future.
Be well!
Based in the States and longtime member of the Naim and (now defunct) Linn forum. We have been over this ad nauseum on those two forums.
I use a Cisco 2960 switch $89 from eBay and then a BlueJeans Ethernet cable sourced via Amazon.
This is the setup for both my main 2 channel system (Naim 500 series with Linn Klimax DS) and my headphone system with a Bartok.
I do use expensive cables and am not adverse to them (Chord Music in my Naim system) but in this case not for Ethernet transmission with the digital sources I currently run.
Best
Gregg
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I have Cardas Clear loop in my audio system so I decided to go for Cardas Clear Network cable between UpTone ER and dCS NB.
Upgraded to Audioquest Vodka…
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That’s a matter of opinion. And with all due respect, opinions might differ about both that and the credibility of Audio Bacon. Not picking a fight. Just observing that there might be different perspectives.
Recalling that Jay Luong’s testing is entirely subjective, and that’s something he highlights, how can you know if you spent your money well without doing your own subjective comparison? Your ears are bound to be different from his. If you read enough of Jay, you might get a sense of his tastes, and so have that as a guide. But if subjective-only listening is going to be your guidepost, how can you know if you bought what you actually might prefer? My guess is what you bought works at least as well as a BJC Ethernet cable and delivers a completely adequate packet stream for your Bartok’s buffering and noise isolation capabilities; it is after all a very high quality network DAC with a well-made network card.
I believe that cable quality matters a great deal, but for different reasons and in different ways in the analog and digital domains. But FWIW, I use a mix of fiber optic, BJC [every cable’s test results supplied], Supra Cat 8 [coincidentally like by AB], and Meicord [Pete’s recommendation]. I buy these cables, generally higher than market price, for their robustness and reliability, not for their “sound.” And I have them because I have tried out the Supra and Meicord based on recommendations as to their quality. They’re well-made, but they don’t sound different [and I have a much more resolving system than AB]. So, my Ethernet brand of choice will continue to be BJC. The company is serious and transparent. But to save my life, I don’t know why more people don’t try saving a lot of money with fiber. So much cheaper, and so much more effective. Or at least an FMC or isolator or a GigaFoil. Any of those things can pretty much ensure no noise is getting into your DAC.
For the opposite point of view from AB, check out Archimago’s tests on Ethernet cabling. Granted, he’s pretty much in the 180º opposite camp of Jay Luong, but that’s why he’s worth reading. Same for the folks at Audio Science Review & Well Tempered Computer. All should be taken with a grain or two of salt, or at least a healthy dose of skepticism. 
But assuming their measurements aren’t faulty, you have to ask yourself: “what is it I am hearing?” or “what is it that someone else might be hearing?”. Don’t just accept either point of view blindly. Especially not when someone wants to solve your problem with your money.
Still, you have to ask yourself: “what is the problem?” What could have gone so wrong in your system as to make a mess of the previous data transmission stream or packet delivery? Or what is so wrong with your system that a cable that solely transmits data packets asynchronously without inducing jitter, can suddenly stretch the limits of musicality? I am not in the camp of “if-you-can’t-measure-it-you-can’t-hear-it.” I firmly believe there are things we/some of us can hear that can’t be measured or aren’t measured. I also believe there are legitimate musical experiences that cannot be A/B or A/B/X tested. Some things take a while to reveal themselves [and I am not referring to burn-in here]. I own inexpensive clock cables, but I will be demoing Shunyata very expensive clock cables once I get my aural baseline dialed in. I’m not thematically opposed to your point of view. Just suggesting you ask yourself, test yourself, why should cables made with pretty much the same materials by everyone matter in this functional element of your audio? What’s going wrong that these are fixing?
Have you ever done the “pull-the-Ethernet-cable-test” to see how your buffer performs? Try it sometime. Hear how radically different it sounds with no Ethernet cable. NOT! You might choose to spend all that money you’re tallying up on SR or other high-end cables on a new DAC/amp/headphone. I’m willing to bet they will provide you much more satisfaction.
Stay healthy! Happy listening!
I use an Amazon Special CAT6 (I believe the brand is either Cables 2 Go or Cables Matter) between my Vivaldi Upsampler and Ubiquiti switch.
I have a unique position in the industry as the “network streaming guy” for one of the premier digital audio manufacturers so I could easily have any audiophile cable currently available. I still chose the basic unshielded cable that passed certification.
Keywords above are unshielded and passed certification.
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Exactly
That is why many of us Stateside are using BlueJeans Cable. Each cable actually comes with a computer printout of the test results.
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I’m surprised that the majority of audiophile Ethernet cables appear to be shielded, seems to me to defeat the purpose. FWIW, I’m using a CAT6 U/UTP (unshielded, with unshielded strands) by Dätwyler, made in Switzerland. Great cable and plugs, cheap as dirt, sounds better than a couple shielded cables I compared it with, and before anyone asks: it’s the unshielded cable that provides a completely black, noise-free background.
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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I think that the CAT 6 spec is actually unshielded so shielded ones do not conform.
I like this unshielded German cable. Their white paper has things to say about conformity with the standard:
Nevertheless I am currently using Melco ethernet cables with my Melco NAS /Vivaldi. These are shielded but, in this particular role at least, I marginally prefer them subjectively over the Meicord. Same price.
CAT6 is also available as sheilded ones that confirms to the standard but then again there are many ways to sheild a CAT cable.
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