Upgraded to Audioquest Vodka…
1 Like
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.
6 Likes
Exactly
That is why many of us Stateside are using BlueJeans Cable. Each cable actually comes with a computer printout of the test results.
2 Likes
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.
1 Like
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.
1 Like
Thank you Octaviars. It added to my knowledge.
1 Like
Are we chasing the wrong media issue? I recently attended a demo of the LUMIN X1. The demo focused on the SQ difference between their Ethernet port and the fiber optic port using their fiber network option.
Wow, I’m convinced. Even if you lack fiber to the home you can use a media converter to converter to turn the copper coming to your home to fiber optic.
This isn’t an advert for Lumin, it’s more a question to see if we’re using the wrong media.
There’s no question. Fiber is superior to Ethernet. I was really jazzed to see Lumin’s X1 include this feature [I am a long time Lumin fan; their A1 was my first network player]. And I have been talking with MSB about adding it to the “next” network Renderer, if and when it ever sees the light of day. But until an SFP port link is actually in your DAC or network device, you’re going to have to use copper Ethernet cables as well.
1 Like
Andrew,
as far as you know, please can you show me the exact Amazon Special Cat 6 ( different models available) and Ubiquiti switch as well ( 8 ports are enough for me) ?
Thank You
Piero
DELETED , posted some time ago, but I can’t drop my answer…Since four months or so, I upgraded to Audioquest Vodka.
1 Like
I am using a long fiber optic run between my switch and my opticalModule I purchased from Small Green Computer. I then have a 1m run of AQ Diamond ethernet between the optialModule and my Upsampler.
I may A/B the AQ Diamond versus a Shunyata Sigma cable in the near future.
Pete, thanks for your suggestion on the Melco Ethernet cables. I just ordered a pair. Are they directional?
Brian …
Not that I have noticed. Although the question of directionally is not dealt with exactly by Meicord in their technical pages it appears that the twist of the cable pairs ensures that they are always in correct mirror image to each other ( i.e. whichever way they are connected). Correctly or not I take that as a metaphor for non-directionality.
As always in such matters, suck it and see 
Yes, you should try for yourself which direction sounds the best. In the past, I have asked Meicord about that and Meike himself answered that this is the case.
Excellent cable, by the way.
Hi, I use Wireworld Starlight CAT8
Pete, thanks to you and the others that suggested the Melco Ethernet cable. I purchased 2 to go from my Ubiquiti switch and the Rossini and from the Ubuiquiti switch and my Synology SAN. Great price to make such a noticeable difference.
I am using a BlueJeansCable… Works really well.
I am glad that you are enjoying it.