Ethernet Cables in for evaluation

Hi all

I can believe that an extremely bad connection could cause very occassional crackles and pops in the audio, or a complete loss

I can even believe that some people perceive a difference in the audio that has been derived from a digital stream simply by switching cables.

But I need some help in understanding how a digitally encoded symphony can be be "brought to life" by using a different piece of wire

Surely to "Bring the audio to life", the entire symphony would first have to be derived from the bit stream, adjusted to "bring it to life" and then re-encoded. Or, on the fly, decoded - adjusted - re-encoded

No ?

 

Hi Puma - my EtherRegen arrives this week and I read that Caelin from Shunyata has ordered one.

I have three Shunyata Ethernet Sigma cables and one Alpha. I tried a lot of cables over a long period of time ans IMO the Shunyata Sigma is seriously good. Nothing comes close. The Alpha is very good to and beats the rest I tried - the Sigma is just another level. I also found I didnt need my EMO 70e isolator (even though that is really a galvanic isolator and not a filter as such).

What is interesting is that John Swenson (I have three Uptone products and know Alex well there).....writes about metal housing on ethernet cables as a no no. More in reference to creating ground loops as I understand. So it will be very interesting to see how things go with the Shunyata Ethernet (sigma as they have the metal connectors) with the Etherregen. Also, what Caelin's experience will be. Thoughts?

 

Did you find it to have en affect before you got the Sigma cables?

 

Yes - a very positive difference. I had it configures as per Steve Nugent from Empirical Audio rig.

 

Thanks. I thought the EMO isolatores were plug and play...?

 

They are - I meant configured as in where you put the in the cable chain.

 

My e-mails and word docs look even better with cable x versus cable Y.

 

I always thought my monitor cable was good but then I threw another $1300 at an upgrade and now, instead of just the words, I can see the air around each individual letter when I'm googling things.

 

So TRUE

 

Dear OP Puma Cat,

thanks for opening this interesting thread! I read it from page 1 to 37 in spite of all the disturbances.

Could you please rank the Ethernet cables you tested so far?

I think the Shunyata Sigma is on top but I'd like to locate the Audioquest Diamond with 72V DBS system and the WireWorld Platinum Starlight 8.

Thank you!

Gianluca

 

You're welcome and here is my ranking:

1. Shunyata Sigma
2. Shunyata Alpha
3. Shunyata Venom
4. Audioquest Vodka
5. Wireworld Starlight Cat 8
6. Audioquest Cinnamon
7. Supra Cat 8
8. Belden Cat 6

I did not test AQ Diamond as I was informed it was the datum (reference) for the Shunyata Ethernet cables during development. My understanding is Venom was designed and engineered to be superior to Diamond. The Venom was considerably better-sounding than Vodk; it wasn't even close, so I would expect that Shunyata met the design and engineering objectives for Venom relative to Diamond.

 

Lol okeydokey

 

Well, simply the skeptical doesn't consider the hundreds of micro/small details that make a hifi system...great. Starting from that his system, as an organism, will never grow up and develop the resolution to hear the difference between a $15 data Ethernet cable and a Shunyata Sigma or an Audioquest Diamond when used to transport digital audio to a DAC or a renderer. He's totally convinced there's no difference because he actually can't hear any difference from his loudspeakers OR there's a small hearable difference that his inborn skepticism cancels at mind-level.

So, what are we still quarrelling for?

Gianluca

 

Thank you Puma!

I couldn't wait for your reply and I ordered a 0,75m Audioquest Diamond RJ/E that I'll receive in 4 days. The Shunyata Sigma will surely follow soon ;-)

The Diamond will replace a 1m DH Labs Silver Sonic REUNION CAT8 ETHERNET that showed a great improvement over a good german-made Cat.7 data cable (my starting point in this Ethernet adventure).

So I'll post my DH Labs CAT8 vs Audioquest Diamond impressions next week!

Best,
Gianluca

 

lol just another strawman.
I'd say I have a MUCH better chance of constructing a system from a given amount of money that sounds better than what you'd come up with because I wouldn't waste my money on ******** that doesn't work like audiophile ethernet cables- I'd put that into things that actually do contribute to the overall sound of the system instead like good amps, quality analog cabling, good speakers, good sources, and acoustic measurement and room treatments.

 

I've said what I had to say ;-)

I do hear a marked difference, you don't.

See you next week with an Ethernet cables comparison from me.

It connects an Antipodes Audio CX (Roon core / Server) to an Antipodes Audio EX (Renderer).

Mark Jenkins chief engineer and company owner at Antipodes Audio writes on the manual :

"If streaming music over Ethernet, then use audiophile quality Ethernet cables. For example, you can improve the sound quality of streaming services by using high quality cable from your router to your server and eliminating switches between them. If you have a CX+EX Solution then the Ethernet cable between the CX and the EX will have a very significant impact on sound quality. Ask your dealer for a recommendation."

Another strawman!

Gianluca

 

The three tested Ethernet cables :

- CSA LL64151-C CAT.6a 1m, price ~$8
https://www.lindy.co.uk/images/lind...tpe-network-cable-black-p12743-11493_zoom.jpg
I'd describe it as an excellent data-cable, 26AWG, measured to be CAT.7-compliant by LinkWare, one of the best standard Ethernet cables I've ever used

- DH Labs Silversonic Reunion CAT8 1m, price ~$185
Reunion Cat8 Ethernet – DH Labs Silver Sonic
Light years away from the above data-cable. HiFi-oriented, 10% silver-coated OFHCC conductors, double-shielded, sturdy connectors

- Audioquest Diamond CAT.7 RJ/E 0,75m, price ~$1000
Diamond · RJ/E Ethernet · Digital Cables · Cables · AudioQuest
Stellar quality, solid 100% Silver conductors, 72 volts "DBS" shield-bias system and other hi-tech features that make it be part of the three or four best HiFi Ethernet cables in the world

The differences in the perceived audio quality by alternating the three cables are rock-solid clear to my hearing and brain.
I can discern each cable in a double-blind test. That could have been made easier being the cables clearly spaced each other quality-speaking.

The story : my music server used to be a one-box solution by Antipodes Audio, named "EX".
When I added the second box named "CX" the server splitted into a two-box solution :
CX as server and EX as renderer (connected to my DAC using the externally re-clocked USB-to-S/PDIF Antipodes P2).
CX and EX are connected with an Ethernet cable. So I was suddenly thrown into the fray of the Ethernet cables applied to HiFi.

At first I didn't have any special cable on hand (I found myself unprepared!) and I used the apparently good $8 CSA Cat.6a data-cable.
The sound was acceptable. I can't say I couldn't listen to my system with this cable also because the two-box solution for the music server brought its dose of improvement.
However I could say the sound was lacking refinement and depth, it was too flat and shot in the face although "not-so-bad overall",
most probably since a wrong Ethernet cable can't demolish the sound of a good system in full.

However I perfectly knew I had to follow the recommendations of mr Mark Jenkins of Antipodes Audio
and I immediately ordered the DH Labs Silversonic Reunion CAT8. When I received it it was such an exceptional step forward after just 1 second of use and zero burn-in time, just like a lighning.
This cable taught me what a HiFi-oriented Ethernet cable can do to the sound of good system : it can trasform it and bring it to the next level.
Anyone could hear that, in my system at least!

If you encounter such an experience and you're an audiophile you can't stop looking for an even better cable.
I read this thread and I ask for an advice on the Shunyata Sigma, Audioquest Diamond and Wireworld Starlight Platinum.
The reply arrives late and I can't find the Shunyata near here and so I decide to go for the Audioquest Diamond
in place of Wireworld on the basis of other reviews.

When the Audioquest Diamond RJ/E gets here the already-excellent sound turns lifelike, palpable, three-dimensional, real.
You can see the layers of the sound, you could almost touch the singer and the instruments.
Anything gets liquid and solid at the same time. The midrange is a window where you can look into.
Every single bass note is recognizable, everything is at its place. This is a HiEnd cable that does its bloody job.
I could assign almost all 10's to the Audioquest Diamond but I trust who says the Shunyata Sigma can go even further.

Next stop is Shunyata.

Keep tuned!

My votes to the three tested cables :



Gianluca

 

Can you describe the methodology you used to ensure the tests were double-blind?

 

What double-blind methodology did you use? How many tests? How did you ensure that you didn't know what cable you were hearing? Based on the numerical results, what is the statistical likelihood that it's a meaningful result?

You'll excuse my doubt, but double-blind has a very specific meaning and a statement like yours should be easy to back up with your actual study. And as somebody who's been in the computer business for decades and understands networking (I deal with terrabytes of data every day), I am an ethernet-cable skeptic. Especially when such dramatic results come from somebody whose entire forum history is six posts in an ethernet-cable thread.

 

This is in the digital domain....should be pretty simple for someone to post measured differences

 

The actors were : I blindfolded, my father changing the cables (he's almost totally detcahed from HiFi, I just told him what to do), same track "Nouela-Black_Hole_Sun".

We worked in pairs of cables : standard and Silversonic, standard and Audioquest, Audioquest and Silversonic. My father knew he could trick me and disconnect and reconnect the same cable (and he did it several times).

The problem was the cable switching took my father about 2 minutes to switch both music server units off, disconnect the cable, reconnect the cable, swtich the units on and let them boot up, relaunch Roon and play the track.
That had to make things more difficult for me but I made zero mistakes in the standard and Silversonic session, zero mistakes in the standard and Audioquest session and two mistakes in the Audioquest and Silversonic session.
Every session had 8 cable changes. I was blindfolded for each session with some rest between a session and the other.

It was rather funny (for my father, as well) although it wasn't the perfect double-blind test you'll certainly say. But I wasn't there to convince myself and anyone else, I did it just for fun.

I'm sorry to have few posts in this forum but it happens, I'll make up for lost time.

If your system has the proper resolution and the proper components chain you have to distinguish sonic differences between two Ethernet cables of different quality carrying digital audio signal (i.e. analog signals that carry digital information).

Gianluca

 

So not quite double-blind, and it couldn’t be published in a serious scientific paper, but neither can the other tests that have been touted by some among the crowd that is blessed with not having to bother with the gift of doubt. Unless you have made some additional methodological error, your experiment is quite convincing. However, my expectation is that this will simply be ignored by said crowd. They usually go silent when they are faced with rebuttals of some substance.

Interesting findings.

 

And in 4K!

 

Is this an April fools joke?
Not sure if this guy is being serious or not.