

So do Ethernet cables have their own sound? - sz4kerto
http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/audioquest-ethernet-cables-pt2-ethernet-cable

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zizzer
I went back to part 1 and looked at his conclusion...it's painful to read.
Here's an excerpt:

"Beats me why music files differ, but they do! The only explanation I can come
up with is that the zero and one values represent a lower and higher voltage
in the cable and in the sender or receiver. This is actually an analogue
signal when we look at it on a scope. We audiophiles agree that cables sound
different with analogue signals, so why not with Ethernet data? Next, any
interface for Ethernet has a correction circuit for errors. With many errors
this interface has to work hard, that will result in a greater need for
current from the power supply and the processor heating up. A bad cable, or
one that easily picks up interference, introduces a lot of errors so that
might be the cause of a change in sound quality. "

An audiophile and his money are soon parted it seems.

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radiowave
Oddly enough I've heard of location sound guys using CAT5 cable to carry
analogue mic signals back to the sound recorder, largely because it's cheap
and readily available on location. Their impression was that it was basically
fine, so long as you have decent transformers at each end.

The audiophile folks would pass out cold if they ever learned about all the
things that the signal goes through before it reaches their precious
enclave...

~~~
sz4kerto
Using CAT5 as analogue cable is fine, it's a cheap, high-quality, low
impedance cable. But this article is talking about TCP transmission, sadly
enough :(

~~~
radiowave
Right, though for a lot of audio guys it's a bit unnerving to be working with
unshielded cable.

~~~
dfox
It's worth to note that with balanced signals, many problems (hum, some kinds
of induced EMI...) that tend to be attributed by audio guys to poor shielding
would not exist if there were no shielding at all.

------
sz4kerto
Sorry for bringing the topic up again, but this might be the 'ultimate'
article.

"So do Ethernet cables have their own sound? This is no longer a question but
a statement. The cable between switches is less important than the ones
connected to the end points (NAS and/or streaming device), but a decent type
like the AudioQuest Carbon is certainly worth the price in high end systems."

~~~
dagw
My favorite bit (talking about a setup where your music server sound card is
plugged directly into your DAC): "In that case only commands are send over the
LAN and access to the internet is limited to metadata and covers. A decent
CAT-5 like Pearl will be fine"

So the author is at least willing to concede that spending much more than £30
for a 1.5 meter network cable doesn't add much to the vibrance, color and
quality of the downloaded album covers and metadata.

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micheljansen
Is this a particular strain of satire that I'm not in on or is this supposed
to be serious? Genuinely can't tell.

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PinguTS
Sorry to say, but that is complete BS from the technical point of view.

May he should have talked to an electrical engineer first, before writing this
BS.

There are 2 things the quality of an Ethernet cable has an influence: jitter
on the cable and signal quality in terms of that the Ethernet frame may be
recognized as corrupted has to be repeated, which again comes down to jitter.
Jitter is also introduced by the communication that goes on in parallel. As
the Ethernet cable has no influence on the data itself (bit flips are covered
by the CRC) there can be no influence at the higher layers at. If that would
be the case you couldn't trust any communication at all.

~~~
pdpi
You're preaching to the choir, mate.

------
chrisBob
Those are some beautiful cables. Perhaps nice cables make your music sound
better the same way stickers make your car faster.

They also make USB cables, and Best Buy will sell you a $125 iPod (30 pin)
cable if you are interested. Really though: if someone makes 20x as much as I
do each month, then why shouldn't they spend 20x as much on a cable. Isn't
that the American Dream? This review is providing a service: helping to keep
the 1% from feeling like idiots while they figure out what to do with their
disposable income. Deep down they know it just looks nicer, but this lets them
justify it. You know, like fine wine, or a Porsche (pronounced with an 'Ah' at
the end).

------
ohwp
When I first read the article I was thinking that analog audio was send over
those cables. I could not believe the article is about digital signals.

It's amazing how some people are fooling themselves.

------
jamesbrownuhh
Can't trust a word of this unless we can be sure that the reviewer is using
proper Audiophile-grade Ethernet switches. I hope they review some of those
soon. :)

Actually, surely the presence of two switches in the network has already
fatally compromised the ease and sonic presence of the soundstage... Or other
such bollocks.

------
GrinningFool
Reminds me of: [http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Cable-
Version/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Cable-
Version/dp/B000I1X6PM)

It's now discontinued, it used to be $1000 then $500. The reviews are
priceless.

------
thu
Notice the prices at the bottom of the article. This seems to be the product
page for the most expensive one:
[http://www.audioquest.com/ethernet/diamond](http://www.audioquest.com/ethernet/diamond)

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bigB
It would sound even better if he freezes the cable first :)

Seriously though, i would have expected the author to have some basic
knowledge of digital signals. Audiophiles are are different breed of people I
guess.

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andrewcooke
love the racism(?) at the end - "We should have expected a famous cable
manufacturer to make its best sounding cable the most expensive, but this is
not always the case I can assure you. Sometimes cables are made more and more
expensive for export markets and the increased price has nothing to do with
sound quality."

because only those dumb foreigners buy cables because they are expensive...

~~~
lucian1900
"Foreigners" are not necessarily of a different race.

------
fnordfnordfnord
> _AudioQuest proved to me that we still have honest manufacturers around the
> globe._

That's got to be my favorite.

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jstelly
I'm glad to see all of the comments here. I briefly thought this article was
written specifically to troll me personally.

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hcarvalhoalves
Let's create a class on Coursera: Analog and Digital signals for Audiophiles

