Chord Ethernet cables

That sounds like systems apartheid to me: those at the bottom of the Naim tree gazing  at those at the top but unable to comment. If you don't like being bothered by the hoi polloi, just move to the Rolex forum or somewhere more fitting.

Anyway, as a humble SuperUniti owner, and therefore barred from commenting on top flight systems, I can say with complete confidence that audioquest cinnamon cables (which at £65 each are just about affordable if I go without food for a few days) provide a big improvement. I can do this because I've bought some. As to whether the Sarum is any good, I am not allowed to express an opinion.

I wonder what cables Cymbiosis will use when he finds new premesis? I think what ever Peter installs will be good enough

What an odd post.

Because I run a DAC V1 and NAP 100 with over forty year old speakers from Quad, should I be excluded - in you view of the Forum - from commenting on more expensive Naim speakers or the a 500 series set-up  ... ?

What if I have experience of them, and can offer help and relevant opinion? What if I can make some pertinent musical observation, even if do not intend [or cannot afford] to buy the pieces concerned?

Would you wish that I did not post such comments. I rarely do, but when I do, I don't feel the need to seek your approval.

Your post adds nothing of value itself, and cannot be answered in a constructive debating sense, or even in terms  of offering help.

ATB from George 

George,

We don't often see you fired up like this, I hope all is well with you.

(This post, incidentally, is an example of one of those made to boost my ranking and is probably of no use nor ornament to other forum members... for which I offer my appologies)

Roger

bump. (ratings go up). 

George,

I have a great respect for your contributions to the forum.

In all of your "what if" statements… you would offering (from a genuine place) value...

personal knowledge, experience et all IS offering value...

My comments are directed at those who judge or give an opinion with no basis of personal knowledge…  I find it very difficult to take someone seriously if they are giving advice on anything… if they themselves have no experience with it.

For many a while I have personally kept quiet on the forum and as my system has grown, as I have tinkered as I have worked up the upgrade chain, only now do I comment when it can be productive, helpful.

Even this thread of mine, I hope some will find useful, specifically… my request is "please don't weigh in on something you know nothing about…."

Thank you George for asking…  I respectfully hope members find my contributions helpful.

Well said George and HH.

I haven't as yet tried different ethernet cables but respect the opinions of people who have and have found a difference.

I have learned to be open minded with such things. 25 years or so ago I recall spending a whole afternoon with my dealer who had turned his hand to making speakers. We spent the afternoon listening to the differences a short length (2 inches) of speaker braid made, different sizes and directions. It was facinating and repeatable. So why not ethernet cables making a difference?

Richard

I read the first page of this and knew my crappy Cat 5 that was 15' needed an update.  I relocated the Netgear and bought the shortest Diamond. Wow! great audiophile is worth it, just the quality in your hand.  On plug in the sound was much more present.

It was a splurge, but escrow closes on my folks house tomorrow and I'll get executor fees.  I feel  2 years of hard paperwork I was worth it, no comparison needed.

Compare a standard cheap amp to Naim, it makes a difference. I also know what a tight budget is, tho I feel I've achieved a level of sound I'm happy with in the long run.  This shifting from CDP to Hard Drive is exhausting.

Without quoting Mudwolf's post I find myself in a similar situation.  I have been following this thread off and on since inception however I have yet to demo or do anything.  Perhaps now is the time to try.  Please humour me and listen (and comment) on my reasoning.

My current setup is comprised of an external hard drive feeding an iMac (no NAS for this guy) feeding a KDS.  The only catch is that the iMac is located downstairs and there is a 100-150 foot run of CAT5 (not even 5e!) connecting it with a switch located in the upstairs stereo room. A generic 3 foot ethernet cable then goes from the switch to the KDS.

In the past I have maintained that "a bit is just a bit" and if cables made a difference then "the blacks would be blacker on the pages from the printer" (to quote another poster above) I will allow that some of the explanations presented (reduction of external vibrations, signal pollutants etc.) do make sense.

My initial thoughts are to first purchase a Mac Mini (external hard drive attached) and locate it in the stereo room.  By doing this I will eliminate a 150' run of CAT5 - hopefully that move alone will yield something?  I then plan on trying one of these cables and going directly from the Mac Mini to the KDS - completely eliminating the use of a switch.  If I correctly understand some of the comments made in this thread, and the comments attributed to Chord, it is the last leg of the ethernet connection which is the most important.  In my particular scenario I will go from two ethernet cables - totaling approximately 100-150 feet - to a single 3 foot cable from the Mac Mini to the KDS direct without any switch .

Make sense?

Before splurging on a Sarum cable (I currently run Sarum between the KDS & Urika to the 552) I might try a more affordable version for the purpose of testing - perhaps one of the Audioquest cables?  Which flavor?

Best

Gregg

Why not just replace that last bit and leave everything else unchanged?  I have Audioquest Cinnamon and I think it might sound better but can't really tell.

Hi Gregg,

Like you, I have Sarum TA from KDS and Urika to the 552 so I think we probably share an appreciation for what Sarum can do.  I suspect therefore that you'd find the Sarum Ethernet cable to be something of a revelation should you have the chance to try it.

In the meantime, your suggestions look pretty sound to me and as it'll just be a 3 foot length you'll need, you could perhaps experiment with a couple of the more affordable options to see what happens. (For the timebeing) I'm using Meicord Opal, a metre of which was about £65 ($100), but any of the Audioquest cables from Forest upwards should be available at better prices in the States than over here. I wouldn't go too pricey though as, once you start the experiment, you'll want to hear a Sarum and that'll be it....

Cheers

Dave

In the same way that the sun going round the earth made sense to people 500 years ago.

Chord C Stream is £40 Gregg. And it makes a difference.

That £40 is for 0.75m

But thinking house install cabling,  C Stream is only £90 for 10m - all the cost in the termination - so if you are in Sarum TA territory it might be worth thinking C Stream for house install cables if you have  a long run somewhere & want to go for more than the bog stnd off the roll Cat5 or Cat6. 

But I still recon Supra Cat7a beats all  

Thanks for some of the replies.

Replacing a 100-150' run through the walls is not feasible - it would be quite a pain in the a**

It still sounds like moving the computer/hard drive to the stereo room might be a better solution as it will eliminate a) a lengthy run of cable b) a lengthy run of "bad" out of date cat5 cable.

I would also think that eliminating a switch from the mix would be a good thing.

A quick check of Amazon shows AudioQuest Cinnamon to be quite affordable over here at around $70 - good for a test.

Apple Mini's were last updated in 2012.  The Apple developer conference show is next week - people have been clamoring for an updated Mini.  I will see what comes.  I hate to buy a Mini now and have a new one introduced right after.

PS

It has been a while since I have tinkered around with upgrades.  Lets hope it stops with Ethernet cables and I don't find myself reading the Chord Hugo thread........... and binning the KDS 

I have both the Audioquest Cinnamon and the Chord C-Stream.  The C-Stream is far superior and does not cost much more.  

Thanks for that Chris.

My problem is that any Chord cable will be coming from far away  - as a result it is just as easy to have a C-Stream sent as it is a Sarum 

I think the first step is to move everything into the stereo room and get rid of the first 100' of CAT5 - and to go directly into the KDS without use of a switch.

Then the fun can begin 

I know you are running a NDS - tough question however how much of an improvement did the Sarum Ethernet cable make?  Like going from a Lavender to a HiLine?  A PS or Black Box upgrade?  

Moving from Linn Silvers to Sarum was quite a jump for me - somewhere in between the two scenarios mentioned above.

Best

Gregg

PS  any luck on the speaker hunt?

Audioquest Vodka improvement was like from a Lavender to HiLine to me but much more cheaper than Sarum (have not tried, yet). Running with NDS.

I replaced AQ Vodka with a length of C Stream and I think I prefer it. But there'll be plenty swapping before a verdict is reached. There *appears* to be a rather etched quality with Vodka in contrast to an easier, freer flow with C Stream, Early days in the evaluation process though.

I was going for Vodka,  but when I got the call we close today I splurged, I'll have a Vodka or 2 straight up no chaser this evening.

I also prefer the Chord cables to Audioquest. 

But I did not think the Sarum is the best. All things considered, I much preferred the Indigo TA to Sarum, because it gave much of what the Sarum did, but with much better timing. Something seemed to be off for me when listening to what Sarum did.

So I now have 1,5m of Indigo between HDX and the switch and everything else in the chain is C Stream. As good as the Indigo was, everything really came together when I replaced the cable between the router and the switch for Internet radio. I can really hear the difference between standard cable and C Stream at any point in the signal path, which was bad news for my wallet.

Mario

Chaps, interesting.

What kind of price are we saying for the C Stream?

Jason.

I paid £40 for 0.75M which went from switch to NDS. I'm not saying the Vodka is bad but I think the C Stream breathes and flows more nicely. This time next week I may have flipped back! The one constant is that like digital interconnects, you can potentially get different sounding results with Ethernet leads. Right or wrong, explainable or not, it happens.