Ethernet Connection

Huge posted:

Indeed Mr Rooster, that's all I advocate, compare a number of cheap generic cables to some 'audiophile' cables and see which one wins; sometimes it will be one of the audiophile cables, sometimes it'll be a generic cable.  One should try all the cables one already has, you might be surprised.

In your case it was the audiophile cable that won the comparison; in my case it was a cheap generic cable; for anyone else... well who knows, you just have to test them and see which one(s) you like.

For now i am very pleased with what i have, tested already 5 other ( audioquest forrest, audioquest vodka, meicord, hana ....) and finally i choose vodka from router to switch and 2 audioquest diamond for unitserve and nds.

Some here had generic cables and finally kept chord indigo, music or audioquest diamond. 

Some like you preferred genereric cables .     With speakers cables it is sometimes the same:  some prefer the “ generic “ naca 5, other some more exotic.

I advocate nothing personally, just share my experience.  

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Suppose everyone is different, but like MR ROOSTER, i went CAT5 (Manky found lying around), Amazon (£5), Supra CAT7, Chord C Stream, Ghent Audio 6a, Chord Indigo Aray, Meicord and also home demo'd the AQ Vodka.

I do plan to ABA the Miecord vs Chord C Stream and Amazon £5, but to be honest when i swapped it with the Ghent i just found it more natural, flowing and dynamic, i put it down to no screening.

By far the Chord Aray cables to me offer the "organic" and life like presentation, i found these more than most box upgrades.

I am currently looking seriously at removing my fibre bridge and buying a Chord Sarum (to streamer) and retain the the Chord Indigo (to switch).

As mentioned in many threads, ask you dealer for a home demo, sadly i struggled to find a dealer near me offering anything more that a C stream as a home demo.

French Rooster posted:

Some here had generic cables and finally kept chord indigo, music or audioquest diamond. 

Some like you preferred genereric cables .     With speakers cables it is sometimes the same:  some prefer the “ generic “ naca 5, other some more exotic.

Can i ask what a ‘generic’ cable is? Not aware of such a term. Are we talking about TIA or ISO certified cables? As I can only recommend such cables for reliable data transfer and optimum operation of connected devices. But these come in severeal shapes and sizes to meet specific requirements and conditions... I can’t think what generic might mean in this case.. other than not having bling like consumer packaging and a price tag to match.

You get what you pay for - pay more that £2 per metre - get ripped -off !

I have changed cables more time than I can remember never those silly ones though and currently have bought two used  Cisco 2960 switches as they are so talked about on here . Have I noticed any difference with my Uniti Atom. Hell no! Still sounds the same as with all the other kit I had, which is excellent. Don't bother worrying about ethernet cables and switches, plug it in and enjoy the music. 

Curious as to why you keep changing Ethernet patch leads if on your system you hear no differences... and why did you buy two not one catalyst switches if again on your system it makes no discernible difference when connected to your streamer... remember for those than can hear a difference the benefit comes from the physical link layer .. and so only predominately  affects the direct connection between streamer and switch.

I decided to use one brand  QED CAT cables , they looked good quality plugs etc   5 x £22 . plugged and forgot about them 

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Curious as to why you keep changing Ethernet patch leads if on your system you hear no differences... and why did you buy two not one catalyst switches if again on your system it makes no discernible difference when connected to your streamer... remember for those than can hear a difference the benefit comes from the physical link layer .. and so only predominately  affects the direct connection between streamer and switch.

A lot of time just reusing them elsewhere or because I moved the streamer and needed a different length but most recently (talking a few weeks) curiosity. I bought 2 of the Cisco switches as I have 2 listening zones that have other networked devices as well. I was after another switch any way as I recently managed to hardwire my main listening room as I had been using Ubiquiti wireless. I ended up having to run an external CAT6  cable outside the house which was no easy task. Found switched at £45 each so it was rude not to and everyone raves on about them. The other one just replaced a cheap 4 port switch I use in my 2nd zone which is using a wireless bridge, but being replaced today with a wire so this gives me more ports and will likely be more stable as the tp link used to lock up frequently. 

Switching from wireless to wired made no difference to the SQ either, which I already new would be the case as I had experimented with this early in the year by just running a long cable through the house as test.