It's so Ethereal

[CN211276]

I don’t know if this has been linked before because I’ve not read the whole thread. (Dipped in and out because I am a sceptic when it comes to these digital matters which includes being sceptic that people can actually hear a difference between flac and wav files) Anyway, although totally objective, it makes interesting reading and reinforces my scepticism.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/foru ... iew.10232/

His reviews, especially concerning digital matters, are complete . I sometimes wonder if there is a pair of ears beneath that head contraption. . This is largely based on his review of the AQ Jitterbug which he concludes, after meaningless charts and graphs, only filters your wallet. My ears tell me a different story and I would not be without it in my system. When it comes to music we can hear and precieve more than can be measured.

I am now 100% convinced that ethernet cables do make a difference. Did not have much time for listening after the Cat 8 arrived but enough to be certain that it is a step up from what i was using before which is not bog standard and now connects the PC. I will reort after more listening. The construction quality is very good and I was struck by its thickness and stiffness. I also noticed that it loaded a lengthy play list far quicker than the previous cable.

[TroutFisher]

Well, you’ve dismissed the review based solely on your personal unsubstantiated opinion and you have offered no evidence to support that opinion. Are you suggesting that all the graphs etc are made up?
My ears also work for me and the comparisons you are making between digital cables at the moment are IMHO nonsense. It’s all delusional. I’ve been there and done it. There is no difference other than within some people’s head. Of course, subjectively, even if you think you can hear a difference, then surely in your head you are right. The fact that there is no difference scientifically has no relevance in the world of delusion. That’s psycho-acoustics for you.

[Fretless]

It is surprising to me that I am hearing substantial differences in Ethernet links, just me and my ears.

This is the HiFi hobby and we all go to the lengths we individually want to in order to get the results we are looking for.

If I had heard no differences I wouldn't be bothering to pursue this course even further.

[Latteman]

^+1

[CN211276]

Well, you’ve dismissed the review based solely on your personal unsubstantiated opinion and you have offered no evidence to support that opinion. Are you suggesting that all the graphs etc are made up?

I dismissed his review of the AQ. Jitterbug on the evidence of my ears. To me and others on this forum and elsewhere it does make a difference. Because what it does cannot be measured is neither here nor there. Let us not forget that digital audio has only been around for a short period of time and great strides have been made in the past decade. It seems to me that these strides have left conventional measurement techniques behind.

[savvypaul]

Well, you’ve dismissed the review based solely on your personal unsubstantiated opinion and you have offered no evidence to support that opinion. Are you suggesting that all the graphs etc are made up?
My ears also work for me and the comparisons you are making between digital cables at the moment are IMHO nonsense. It’s all delusional. I’ve been there and done it. There is no difference other than within some people’s head. Of course, subjectively, even if you think you can hear a difference, then surely in your head you are right. The fact that there is no difference scientifically has no relevance in the world of delusion. That’s psycho-acoustics for you.

If you hear a difference - great.
If you dont hear a difference - great.
If you hear a difference and you can work out why - great.
If you hear a difference but you can't work out why - you still heard a difference.

One man's 'psycho-acoustics' is another man's 'closed mind'. In this place, what you hear is what you hear.

[Fretless]

I thought I was going slightly mad, the fact that Ethernet switches / cables can have a major impact in SQ was something I had dismissed previously as irrelevant and unlikely.

What is also interesting is that expensive streaming installations like CN's MicroRendu & MScaler and 'budget' setups like mine both display audible improvements with things like cabling, power supplies etc. Slinger and Latteman as well to name but a few.

Collective insanity ?

It could be that a delusional aspect comes with refusal to believe that there can be a difference because data is data and processing is processing and all digital systems are the same. Certainly the long-running 'Analogue is better than Digital' discussions have caused a degree of polarity but some of us have decided to follow the digi route in search of musical enjoyment - which is what it's all about, innit?

The 'Streamers' listen to digitally-reproduced music and enjoy it without bias or the need to criticise it for being artificial. As audiophiles we like to hear the best reproduction and we do listen critically, sometimes, to how the sound is presented. As a group, we hear the same improving effects and report it here to either share our insanity or confirm to others 'Hey, I hear that too - could there be something in this?'.

We aren't experts with a mass of electronic measuring equipment - but hobbyists with stereos who believe their own ears.

Now, when's that CAT8 cable going to turn up?

[Grumpytim]

Six months ago I would have dismissed this as a load of old.... After all it's just 1's & 0's isn't it? The first improvement for me was the jitterbug, definitely worth a try.

Our system is built around LMS, we have various squeezeboxes, touch's, Pi's, radios, booms and some classics kicking around. The router is a draytek, which was a step up from the one supplied. Six months ago things started to go horribly wrong, drop outs, stalling, all sorts of grief. Due to the nature of our house and a misconception that when I cleared it up made a huge change) We were using a mix of switches and home plugs to get the 1's and 0's to the various devices. Initially swapping home plugs seemed to cure the problem, but this was only short term. We then swapped the switches to the Gigabit unit mentioned earlier, and yes when the system worked, it did sound better. We eventually tracked the problem down to a Cisco wireless AP/switch. We took this out of equation and everything cleaned up dramatically. However the home plugs would still fall over from time to time.
At this point I decided to ditch the home plugs and try wireless for the devices that I couldn't get a cable to. To say that this was a step forward is an understatement.

I'd believed the advice that wired - even via home plug was preferable to wireless. For me the opposite is the case, our dining room system has never sounded better since this change.

Another point to make is that the main system which is connected via switch to the router cleaned up significantly after taking out the malfunctioning unit. If you take the it's 1's and 0's approach than taking something out of the network that was remote and a switch/router removed should make no difference, that was not the case at all.

Based on the goings on here I will be trying a cat 8 cable out in the main system and if I hear an improvement then others will probably follow. Likewise I'll look at replacing the USB cable I use from the Pi to it's DAC.

In terms of the wireless network it's nothing special, it's a draytek 2860 boosted by a couple of netgear boosters and it works. The only point i would make is that all the wireless devices need a good signal strength.

So when I read here that something that cleans up the signal, decrappifies it or whatever improved the sound then I'm more than inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt.

[Fretless]

Is homeplug the system that uses the (noisy) domestic mains wiring to transmit network data?

[Grumpytim]

Indeed, but at the time it seemed the only solution. I can only conclude that our rural mains is somewhat fudged up.