Ethernet Cables

[CN211276]

Opinion seems to be very much split on this. It appears that the majority favour unshielded whilst there are those who recommend shielded. Of course there are some who say it makes no difference.

I have a long length of shielded Cat 8 connecting the first Cisco switch to the Eno filter. As I had a similar length of unshielded Cat 5e laying around I thought I would make a comparison. There was not a lot of difference but my preference was for the shielded cable. Other factors could well be at play as the shielded cable has far superior connections and seems to be higher quality. A higher quality Cat 6 or 5 unshielded cable, which won't cost the earth, will provide a more appropriate comparison. I will have a look round.

[Latteman]

I have found shielded Cables can interact with certain equipment producing a hum- I have to ‘de-earth’ the plug at my streamer connection- I do prefer to have some form of shielding as I believe it ‘quietens’ the whole system

[CN211276]

Best results I have had are with generic CAT8 cables where, I believe, each internal conductor is individually shielded.

AudioQuest ethernet links are excellent, I have the Forest and Cinnamon in use, the latter giving the smoothest, most 'audiophile' performance.

Long runs in-house between network switches are CAT5e or CAT6. It's the last jump to the streamer that needs a good cable to minimise Jitter.

[CN211276]

A short length of DH Labs audiophile cable connects my NAS to the first switch. The Network Acoustics Eno filter includes a short length of quality cable which connects with the second switch. An optical cable connects the switch to the streamer. There is a long length of ethernet cable in the middle. I have just ordered a Lindy Cat 6 unshielded cable and will see how this compares with the Cat 8 shielded.

[antonio66]

I can highly recommend this one https://melco-audio.com/c100/ but if you're after a long run it may be a little expensive. We paid £115 for a 1metre and 3 of these cables are for sale on another forum at a cheaper price.

[CN211276]

That Melco webpage is annoying. It doesn't state what Cat cable it is.

I'd find it difficult to believe that even the swankiest Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable is better for data transfer than a Farnell's sourced Cat 8 cable (at a fraction of the price).
And what sort of NIC's (Network Interface Cards) to Melco fit on their libraries? What are their max speeds? A 1 GBPS NIC would be an extremely constricting bottleneck when used with 40 GBPS cables.

And then there's fibre cables and NIC's - if you really want to go to town on your network infrastructure...

[CN211276]

The Lindy Cat 6 unshielded cable did not take long to arrive. Immediately there appeared a slight increase in transparency over the Cat 8 shielded Farnels, but this was marred by a hint of brightness. I decided to make another direct comparison a few days later when the cable had settled in. By now the brightness had gone and the improvement over the shielded cable was more noticeable. Unshielded will remain in the system. It seems odd to me that an unshielded cable should sound better than a more impressive looking, stiffer and thicker one. I will leave it to those with greater technical knowledge.

[antonio66]

@CN211276 If you've got a few hours to spare and really want to 'know' about ethernet cables (unshielded or shielded) go on the WhatsBest forum.