HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Yes- big difference- Spotify is much better too

Golden rule: Always hardwire your musical network if that's at all possible.

slinger wrote: ↑Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:39 pm Excellent post, Lindsay. I chose Cat 6a as my "basic" Ethernet cable for the audio setup even though Blue Jeans make 5e, 6, and 6a cables. I thought I might as well go for their "top end" cable. I ruled Cat 5e out because it's unshielded and rightly or wrongly I chose Cat 6a over plain old 6 just because I could. Choosing Blue Jeans was a no-brainer. I know that one shouldn't put too much stock in the load of old codswallop written on most company websites but what Blue Jeans have to say made a lot of sense to me. In fact, it only took the first paragraph really...

The vast majority of cables sold as Category 6 or 6a, whether in brick-and-mortar establishments or online, simply do not meet the Category 6 or 6a specifications; we've put a lot of samples of a lot of other manufacturers' product through proper certification testing, and cables that actually pass spec are unusual. In fact, it's not uncommon for cables that are sold as "Cat 6" to even fail to meet Cat 5e specifications. Vendors get away with misrepresenting Ethernet patch cord performance because the average consumer isn't in a position to buy the $10,000 worth of gear it'll take to check his purchase against the spec. Here at Blue Jeans Cable we don't want to have anything to do with misrepresenting spec compliance -- every Ethernet patch cable we sell comes with its own individual test report, run on a Fluke DTX-1800 certification tester, showing that it meets or exceeds the applicable spec. If it doesn't, we won't sell it.

They also have Belden make up their bulk cable to their own specs. I've never heard a bad word about Belden, or Blue Jeans come to that.

It all, eventually, came back to my original decision to place more value on construction quality than fancy specs which actually far exceed anything one might need to pump music round a network and make it sound good.

Fake networking cables.
Yes, they are very much a thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojFPdg7DGvk

For general PC use, fake cables will work fine.
For high data transfer rates over long lengths, or for POE on things like CCTV systems I'd trust them as far as I could swallow them.


And yes, copper or fibre connections are faster, more reliable and more secure than wireless connections.

Having just installed an Apple airport express as as a switch linked to the VM hub by cat7; it has a USB port that is for a printer etc- i don’t use it and wondered if a jitterbug would be worth considering- from previous posts above I believe it can be plugged in ‘passive’ ?

I do have a Jitterbug inthe USB port of my network central router. At the time I felt that there was a subtle improvement in audio throughout the system. Have left it in place.

Severely tempted by Audioquest Coffee USB at the moment.
There is a 2nd-hand one going for 200 euros here in The Netherlands.

You must fight with your inner conscience for a little while....................................and then give in

It's that or the Inakustik Reference USB. Only 300 euros for 75cm length.



A pittance.

Somebody shoot me... please.

The trouble is that when you sit in an upgrade loop, then you simply know that things can sound just that little bit better - but only if you throw some serious money into a seemingly unimportant component.

Like a USB cable.

Looking at things now, it would seem that the link between the Wyrd and the DAC could be the place where a better quality lead can make an improvement. The cleaned and stabilised signal output from the Schiit decrappifier is the final step before the digital to analogue conversion takes place and that is where you want the least possible influence from an intervening cable.

The AQ Coffee is heavily shielded, has 10% pure silver coating on the massive copper signal wires and features a special device that actively prevents the possibility of any radio-wave distortion occuring within the lead.

Inakustik Reference USB blurb:
The Reference USB 2.0 cable has been designed especially for low-loss HD audio streaming. The data lines consist of fine, separately lacquer-insulated copper wires (high speed conductors). In combination with the high-quality materials, they reduce the jitter effects that particularly affect the sound quality when streaming audio data. Sensitive data is additionally protected by 4-fold shielding. Extremely generously proportioned cables for the power supply of e.g. external hard drives minimize voltage fluctuations. Even with particularly long cables, they ensure that the peripheral devices function perfectly and therefore data is transferred with low error rates. The product is rounded off by the high-quality Reference USB plug and the precise manufacturing.

2 totally different approaches here with AQ's silver and gadgetry versus Inakustik's delicacy and engineering.

I wonder if my friendly local shop might arrange a loan?

Fretless wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:07 pm The trouble is that when you sit in an upgrade loop, then you simply know that things can sound just that little bit better - but only if you throw some serious money into a seemingly unimportant component.

It must be catching. I have today ordered a iFi Audio i Purifier3. The very noticable effect the recent upgrades I have made to the chain prior to the Mscaler and DAC, as well as Amazon's return policy, were the spur. Did quite a bit of reading up and it seems to work well with Chord DACs and in combination with a Jitterbug. The small size and no requirement for additional cabaling are big plus points. It will connect the AQ Carbon to the Mscaler with the JB making the connection to the streamer.