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I recently visited a dealer who had two dedicated Ethernet cables direct from his router installed. One was a Cat7. The other a Cat8. He didn’t use either of them because he found the Cat 6 heused before the others sounded better.
Lesson learned; try before you buy. If a dealer can’t demo the improvements they make, try a different dealer.
Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,
Dynaudio C1 MkII.
Jim Smith's GBS.
Northern NSW Australia.
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I make mine the Pim word. Try first, in your equipment, if possible.
Sometimes it is not a matter of quality (price) but sinergy between your gear and the cables.
Mac mini with Roon, Devialet 220 Pro CI, Transparent Ultra G5 speaker cables, Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition and a pair of ears.
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Been using Audioquest Diamond now for 8 years with my Devialet. Does it make a difference when compared to a regular ethernet cable ? You bet it does. And you can so easily hear it. And how did I arrive at Audioquest Diamond ? Was able to compare other ethernet cables with this cable at a dealer years back. The difference was immediate.
Shunyata's have good reviews BUT you must hear them. If you're convinced, then only take a decision.
Roon Nucleus w/ Hypsos PSU & AQ Tornado + Roon RAAT > AQ Diamond ETH > etherREGEN using SFP + Hypsos PSU | CEC TL-5 CD Transport + AQ Z3 + 3 x Orea Indigo > AQ Diamond AES/EBU
Wattson Emerson Digital w/ Farad Super-3 via AQ Wild AES > Devialet 440-Pro CI > AQ Wel Sig RCA-XLR | 6 x Orea Bronze, 2 x Synergistic Research Atmosphere PC |
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Just a tip. Price has no bearing on audio quality anymore and that especially goes for cables. I blind tested a $1500 streamer against a $18000 streamer and the cheaper one was easily the better one. That observation was later seconded by my best mate. (also blind)
When it comes to Ethernet cables, a $5 Cat 6A foiled and shielded cables is vastly better to transfer audio data than it needs to be. A simple $0.50 Cat 5 cable can even do that job. There will be no loss of data with either cable. So, the difference can only be in the interference from outside and transfer of noise from you router or switch. The cable that does that best could well be just the $5 one.
If I were you, I'd at least buy a cheap but well made Cat 6A cable and take that with you as a baseline. Too many companies just get you to compare up their own line, but how do you know their 'lesser' cables aren't just inferior to begin with, just so their more expensive cables compare as better?
Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,
Dynaudio C1 MkII.
Jim Smith's GBS.
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May I ask, which 2 streamers you tested?
Devialet Expert Pro 250 - Marantz NA-11S1 - B&W Nautilus 803 D3
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(12-Dec-2024, 18:45)Lindiman Wrote: May I ask, which 2 streamers you tested?
The Holo Audio RED and Cary Audio DMS-700
I do have to add that the Cary doesn't have a balanced digital output so it could very well be that I was comparing the AES input against the RCA input of the Expert.
The practical outcome stays; I kept the RED because it just sounded more like real music.
Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,
Dynaudio C1 MkII.
Jim Smith's GBS.
Northern NSW Australia.
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Thank you very much for this information. I didn’t know, that the Cary Audio is that expensive. 😮
The RED really seems to be a very unique piece of streamer.
Devialet Expert Pro 250 - Marantz NA-11S1 - B&W Nautilus 803 D3
