Recommended network components

[lejonklou]

C is wireless, D is wired

Interesting!

I listened to A B C D again using Apple Airpods Max. I still think A>B and C>D.

[matthias]

Can someone explain why "wired" was preferred in the AB clips?
BTW, I am happy that "wireless" seems to be more musical.

[springwood64]

I don't have an explanation, but an observation. When connected wired, I prefer the sound of the Netgear located downstairs next to the router.

For the wireless set up, I moved the Netgear upstairs, powered next to the Amplifi HD

[macrotech2]

There are so many variables involved in different networks, I think it’s always going to be the case of finding what works best for you in your network.

Another factor to consider. In the Amplifi network which Amplifi is your source IPad device connected to? My iPad can see both Amplifis but I reckon it sounds better connected to the one nearest the system. Look in Devices in the Amplifi app to check.

Also what about setting a fixed IP for the source iPad?

[ThomasOK]

What you want is the Blue Jeans CAT 6a in 8.5 ft length, wherever it fits.

Thanks. 3 are winging their way to me from the US.

Thanks everyone for contributions to this thread: listening this morning to a Beatles album I've known for decades, and it sounds so fresh and alive. I'm really enjoying the improvement this network fiddling has brought.

I have three more winging their way to me from the US as well (or maybe trucking their way - shorter trip). Can't hurt to have a spare or two around and I'm planning on a healthy redo of my network. Just for the heck of it I ordered three different colors. Now I won't know if one sounds better just because it was made better or because of the color!

[Defender]

What you want is the Blue Jeans CAT 6a in 8.5 ft length, wherever it fits.

Thanks. 3 are winging their way to me from the US.

Thanks everyone for contributions to this thread: listening this morning to a Beatles album I've known for decades, and it sounds so fresh and alive. I'm really enjoying the improvement this network fiddling has brought.

I have three more winging their way to me from the US as well (or maybe trucking their way - shorter trip). Can't hurt to have a spare or two around and I'm planning on a healthy redo of my network. Just for the heck of it I ordered three different colors. Now I won't know if one sounds better just because it was made better or because of the color!

My blue one Blue Jeans cable sounds better than my white Blue Jeans Cable … which makes sense if you think about it.
But I have two other blue Blues Jeans Cables which sound worst than the white and the first of the blue.

[matthias]

My blue one Blue Jeans cable sounds better than my white Blue Jeans Cable … which makes sense if you think about it.
But I have two other blue Blues Jeans Cables which sound worst than the white and the first of the blue.

All have the same lengths?

[Defender]

here is an example of two recordings of two different cables feeding the first Amplifi HD the one closest to the modem:

Cabel 1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gplgnv276sv41 ... 6.mov?dl=0

Cabel 2
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sbrz3zuj9z9z6 ... 4.mov?dl=0

[Defender]

yes all Blue Jeans cables have the same length-I think I hear even differences between Blue Jeans cables

[ThomasOK]

Fredrik did say somewhere above that there were musical differences between different BJC cables. Considering that there are musical differences between different Linn Silver interconnect cables of the same style this doesn't surprise me. There are always what would seem like minuscule differences in the construction of anything having to do with music reproduction, but they can and usually do make audible musical differences.

[ThomasOK]

I like Cabel 2 better,

[matthias]

Cabel 2 too

[lejonklou]

It’s worth noting that although the Blue Jeans Cat 6a cables were ordered in the same length, they can differ a bit in practice. This is due to the Cat 6a standard being difficult to pass, so after they have terminated it, they measure and if it doesn’t pass, they cut it off and reterminate.

[ThomasOK]

Oh, great! We know precise cable length never makes a difference, don't we Fredrik? ;-)

[springwood64]

Cabel 1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gplgnv276sv41 ... 6.mov?dl=0

Cabel 2
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sbrz3zuj9z9z6 ... 4.mov?dl=0

I prefer cabel 2

[matthias]

Oh, great! We know precise cable length never makes a difference, don't we Fredrik? ;-)

Haha, so a 8.5 feet cable might end up at 2,48 meters :-)

[lejonklou]

I think it’s more likely they are a bit longer, because they add some extra in case they need to reterminate.

[markiteight]

Oh, great! We know precise cable length never makes a difference, don't we Fredrik? ;-)

Haha, so a 8.5 feet cable might end up at 2,48 meters :-)

I custom ordered 2.5m cables from BJC. The custom nature of the order means their return policy does not apply and they incurred a nominal additional charge. At the time the recommendation was "as close to 2.5m as possible", so I figured why not order 2.5m? Anyone want to try them against their 8.5ft cables? I'm curious to know if 2.5m is better or worse than 8.5ft.

[lejonklou]

I never did an exact comparison of lengths, so that could be interesting. I tried a handful of BJC Ca 6a lengths and the most musical of them was 252 cm. I think the closest in length were around 2.3 and 2.7 or 2.8 m. The differences weren’t big and could also have been due to other variations, like termination.

So we don’t have a precise number, but I think close enough. Experiences with other brands have always pointed to 3 m being better than 1, 2 or 5 m. Every time. And “too long” has always been preferable to “too short”. Therefore I settled for 8.5 feet, which is 2.59 m.

[Defender]

thank you for all which have given feedback - I will give more information after this test:


Cable red
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ohpm5c7h4e1u ... 1.mov?dl=0

Cable green
https://www.dropbox.com/s/djtwat76hv5tq ... 4.mov?dl=0

[tokenbrit]

thank you for all which have given feedback - I will give more information after this test:


Cable red
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ohpm5c7h4e1u ... 1.mov?dl=0

Cable green
https://www.dropbox.com/s/djtwat76hv5tq ... 4.mov?dl=0

Green wasn't a go for me. Didn't want red to stop...

[lejonklou]

thank you for all which have given feedback - I will give more information after this test:


Cable red
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ohpm5c7h4e1u ... 1.mov?dl=0

Cable green
https://www.dropbox.com/s/djtwat76hv5tq ... 4.mov?dl=0

Definitely red for me

[Defender]

o.k. I dont want to let you wait too long with the conclusion of those cables it is somehow consistent with my findings but there is still a surprise.

Cable green and Cable 1 are the same and it seems that cable although a Blue Jeans Cable is different and is not performing at the same level as the other cables. It is 2.67m long but I dont think the length is the issue.

Cable red is also a Blue Jeans cable and its length is 2.66m. I don’t think the 1cm difference is justifying the performance difference so there must be other factors.

The real surprise/controversy is Cable 2 which is not a Blue Jeans cable and it is not even close to the 2,50 length - I don’t know the orgin of it but I think it came as accessory with a different device (Router, Modem or NAS drive).
It is a SUNF Cat5e cable which is 1.91m long.

but what I might do in case you are interested I can test both the better Blue Jeans and the Sunf cat5e at a higher ranking position between Amplifi 2 => GS108

I didn’t wanted to bother you with another test because we so far did not compared the Cable red (Blue Jens) to the Cable 2 (SUNF).

In case you are interested I can compare the Cable red (Blue Jens) with the Cable 2 (Sunf) at a higher ranking place in the network for example Amplifi 2 => GS108 to check if the SUNF cable is even more musical than the better Blue Jeans Cable

[springwood64]

That is fascinating: thanks for sharing.

I am personally surprised that I have been able to reliably hear distinct differences between networking cables and components. I'd read about them in different threads but until I tested the Ampifi HDs I had not heard differences that were on a par with a source improvement.

I guess the wider lesson is that networking set up is very influential, and while there are some reasonably well established practices or recommendations, there is still a benefit from individual tuning of all the components in the chain.

[tokenbrit]

o.k. I dont want to let you wait too long with the conclusion of those cables it is somehow consistent with my findings but there is still a surprise.

Cable green and Cable 1 are the same and it seems that cable although a Blue Jeans Cable is different and is not performing at the same level as the other cables. It is 2.67m long but I dont think the length is the issue.

Cable red is also a Blue Jeans cable and its length is 2.66m. I don’t think the 1cm difference is justifying the performance difference so there must be other factors...

Interesting...
Are they both the recommended Cat 6a BJCs?
Do they have similar test/pass results for headroom & resistance?
(I know these aren't measurements for predicting musicality ;)
As a 'nod' to ThomasOK, are they the same colour? :)