Best sounding LAN cable for DS

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Mitmu
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Mitmu »

Spannko wrote: 2019-11-24 21:14
Mitmu wrote: 2019-11-24 16:58 Also got a pair of BCJ Cat6 cables, must say these are the most tuneful i have had and heard, and for this small money!
Thanks Mitmu. What other Ethernet cables have you tried?
Tried several varieties like:
- QED Performance Ethernet Graphite > very nice for it's price as well.
- AQ Forest, Cinnamon, Vodka > all no.... too hifi-ish
- Belden cat7 > Ok-ish... bit dull
- Belden cat6 > Nice!
- Meicord Opal > Very Nice, used now between modem to router..
- BJC cat6 > My choice!
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Spannko »

Mitmu wrote: 2019-11-25 18:18
Spannko wrote: 2019-11-24 21:14
Mitmu wrote: 2019-11-24 16:58 Also got a pair of BCJ Cat6 cables, must say these are the most tuneful i have had and heard, and for this small money!
Thanks Mitmu. What other Ethernet cables have you tried?
Tried several varieties like:
- QED Performance Ethernet Graphite > very nice for it's price as well.
- AQ Forest, Cinnamon, Vodka > all no.... too hifi-ish
- Belden cat7 > Ok-ish... bit dull
- Belden cat6 > Nice!
- Meicord Opal > Very Nice, used now between modem to router..
- BJC cat6 > My choice!
Interesting. Thanks. I’ve often wondered about the QED cable, cos they seem to be quite a ‘technical’ company.

Does a cable from the modem to the router make much difference? What modem and router do you use, and did you compare modems and routers? And finally, what’s your inside leg measurement? :-0
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Mitmu »

Spannko wrote: 2019-11-25 22:02
Mitmu wrote: 2019-11-25 18:18
Spannko wrote: 2019-11-24 21:14

Thanks Mitmu. What other Ethernet cables have you tried?
Tried several varieties like:
- QED Performance Ethernet Graphite > very nice for it's price as well.
- AQ Forest, Cinnamon, Vodka > all no.... too hifi-ish
- Belden cat7 > Ok-ish... bit dull
- Belden cat6 > Nice!
- Meicord Opal > Very Nice, used now between modem to router..
- BJC cat6 > My choice!
Interesting. Thanks. I’ve often wondered about the QED cable, cos they seem to be quite a ‘technical’ company.

Does a cable from the modem to the router make much difference? What modem and router do you use, and did you compare modems and routers? And finally, what’s your inside leg measurement? :-0
Haha! Modem is the standard one supplied by my cable company, not much I can do about that..... it is a pretty shitty device, but now in bridge mode functioning only as a modem it is doing its job....

Routers have been compared, yes! Had an Apple Extreme 5th gen for years, but at one point my wifi got noticeably slow when watching 4k Netflix for some reason and also the reception in the garden was not great, without any comparison bought a Netgear Orbi Mesh system. Which is absolutely great regarding network stability and reception! :)

With the Apple Extreme I always used a switch since the Apple Extreme directly sounds of absolutely nothing, completely dead music...... So had a Netgear switch with a dedicated Teradak linear power supply, sounded much better then the Extreme on its own. This is where I used the Meicord, from switch to Linn, and is only 3ft long.

Currently I tried the Netgear Orbi with and without switch, and noticed that the Netgear directly, although with the Teradak power supply, is my to go to combo right now and sounds best!

Since the router is not near the audio set I hooked up the Linn directly to the Orbi with a 10ft BJC Cat6, and this sounds best of all combo's!

Both the Meicord and QED cables where a remainder of the previous set up, so without test i used the Meicord between the modem and router, hurts no body I thought! Have not done any test regarding sound improvements it just sounds good! :)
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Spannko »

Excellent. Thank you :-)
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Matteo
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Matteo »

I received the BJC Cat 6a a couple of days ago.

The comparison with my previous Lindy Cat 6 is embarassing.

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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

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Matteo wrote: 2019-11-27 10:40 I received the BJC Cat 6a a couple of days ago.

The comparison with my previous Lindy Cat 6 is embarassing.

M.
In a good way of a bad way...?;)
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Matteo
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Matteo »

Mitmu wrote: 2019-11-27 12:13
Matteo wrote: 2019-11-27 10:40 I received the BJC Cat 6a a couple of days ago.

The comparison with my previous Lindy Cat 6 is embarassing.

M.
In a good way of a bad way...?;)
The BJC is a lot better ... night and day

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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Mitmu »

Matteo wrote: 2019-11-27 12:41
Mitmu wrote: 2019-11-27 12:13
Matteo wrote: 2019-11-27 10:40 I received the BJC Cat 6a a couple of days ago.

The comparison with my previous Lindy Cat 6 is embarassing.

M.
In a good way of a bad way...?;)
The BJC is a lot better ... night and day

M.
Yups, they are really good! Same here! Stunned for the price....
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Re: BJs and Such

Post by Ron The Mon »

Ron The Mon wrote: 2019-11-22 16:43 I have a question:
Have any of you used Blue Jeans Cable service of sending your own (favorite sounding) ethernet cables to them and having them measured? In addition, is there any correlation to these measurements and lengths of the cables?
Ron The Mon,
Years ago I too read about Blue Jeans Cable offering a service where you could send an ethernet cable to them and they could test it and return it to you with the full print-out like they do of their own manufactured cables. I too would be interested in that. I just reviewed their website and apparently they don't offer that service anymore. Also, considering the majority on this forum are not in the United States, it would make it cost prohibitive to measure one or two cables.

In fact, just because a cable you sent to them measures well doesn't mean other same labeled cables will sound as good because the main point Blue Jeans make is most cables are inconsistently assembled. I would stick with Blue Jeans own ethernet cables.

What would interest me is the spec printout of Blue Jeans CAT6A 8.5 feet cable compared to shorter and longer lengths as Fredrik Lejonklou claims 8.5 feet sounds best. Is there a testing corollary comparing length to sound quality?

Thanks for the excellent question Ron!

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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by OscarH »

First of all, apologies if this has been covered elsewhere...

What is the going recommendation for where in the chain to put a LONG cable?

I need to run about 11m of cable to get from the ISP router (wall mounted) to the hifi so somewhere in the system there WILL be a long ethernet cable.

Would I be better off to place the switch and NAS near the ISP router and run 11m from switch to streamer or place the switch nearer the hifi and run the 2.5m cable from switch to streamer?

If I place the switch near the hifi I will also need to run the NAS and switch of the same wall power socket as the hifi, which I believe it NOT the standard recommendation.

I know, the correct answer is "test all combinations", but perhaps someone has some useful experience on the subject.
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by lejonklou »

Long cable to switch, then 2.5 m cable to streamer (and 2.5 m cable to NAS) is the best way.

Switch and NAS on a separate power strip, but connected to the same wall outlet as the system is also the best way.

The only drawback with this arrangement is that NAS and switch require space by the system, instead of being possible to hide somewhere else.
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Spannko »

lejonklou wrote: 2020-01-15 17:22 Long cable to switch, then 2.5 m cable to streamer (and 2.5 m cable to NAS) is the best way.
I just happened to do this test a couple of days ago and totally agree. It makes a bigger difference than you would imagine too!
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by OscarH »

Many thanks!

That will actually be the tidiest setup too. As it happens streamer and NAS will be two identical black boxes so they will look pretty good next to each other (they’ll have to share a shelf).
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

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lejonklou wrote: 2020-01-15 17:22 Long cable to switch, then 2.5 m cable to streamer (and 2.5 m cable to NAS) is the best way.

Switch and NAS on a separate power strip, but connected to the same wall outlet as the system is also the best way.

The only drawback with this arrangement is that NAS and switch require space by the system, instead of being possible to hide somewhere else.

interesting post Frederik..
I have the switch(friwo)plugged in the same power strip(Blacknoise) as the system and the nas is at the other side of the room. Is it adviseable to put both nas, switch and system together in the same powerstrip? I always thought it was not done to put then together.
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by lejonklou »

Rudi64 wrote: 2020-01-16 11:25
lejonklou wrote: 2020-01-15 17:22 Long cable to switch, then 2.5 m cable to streamer (and 2.5 m cable to NAS) is the best way.

Switch and NAS on a separate power strip, but connected to the same wall outlet as the system is also the best way.

The only drawback with this arrangement is that NAS and switch require space by the system, instead of being possible to hide somewhere else.

interesting post Frederik..
I have the switch(friwo)plugged in the same power strip(Blacknoise) as the system and the nas is at the other side of the room. Is it adviseable to put both nas, switch and system together in the same powerstrip? I always thought it was not done to put then together.
The best way I have found is the one I explained. I haven't compared all the suboptimal ways as there are too many. So I recommend two power strips, one for the system and one for switch and NAS. Both fed from the same outlet or one that is very close to the other.

Best switch I have found is the GS108T and I haven't found any better power supply for it than the supplied original (off the shelf that is, I can build one myself but don't think it's worth making it a product). Do you consider the Friwo to be an improvement?
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

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lejonklou wrote: 2020-01-16 12:22
Rudi64 wrote: 2020-01-16 11:25
lejonklou wrote: 2020-01-15 17:22 Long cable to switch, then 2.5 m cable to streamer (and 2.5 m cable to NAS) is the best way.

Switch and NAS on a separate power strip, but connected to the same wall outlet as the system is also the best way.

The only drawback with this arrangement is that NAS and switch require space by the system, instead of being possible to hide somewhere else.

interesting post Frederik..
I have the switch(friwo)plugged in the same power strip(Blacknoise) as the system and the nas is at the other side of the room. Is it adviseable to put both nas, switch and system together in the same powerstrip? I always thought it was not done to put then together.
The best way I have found is the one I explained. I haven't compared all the suboptimal ways as there are too many. So I recommend two power strips, one for the system and one for switch and NAS. Both fed from the same outlet or one that is very close to the other.

Best switch I have found is the GS108T and I haven't found any better power supply for it than the supplied original (off the shelf that is, I can build one myself but don't think it's worth making it a product). Do you consider the Friwo to be an improvement?
Its been some years now i use the friwo, but as i recall it made a slight improvement, more ease to the music..
I use a netgear GS105, but have a GS108T lying around somewhere, i will try it this weekend, thanks for the tip!
The Blacknoise powerstrip was also a whorthwhile addition to my system, never expected that, main goal was to protect the system.

EDIT; it's a GS108 V4 i have lying around, not a GS108T..
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by germanchu »

by far the best switch I've tried with the Linn Klimax Katalyst the Harting 3050GB-A , a professional switch.
Increible what this switch can improve the sound.
In that combination the best cable is a Meicord Opal.
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Catweazle »

I understood Fredrik recommends to go for 8.5 ft length Cat 6a BJC, even if a shorter length would bridge the gap. Any opinion on the color? Theoretically, different colors might impose different chemistry, which might lead to different performance. Which one did you pick?
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by markiteight »

Catweazle wrote: 2020-03-07 23:45 I understood Fredrik recommends to go for 8.5 ft length Cat 6a BJC, even if a shorter length would bridge the gap. Any opinion on the color? Theoretically, different colors might impose different chemistry, which might lead to different performance. Which one did you pick?
IIRC Fredrik's recommendation was as close to 2.5m as possible. If you order straight off their website the length will be fairly approximate and might vary a few cm from cable to cable. I emailed them and requested a custom length of 2.5m, which they are happy to do for a slight additional cost ($30.50 for custom 2.5m vs. 22.50 for 8.5 feet ordered off their website). Their usual return policy does not apply with custom orders, but their warranty is still valid.

I ordered 2 2.5m in brown and 1 15 feet in orange. I imagine the few cm difference in length makes a far greater difference than the color.
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Catweazle »

Thx, custom cable length is the way to go then :-)
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Catweazle »

One more question: When I follow the signal path from the internet router we have different segments
router -cable 1- power LAN adapter 1
power LAN adaptor 2 -cable 2- minim server (on a PC in the cellar)
power LAN adaptor 3 -cable 3- KRDSM -Exaktlink cable 4- Exaktbox
and possibly at at a later stage: Urika Ii -Exaktlink cable 5 - any Exaktlink device

I understand that cables 3, 4, 5 are probably the most crucial cables and should be repaced by BJC. What is your opinion on cables 1 and 2?
From my network understanding, they are decoupled from the Linn stuff by the power LAN adaptors anyway. Would you advise to replace them by BJC as well?
And yes, I'm aware that power LAN is not ideal. But from a pragmatic point of view it's much better than no connection ;-)
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Matteo »

Interesting discussion on the Naim forum:

https://community.naimaudio.com/t/ether ... mmary/8754

It seems that we have a serious contender of the BJC cat6a ...

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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Spannko »

I’ve been following the discussions re Ethernet cables and switches too. To briefly summarise:

The bjc is generally regarded as the go to cable. To improve on the bjc, the consensus seems to point at the higher end Audioquests eg Diamond and Vodka, or higher end Chord Co’s.

They also say they’re having great results with Ethernet switches, like the English Electric S8 and EtherRegen, particularly with better power supplies, but they don’t seem to like the Melco S100 much.
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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Matteo »

I understood differently: there is a small consensus that the BJC is the second best cable (on par with https://www.designacable.com/audio-visu ... -lead.html), while the first apparently is:

https://www.designacable.com/audio-visu ... tp-76.html

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Re: Best sounding LAN cable for DS

Post by Catweazle »

The best sounding LAN cable in the world - There's one in every crowd.
No, EC was'nt here. But I'm happy with my BJC. No reason to cry. ;-)
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