Great summary FR.
Yes it’s a bit of a lottery.
But it’s not a total lottery.
In a state lottery there is literally No Pattern at all.
That really is random.
It’s designed to be random, otherwise people could cheat and the lottery would go bankrupt.
Every single ticket is exactly equally likely to win.
That’s not the case with these cables
The way they are designed makes them have different effects on sq.
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Did they? I haven’t seen a poll to that effect. But as you say, it’s pointless in any case as results are system and listener dependent, Even if everybody on the forum advocated a full loom of Chord STA cables, I would not use them because I tried them and didn’t like what I heard.
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Exactly. And I tend to find the same thing with these companies’ mains and interconnect cables.
If the differences in cables is been put down to how they behave in individual environments and also relating to RF behaviour in those environments then I’m not sure how these factors change over time in an apparent ‘burn in’ scenario.
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It’s not put down to just that. I have very little idea of the why, but that some cables do definitely improve over the first few hours and days is a consistent experience.
If they are working correctly, Ethernet cables cannot affect the ‘sound’ being transmitted through them (to alter the ‘sound’ would require the cable to fail to transmit the digital data correctly as the ‘sound’ is entirely encoded in the digital data). However they do affect the analogue electrical signal that forms the ‘sound’ that is coming out of the Streamer / DAC combination.
This seems to be well accepted.
The question then becomes: “How does this occur?”
Clearly it isn’t anything to do with the digital data representing the sound, so it must be something to do with the analogue voltages that carry the digital data. This leaves two possibilities (which in the mathematical sense are to some extent intermixed and not entirely separable).
1 Time domain variances - aka jitter.
2 Voltage domain differences - aka noise, in this circumstance, specifically RFI.
Since these don’t directly affect the sound (i.e. the digital data) then the effect must be via secondary effects in the streamer / DAC, and so are absolutely dependent on the streamer / DAC. As such there is no reason why two streamer / DACs should respond in the same way to these secondary effects.
Ergo there is no reason to assume that changing a digital cable will have a similar effect in two different systems.
When changing a digital cable in a given system, the effect is therefore unpredictable, unless you have data from the same cables in an absolutely identical system.
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I have identified 15 members finding more expensive Ethernet cables as being preferred. ( cables Ethernet mania thread)
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Unfortunately that’s still just anecdotal data.
There are also others who have found data grade cables that outperform boutique audiophile cables in their own systems, so the principle that expensive Ethernet cables are always better cannot be considered “A truth universally accepted”.
(With apologies to Jane Austen for misusing her words!)
I was only referring to this forum. You are right, it’s not universal and the « échantillon « is little. ( around 25 members I could identify)
How many prefer high quality cables to boutique ones?
Random and lottery are equivalent, not? No pattern, I agree.
High quality I don’t know but for not expensive ones: You, Xanthe, Mike, Simon, Crystal, Michael B, HH, and El Marko: Total: 8
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I think you may have missed some.
What about your good self? I thought you ordered some BJ Champagne to replace AQ Vodka. Champagne is nicer than Vodka after all.
High Quality as determined by Fluke Test.
Simply use whatever you like best, it is what I do and it works really well.
I am polish, I should prefer vodka. However I don’t like both. More red wine or Cognac.
Perhaps I will be on the other side of the list in some days. My Bad Jeans are burning in hell for now.
If I have forgotten someone, please , let me repair this I injustice 
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There is a way to determine what is causing the differences. What is required is a 1 dimensional ‘measles’ chart: on the X-Axis, for each tester plot the log of relative cost of each cable from 1 to zero - 1 bring the most expensive they tested with the less expensive cables plotted down toward zero, marking the point of the preferred cable. When enough data are collected his should result in one of four patterns
1 Physical / Electrical theory is correct and there are no significant correlations between cost and performance. In this scenario the distribution of markers should be pretty much even.
2 Physical / Electrical theory is correct but on average the expansive cables performed better. In this scenario the distribution of markers should be biased to the right.
3 Physical / Electrical theory is correct but on average the less expansive cables performed better. In this scenario the distribution of markers should be biased to the left.
4 Psychology theory is correct. In this scenario the distribution of markers should be a bi-variate distribution with concentrations of markers to the left and to the right, overlying a lower level of even distribution.
Your data suggest that distribution 4 would be revealed!
I forgot Gary. Jimdog is satisfied with BJ but have not heard expensive ones.
I have 2 BJ’s but using my original Meicord Opal from switch to streamer and 1 BJ from Zen to switch, to be honest I can’t tell the difference between any of them but I use the Meicord just because I have it and it’s a nice cable
The Meicord is 50 euro / m and BJ is 20. I will not say it’s expensive.
In the 15 members preferring expensive cables I mentioned, the debut of expensive is vodka or chord epic. Wireworld platinium, audioquest diamond, chord Sarum t, Music, Indigo, and Synergetic Research.
But these BJ for now seem to be extremely good value for money.
Still burning…
So for your classification, there is a magic number in terms of the cost / performance ratio?
No magic ratio. Just a summary of perhaps 30 members here using Ethernet cables. A summary of their preferences.
Nothing scientific or universal in my post.