Yes, I think I ordered from their .co.uk site but as you say you still pay £15 fed ex from the us, and you only find that out at the very end of the purchase process as you think you’ve bought 2 cables for £45.
It sucks that I didn’t run in those designacbales properly.
But stuff happens and my hifi sounds sweet and lovely as I listen to Albert Collins tonight live at Oncle POs in 1980 and Clapton ‘Blues In A’ those cables defo helped to give the whole thing a small lift, and so thangs are good…
Ok interesting, for compliance at Cat5e the gauges are specified to meet 24AWG to 22AWG … I don’t have the ANSI standards of Cat 6 to hand to see what gauges are required… perhaps similar.
Regarding stranded vs solid, the only information on wiring standards I can see in the standard is that structured wiring between sockets/patch panels shall be solid, and wiring connecting devices where there is the chance of physical movement should be stranded to avoid failure … so I guess you choose your correct cable on whether you are wiring up your house, or wiring to your streamer or switch. I know stranded cables are easier in my experience for crimping when making up patch leads to the required length.
The Belden stranded CatSnake cables are much fatter than the solid BJC, but also much more flexible. They are all 24 AWG.
Did you buy all these cables and test them against one another?
Or borrow some from your dealer?
Blues Jeans say: “Our principal offerings for these three categories are all Belden-manufactured, bonded-pair cable. Belden’s patented bonded-pair technology goes beyond conventional data cable pair twisting and actually bonds the two conductors of each pair together for exceptional impedance stability and low skew, especially under real-world flex and strain conditions. For Cat 5e, we use Belden 1700A, a stock Belden cable. For Cat 6 and 6a, Belden doesn’t sell patch cord stock in its standard catalog (the cables you may be familiar with are designed primarily for “horizontal” use), so we’ve asked Belden to manufacture special patch-cord-optimized Cat 6 and Cat 6a cable stocks for us which we terminate and sell under the Blue Jeans Cable brand. With all of these cables, we use Sentinel brand RJ-45 connectors, manufactured in York, Pennsylvania.”
Designacable say:
"RJ45 to RJ45 lead. The Belden 1305A cable is used extensively in the broadcast industry, it has the weight and feel of a good quality microphone cable, is super flexible and easy to coil.
CatSnake® UTP cables offer exceptional audio/video performance, plus they are extremely rugged and flexible for use out of doors, in broadcast truck applications, in studios and for portable, professional audio/video use.
A high quality cable for use in CAT5e networks including DANTE
- Sentinel Cat5e RJ45 Plug Connector (not-shielded)
- 8mm Moulded Strain Relief Boots
- Belden 1305A Tactical CatSnake® Cat 5E Premium UTP Cable"
Fatter I think in this case mainly indicates that they have a thicker outer jacket.
Flexible is not important in my current set up as they don’t go round any tight corners - but it would be important to people who need to bend their cables.
In fact the relative inflexibility of my 1M cable running from Cisco to 272 makes it hover in mid air and not droop down and brush other cables or the floor.
Yes, I’m daft. They were all bought, some with satisfaction or return policies, some with restocking fees and some with tough luck, mate: you pays your money and you takes your choice!
Currently playing with a Supra Cat8, which as it burns in is proving quite a bit better than I expected considering the comments on this forum.
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Yes, exactly. The wire gauge is identical.
Well, at least you have an interesting stock of cables which may one day come in handy with a different set up.
Or you could put them on t’Bay…
Also, interesting to try them both ways round and in different combinations to see if that makes a difference.
I always tend to just put them in with the writing heading away from the source, but should try them the other way round too.
cheers
Jim
I have a pair of Supra Cat8. I can no difference from the BJC Cat6a that I’m using. Fortunately, these are not terribly expensive compared to some boutique ethernet cables out there.
Interesting: It certainly sounds different from the BJC Cat6
Ethernet cables have different effects on SQ depending on the overall electrical qualities of (noise in) the system, and other factors.
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And the ND555 with 2x 555PS is very revealing…
I bet it is!
Perhaps I’ll be able to buy one of those 2nd hand in 2024 if all goes well!
My dealer gave me a Nordost Blue Heaven ethernet cable to try, I was just using a cheap cat 5 cable, this might be hard to believe but the difference was like the leap between a Nait XS and a Supernait Mk1 when I demoed them. The lift in dynamics was huge. I ended buying two, one from the NAS to the switch and one from the switch to the 272 . When I added the cable from the NAS to the switch, it didn’t increase the dynamics more but I did notice a lot more nuances in the music, on AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, I was surprised to hear how often Angus bends the strings and used vibrato in his solos. On Ricki Lee Jones self titled album, you could hear more emotion in her vocals, there were a couple of quivers in her voice that I never noticed before.
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Did you try Blue Jeans Cables - these are usually as good or better than audiophile cables.
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I only tried the Nordost, it was an impulsive purchase and the difference I heard I thought it was worth it. I also prefer to buy from a local store, and I’ve been going to the same dealer for over 30 years, I always get looked after.
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Just added two BJC cables from the switch to QNAP and switch to 272. Definitely different than the AQ Forest and AQ Cinnamon. Not sure if better in Hi Fi respects but more coherent, keeps my attention better and my feet are a tippy tappin.
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I’m always seeking musical coherence over detail.