Cable Dressing

Somebody should start a company called ‘Paranoid Cables’. There is a ready market by the sound of it.

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Yes indeed I wondered if I bought a nicely coloured Ethernet patch lead from Connectix in Braintree for 48 pence + VAT. I could put Paranoid Technology “The Streaming Cable” on it using one of those nice labelling machines and put it in a non-recyclable plastic bag. Maybe throw in half a dozen ferrite rings (50p dach) to allow the user to tweak the cable. I’ll then attach a £900 price tag on the bag and submit it to a HiFi comic for review.

The reviewer, of course, will hear a blacker background, greater soundstage, more musicality than with his previous cable and importantly a lead guitar solo he had never previously heard on the recording. It will get 5 stars or 92% (comic dependent).

To help the reviewer I’ll send him paper explaining the virtues of specially designed relief boots on each connector and that different colours enable customers to choose the correctly tuned cables for server to switch and streamer to switch. I shall also explain how to use tune dem method to decide how many ferrite rings to attach.

I’ll donate profits from sales to Western Storm Twenty20 Cricket Club.

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however HH uses vodka ethernet…

But HH was suggesting somebody should set up a company called Paranoid Cables. So I was suggesting a way to make it work.

I’m not a Vodka person, preferring Captain (Eoin) Morgan rum, but not heard of a cable named after the great man yet.

You know my philosophy, listen for yourself and if you like it buy it. My cynicism is about HiFi reviews as I’m not convinced they even listen to half the stuff they write about.

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I’m not sure of this best socket theory. The first socket goes into a freesat/blue-ray player and it is a superb 1080p picture but i’ve done other things to get it, so am not really concerned about it.

Exotic cables are not my thing either but high quality ones most definately yes as long as they make a performance iincrease in SQ.

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I have a couple of missing link clear plugs. They have the best silver plating in the business and it’s not shiny looking too. It looks like the matt nickel finish of the naim amp pins and can take a 14mm power cable too.
The price is just 18.00 per plug, and they do work well.

Has it? Is there?

I find that newer properties in local developments that have their own relatively new substation have very stable mains. And yet it has always been the case that there are issues with many users is rural areas at the end of the line (so to speak).

The biggest problem plaguing people is DC contamination, which certainly contributes to humming boxes. And that is generally remedied by a good old fashioned 1:1 isolating transformer rather than filtering. Provides additional galvanic isolation and blocks DC. These have been around forever and generally get my vote. They do no filtering and are as simple as can be. You can get ones that just plug in to the wall but then you just move the hum from your Naim boxes to another box in the same room. Best placed by your fusebox on whichever circuit the hifi sits on.

If there is no audible transformer hum or clicks and pops, and you are determined to use a power filter, I would suggest only doing so for the low current stable components like sources or preamps, rather than anything that draws on transient and variable current like a power amp.

Well, I’m no expert apart from listening trials. But, yes, there are now very good filters/conditioners that won’t compromise dynamics in a Naim system, but will reduce noise and hence lower the noise floor, which can only be good. Newer forms of pollution are not only supply related, but by in home devices, wireless networks, chargers etc.

I’m sure this is true to some degree. But it is difficult to endorse for Naim or even test. Most of the really decent ones are very specific to the electrical supply of not just one voltage group but a specific country. A 230v filter is all well and good but oftimes it won’t be certified for use in more than one country regardless of common voltages.

Personally, I would not hesitate to use one… if I had a major problem. Currently I don’t so I don’t. When I build a house, a Japan certified isolating transformer will be budgeted for though.

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And for anyone who thinks Paranoid Cables are a real option, it’s a play on Permanoid Cables, which I initially read as Paranoid. As you say, you could practically write some of these reviews without hearing the product.

I use AQ Vodka and prefer it to standard wires or their own Cinnamon cables. I’ve not done extensive testing of options and have no desire to. I bought the Vodkas before I got a ‘Simon Says’ Cisco Switch. When I introduced the switch it made a far bigger difference to the sound than the cables, but it may have been different if I’d made the changes the other way round. Whatever, it all sounds good and I can’t be bothered to change it. Unless Paranoid Cables’ new Inky Blackness dedicated switch with hard wired ‘contactless’ ethernet comes in under £5k; any more would just be silly.

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Paranoid Cables could also sell an audiophile switch by taking second hand Cisco 2960s and repackaging them in a different case, then selling them as fully run in with thousands of hours burn in time carried out before sale*. This extensive burn in time will certainly increase the value above that of all the other ‘audiophile’ switches.

. * It would have to be noted that this burn in has been performed by 3rd party organisations as paranoid cables doesn’t have sufficient capacity to meet demand and keep this production phase in house.

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You could also set them up, with VLAN support for streamer output on a dedicated LAN port.
If remember my past experience with this CISCO switch, it is certainly possible to setup different VLANs to separate and isolate IP traffic, such as VoIP when these switches are used with CISCO IP desk phones. You needed to TFTP into the switch and run some commands within a terminal.

In fact I am surprised no-one here has embarked on this, isolating their IP traffic between NAS, Server, Streamer and Controller, from general internet traffic on their network.

I have an isolated sub-net, served by a 5-port switch, which is only for IP traffic relating to the streamer and playback purposes.

i have done that Simon, without doing nothing in fact: on my cisco are only connected my melco and nds.

That’s not quite the same thing. I have multiple switches on my home netwirk, but that does not isolate my Linn DSM from my printer.

To do analogy what I have and I think you have is like plugging your kit into a seperate mains block from other things on the house mains. What Simon is advocating is the nerwork equivalent of a dedicated mains feed…

You have your server and streamer on one network and your other stuff on another network. Things on different nerworks could not communicate unless you configured your router to allow it.

An advanced switch like your Cisco can have two or more separate networks in the same box. Networks created on the same box are Virtual Local Area Networks or VLANs. It is not trivial to setup if you do not have an IT background.

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Yes, but the Melco has a separate LAN connection for the streamer, and this is isolated from main network.
However this could be easily achieved using some VLAN configuration on the Cisco Catalyst switches, if you to become familiar with how to configure Cisco Networking equipment.
It is also possible with other managed switches, as well.

Easily? Yes if you are able to do network switch and router configuration and setup DHCP for the new network.

FR has previously said he’s not a technical person. The advantage of the Melco is it’s done for you without any need to understand the underlying network topology and configuration.

My concern is this all seems like a lot of effort compared with just plonking a CD in the CDP and pressing play.

i agree, i don’t think it would be easy for me to configure the cisco and set up DHCP for the new network.
However i am surprised also because heard often that cisco catalyst are just plug and play. @Simon-in-Suffolk didn’t recommended this configuration specially, i think to remember. Or perhaps he knows it’s not so easy to do for common users.

It is not straight forward - the ‘Plug and Play’ is a default mode, following factory reset, where the Cisco switch behaves as an unmanaged switch - but it is capable of more, given it is Enterprise class device.

Firstly all the ports are POE capable (Power over Ethernet), and each can be given priority for Class of Service (CoS), at the same time being able to support multiple VLANs, and also apply QoS on the VLANs to reduce latency.
However, Cisco Networking is an IT job in itself, with exams and professional qualifications for those needing to operate corporate networking solutions.

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Hi FR, a factory reset Cisco 2960 is plug and play… you don’t need to do anything, other than plug Ethernet leads into its switch ports and turn on.
Use the DHCP on your router.

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