I also have the BJC Cat6a from router to 8Switch and from there to the Roon ROCK and the NDX2. Sounds all great to me, but as usual no comparisons (yet)
Edit: Like HH says. Graeme above also wrote 6a, just a copy error?
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Not sure. Iāve known from experience to get the 6A. That little Chord-C stream is just a little to short for me.
We are just confused because you quoted Graeme but the -a from his original post was missing and your post says āBJ Cat 6ā
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Gotcha thanks.
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Donāt forget the Catsnake Design A floating. Very good for the price.
( I post that for new readersā¦)
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Thanks for parentheses 
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Not very well made though. Both ones I bought the plugs are very loose and prone to come out of the shielding.
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I thought the Catsnake sounded weird and sent it back. BJC are hard to beat at the price and you can get them in different colours so you know which is which.
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I failed hard at this and cursed myself during installation 
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I hadnāt that problem with mine. There are 3 camps: Blue Jeans, Catsnake and Vodka fans.
There may well be, but I am not one to follow my leader. Iām in the if it works camp. They didnāt change anything for me audio wise which is no surprise as yet to find anything that does to any real noticeable effect. I sent one back that completely failed to work because of this poor quality issue. I wonāt be buying any more.
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Iāve had best results with Hagibis Cat8 (AliEx) and LinkUp Cat8. DIY Canford audio Cat 7 with Telegartner plugs seems ok too. Belden 5e unshielded didnāt stay in my system long.
I have a length of the Belden 6A that seems to be a favourite on this forum but I havenāt made any cables up yet. Generally the solid core, higher speed cables seem to sound a touch more āliveā than anything stranded Iāve tried until now.
Has anyone tried any Cat 8 cables?
Today I am in the Audioquest diamond camp, because, as you said, it works for me.
Iāve read about the requirement for a āfastā power supply several times. Can someone please explain just what a āfastā power supply is, and how do I go about choosing one?
I mentioned several months ago on the forum that Iāve used an iFi low noise walwort type 5v power supply on the EE switch with very good results in my 272/555PS/300 based system. iFi claims considerable noise level improvement compared to both the standard EE supplied walwort and to linear powered systems. Based on my experience I agree -a big improvement overall. At only $50 on Amazon itās worth a try. Put one in your Christmas stocking?
Interesting, thanks. Do you have it in the same mains circuits as the hifi? (Because itās not in my case and I am trying to figure out if this changes things)
And do you happen to know why it is so much better? Honest question, as Chord already claims that their āclean supply permits an optimum quality network signalā.
Yes, it plugs into my normal household mains circuit, just like the EE supplied one. As to why it works better you probably should check out iFiās web site for technical info. As itās relatively inexpensive I just took a chance, knowing I could return it as an Amazon Prime member. But it turned out to be a keeper!
Thanks, might be worth a punt, as you say it is easy to return without feeling too bad about it with Amazon (I donāt like hassling smaller dealers with this though 14 days for online purhases is the law)
In a way yes, itās just that every single manufacturer is telling me they are the sh*t, Chord and these guys both think that their PS is the best, itās not really worth much
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āFastā refers to the regulation circuit. The current demand of the powered device varies rapidly, so the PSU must be able to respond instantaneously whilst maintaining a highly stable output voltage.
An LPS which is not up to the job will tend to squash dynamics, youāll tend to get a āpoliteā sound. An SMPS with high leakage current and/or noise will tend to be sufficiently dynamic but youāll still hear a harshness.
Well-regarded LPS examples are Paul Hynes, Farad, Sean Jacobs (Custom HiFi Cables). SBooster is a decent cheaper option. There are no doubt others too.
iFi is a cheap SMPS and still sounds like one. I only use them to replace freebie wall warts in non critical applications (decent medical grade supplies also do the same kind of job IME).
Good SMPS do exist (SOtM) but there are not many options as they are hard to design, and work out just as expensive as the good LPSāsā¦
You just have to compare, if you canāt compare then buy on reputation and recommendation.
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I would also try putting my switch in the hifi block with a short wired run to the streamer. People worry about power supply noise going into their hifi, but when you plug into widely separated outlets, ground noise is another possibility as the switch and streamer are electrically connected by the Ethernet cable.
Best to ignore theory and experiment. Mostly likely it wonāt make a difference. But you never know.
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