I would advise against using short ethernet cables, which can lead to signal reflection and distortion (to be clear, I am not referring to audio distortion). This is a well known issue with ethernet cables, and in fact a 1.5m cable in this case would most likely be an upgrade.
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I noticed your reply, concerning the Shunyata Research Alpha V2, Antipodes K41 and Naim 333. This combination being a good match. If I understand you correctly, you never tried the above with the Alpha X version. However, from your experience would you hazard a guess if the X version is worth the extra £500, or is the V2 just that good a match. Thank you.
When I spoke to my Shunyata dealer about the performance differential between stock and X he said that a Customer who had the Omega tried the Sigma X and thought it better and swapped it out, so it does seem to represent quite a performance increase but as always these things need to be tried in your system.
My regular dealer (who doesn’t stock Shunyata) asked if he could have a listen to my Sigma on one of his shop systems but it wasn’t long enough to try on the 500 kit, so we tried it on a much simpler system. To be honest it made hardly any difference. This didn’t surprise him as he said system resolution is critical to how well you perceive the improvements and is why many can’t really hear major differences between one cable and another.
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And age/hearing! 
System resolution is worth very little when you get older IMO. You will have problem hearing above 12k already in your fifties and threshold rapidly decrease so you might still hear higher frequencies +50 years old but much more vague.
“The hearing threshold is the minimum sound level a person’s ear is able to detect any sound. For adults - 0 dB is the reference level.
The hearing threshold is normally reduced with age as indicated below:”
AI
Typical Range Decline by Age
| Age Group | Typical Upper Frequency Limit |
|---|---|
| Infants/Children | ~20,000 Hz |
| Teens | ~17,000 Hz |
| Age 40 | ~15,000 Hz |
| Age 50 | ~12,000 Hz |
| Age 60+ | 12,000 Hz or lower |
6,000–8,000 Hz: Most people aged 60–69 experience measurable hearing loss in this range. Approximately 79.5% of people in this age group have hearing loss at 6,000 Hz.
Hi Blackbird,
Thanks for posting this, and to @Geko for his comment that prompted your reply.
I have looked at this thread and I really do not wish to join in!
FYI I use wireless connection to my Linn Klimax DSM3 streamer.
However, what perhaps might be of more interest is that I have had severe hearing loss (due to nerve damage) in my right ear for over 20 years! Since diagnosis I have used a single hearing aid in my right ear to compensate.
What can I say? - the initial experience was truly awful. But I think the hearing loss charts as posted by Blackbird are misleading! They are for a particular type of measurement which is perception (of a single frequency sinewave) in a background of (shaped) noise. Mathematically speaking this is a Deterministic Signal (i.e. sinewave) in the presence of a Stochastic Signal (i.e. noise). Music is different - it is typically neither completely deterministic, nor completely Stochastic.
Slowly over the years by installing room treatment I have been able to give the best chance for the hearing aid to work, plus, with my brain still having access to a ‘good’ channel (i.e. the left) I now get the full perception of both depth and width in the stereo image. In summary - I perceive no high frequency hearing loss.
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Do you have a recommendation for me?
I think the debate about slow or age related hearing loss is all pretty relative. Sure, my hearing at 20 was much better than it is now but when I listen to live music today I’m listening with old ears (and all their losses), so when I compare my system to live music I’m hearing the same relative things between the two. If my system sounds like live music then I’m pretty happy with it despite my hearing loss. I’m certainly not making (or able to make) a frame of reference to how live music sounded when I was 20.
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since the “low pass” associated with aging is not like an “ideal” low pass filter, i can imagine that signal quality above the threshold can still have a positive effect. Will ask an ENT colleague about this.
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What are you all using in front of your switch, meaning from wall/router to switch?
I have some basic c-stream, Supra Cat 8 and few other cheap ones (Cat6) I can switch between and I do hear differences on this position too. I currently swapped the Supra for C-stream to see how it feels.
What do you with Shunyata Sigma use in other places?
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When I tried a Shunyata Ethernet I tested it against my staple 0.75m C-Stream and the Shunyata won the day. Curious to see if length played a part I duly ordered a 1.5m length C-Stream. The Shunyata went back for a refund.
G
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very interesting. Are you using 100MB or 1000?
No idea, sorry. Placement is from a blue Cisco 2960 to NSS333.
G
Sorry, not following You say Shunyata sounded better in your system but you returned it and ordered a longer c-stream?
Which Shunyata?
Gamma.
I favoured the 1.5m C-Stream over it, but not the 0.75m C-Stream.
G
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I cannot confidently answer that, I have not tried the X on the 333. Is audition a possibility?
I could buy one, on sale or return. However, the ideal would to compare both at the same time. Maybe someone else has done this?
Just for the fun of it, I replaced my two AQ Vodkas with these two dirt cheap cables between router and first switch and Roon server . Guess what. The sound is still really good. A bit less engaging and less volume than AQ, but without direct comparison, I certainly would not miss the Vodkas.
Now, if there is not much difference between these cheap cables and AQ Vodkas, would there still be one between AQ Vodkas and very high end cables? I am in doubt. In my setup, I have tried very hard to eliminate noise. It seems to me, at the moment, that in my setup optimising switches is more beneficial than high end ethernet cables.
I will probably get 2 decent 2 m cables to replace the very short AQ Vodkas and that’s it.
I did not try this at the last leg of my streaming, between AS8 pro and my Bricasti Streamer. Currently there is a modest Viablue ethernet cable. May there better cables would have more impact, but the area is hard to access for the moment
I’m using Blue Jeans from incoming fibre box to router and then from router to the first switch (Cisco). Then 1008 to EE8 with LPS and from EE8 to ND with Sigma.
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Hanging vodka to sigma makes a lot of sense. The lengthdoes not matter. Sigma was much better than vodka in my system but I liked the punch of vodka on the other hand.
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Cable lenght, this has been discussed to death on the dCS forum as a dCS system uses quite a few different digital cables. dCS tend not to get involved with cable discussions, but basically as long as the cable is constructed to the right specification said cables needs to be, they basically said get whatever lenght you want, this was aimed at the more sensitive clock cables. So I should think ethernet lenght should be fine at whatever you use.
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