A few days ago, I too put my Vodka back (in place of CatSnake 6a) between my second Cisco 2960 and my ND555. I still much prefer the CatSnake in that position.
I also have a CatSnake between my first Cisco 2960 and my UnitiServe, but still have my other Vodka between my two Cisco switches. I am yet to try a CatSnake 6a in that position.
As DB found, a mixture of streaming cables might be the ideal solution from a SQ point of view.
I also agree with Stephen that the fiddling has to stop somewhere, unless you get a kick out of it.
I had a quick fiddle this week. A small length of Catsnake 6A (floating) to see what the kerfuffle was about (and yes, I know I could have spent the Ā£27.50 on music or a couple of bottles of Pimmās, but hey Iām mad, me).
Itās been running in most of the week playing internet radio to itself (SOMA FM Deep Space) and then some listening either between my white Cisco and the EE8 (against Chord Indigo TA, Chord C-Stream and BJC CAT6) and then between my NAS (Synology) and blue Cisco (with the same competition).
The finally replacing the Chord Music between the EE8 and NDX.
I played two pieces: Jane Weaverās Mission Desire (from The Silver Globe)
And Dreadzoneās Drean 'Pon Sound
To be honest, the first two scenarios revealed nothing different - they all sounded just about the same - within the bounds of my imagination. This reinforces my opinion that, in my set-up, the last leg plays the big role.
The final comparison was emphatic though, the Catsnake was nowhere near the Music, sounding flat and lifeless and far less real.
Note: No Guinea Pigs were harmed during this process.
What a shame the CatSnake didnāt beat the Chord Music. I could have taken the Music off your hands for you! No need to thank me.
However, if you are saying the CatSnake 6a stood up well against the Chord Indigo TA further back down the chain, it goes to show that cost is not a guide to āperformanceā (positive noise shaping?) when it comes to streaming cables, except possibly the Chord Music!
Thank you BTW for the effort to fiddle. Interesting stuffā¦
Certainly further back in the network. The Indigo was tops before Music trotted along (and in the very beginning the Indigo was a distinct improvement from NAS to router when the last leg was Wi-Fi - another blind test āvictoryā for my now-retired-from-the-job wife!).
Well been playing with the vodka and diamond ethernet cables this afternoon.
Just to be clear i have, wall socket, standard cheap cable wifi router, then catsnake from router to Cisco, 7meter of catsnake then to melco, all other gear is plugged into the wifi router, so the Cisco is just doing 1 cable for the hifi.
So after getting used to the full catsnake loom, including melco to rossini, this afternoon swapped out the last leg and put a 1.5m vodka in its place, its certainly slightly brighter, but i cant say i noticed any other difference in bass etc, with the extra brightness, you can pick out the details better, but they are there still with the catsnake cable, just not as pronounced.
Changing over to the diamond, i didnāt really notice any difference, certainly nothing to make me think, o yes thatās better. So this brings me back to the vodka v catsnake.
Going forward i feel the value for money cable, for sure is the catsnake and i wont be changing the first 2 cables any time soon, the last cable, well i slightly feel that the vodka just has it, but its close and i guess it just boils down to if you want to spend the extra, to gain that slightly brighter sound, it certainly can appeal, especially at first, for me i do feel that my hires files stored on the melco deserve the better cable, but do they? and just maybe the money would be better spent elsewhere.
These days I listen almost exclusively to music that is produced by musicians playing acoustic instruments, often live or together in the studio, with minimal overdubbing.
Until about a year ago I listened mainly to highly compressed treated rock music, and electronic music.
Maybe the Vodka is better with rock and pop and electronic music; and the plainer BJC/Catsnake types cables are better with simpler acoustic recordings (e.g. ECM or BlueNote)?
I found personally an important difference between the vodka and the diamond, because I found the diamond much more refined, colorful, free going and open. I donāt like the Vodka into the Nds or Melco directly, because itās too forward and a bit forceful.
However, between the router and my switch, it gives body and drive to the music, a life that, for now, cheap Ethernet cables could not give, even the mid level price Meicord.
Iāve cut the switch out completely. I find it adds nothing positive to the sound, different but not positively better. Well at least to my tastes that is.
That might fit with a reference someone made to the vodka making music sound more exciting - which is a term that to me always ring alarm bells, suggesting colouration of the music.
Out of curiosity, what prompted your change in music listening?
Not really. I listen to all genres of music and i have just found the Vodka more entertaining than with the other cables right the way through my journey. Iām allowed to like what i like, there are no rights or wrongs. Itās rather like food, everyone has a different palate. When folks start trying to force their tastes on others, then we have a problem and itās not the cables.
It was a combination of my system improving, and listening more and more to jazz - e.g. exploring the 1968-75 era of Miles Davis and offshoots, Robert Glasper, etc.
And going to Brad Mehldau, GoGo Penguin and other jazz gigs.
Then I stumbled on ECM - especially Paul Bley.
(Thereās a thread on ECM which explains how it happened.)
And now Iām rediscovering composers I havenāt listened to much for years, e.g. Bartok, Schoenberg, Gloria Coates.
Iām just enjoying acoustic much more than electric music - and noticing how much of rock music is flattened by compression.
If the music is slowed down, on the very soft border side, without fine microdynamics, i will find it alarming too. Itās also a colouration.
It was the case with the Bluejeans cat 6a I tested : nice, soft, free flowing, but flat, colorless, and dull.
DB has Statement S1, 3X active Nap 500 dr, Nd555/ twin ps, Ovator S800. He prefers the Vodka on the last chain.
I have an Nds/ 555 dr/ Melco N1z2 : I prefer the Vodka vs Meicord, Audioquest Forrest, Cinnamon, no name cat 5e, Hanna cat 7, Blue Jeans Cat 6a.
Both are not, I guess, sub optimal systems.
I listen a lot to acoustic music, voices, jazz, funk, soul, jazz rock.
No electronic or overdub music.
