…Reading this thread, one might come to the conclusion that our preferences in this area are determined by context rather than being absolute.
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Yes, one person’s normal bass is another’s excessive, the second person’s normal bass is the first’s bass light… of course speakers and rooms come into it. To be definitive you can use REW and measure. I know some people hate that thought, but it has its place for anyone who wants to know whether their system is emphasising or reducing bass, or whether it is just their personal preference.
Indeed, and now to add to the identified factors of specific streamer/DAC, specific network, and electrical environment, is the perhaps obvious one of network activity which may equate to time of day.
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Except that tells you as much about how the system manages to control the bass and how the speakers interact with the room.
I wonder how many of the people who are finding boomy bass have experimented with speaker position?
Yes, I did acknowledge it was related to room and speakers. Measurement of course would tell you whether the system (as set up/positioned) is emphasising or reducing bass, and any boominess.
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Since I have the ER with linear ps, I have no more boomy bass, which I had however only on a few tracks.
The sound became so much clearer, but also softer and in the meantime tighter.
All the occasional distortion is gone.
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It’s an impossible task : each ears are different, rooms, mains, system, speakers, and the interactions between all these factors.
And you have also so many different tastes and preferences, some value prat at all, other bass and dynamics, other details and soundstage…
Good luck if someone can useful conclusions with all that .
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Yes, you did. My only point was that REL isn’t going to tell you that much about the Ethernet cable per se…
That said, moving the speakers about a bit may reveal positioning that benefits from the extended bass without exciting nodes in the room - assuming of course the system is up to controlling it…
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Agreed from a specific angle, though if the REW test signal was stored on the server, it would be going through the cable. (Before anyone jumps in, I am not suggesting REW would necessarily pick up all differences that may be audible, but it would show differences like boosted or diminished bass…)
Yes, of course. But that’s already been done. What remains to be determined is whether the system/installation can be optimised to benefit from the bass extension or whether it simply can’t cope with it - in the same way you would when changing speaker cable…
At the moment of changing the Ethernet cable, the system has been optimised (one would hope) for the previous cable, possibly compensating for its characteristics, so it “stands to reason”… 
Good point.
My speakers were set up with BJC 6a full loom.
So it’s likely that if I’d had the Catsnake in the final leg at that time I would have installed the speakers further from the rear wall.
I could nudge them out a bit tomorrow to see if it makes a difference.
The problem is sliding the speakers around on 30mm thick slate slabs is not good for my neck.
So I may pass on that.
But the looseness of the sound doesn’t sound as though it would be entirely repaired by moving the speakers.
I’m only using compact Neat Motive SX2’s being driven from a NDX 2 - HiCap DR - SN3. More than up to the job to test out Ethernet cables in a basic and balanced system. The Vodka is a faster and more revealing cable than the CatSnake 6a. In my system it’s the best cable i have tried so far. Bass is tight and propulsive with no nulls or overhang, regardless of speaker position.
I did my own Ethernet cable shootout 2 years ago.
A 40m length of basic cat 5 cable runs from my uniticore to the room where my 272 /555/250 system is. I tried 4 different 1 meter long Chord patch cables from wall socket to 272.
These were all Chord brand
C-stream $175- Very good
Shawline $300- Very good + smoother
Signature Tuned Aray $1300- Excellent. Very good timing, reduced digital hash. Fast and involving.
Music $6000 Excellent + . But price too high.
I felt the Signature tuned Aray had the best QPRso bought that.
Very happy to this day
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…I did find that I needed to move my speakers out…easy job when using skeets on Amtico floor. Bass lost boom, but went deeper and more controlled…rather than a more amorphous entity. The tunes became more apparent. I do not use Space Optimisation incidentally.
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My point, following the identification of a hitherto unconsidered factor by @MMky, was that all these factors may be of relevance, and as they will vary from system to system they are pertinent to identify when reporting. Of course with the network activity / time of day factor, that might be ruled out if people repeat their comparisons at different times noting that aspect, and verify whether either they consistently find the same audible effect regardless of network activity/time, or otherwise they might find it explains variability in conclusions.
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‘morning IB, isn’t this is all getting a bit too technically detailed, you are in danger of being visited by the anti-tech police.
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Hi Michael,
Searched the forum on catsnake cat5 and came across your post on Oct 2019 concerning the Designercable catsnake 5 .
It doesn’t have the extra rubber jacket as the cat6 has. I wonder to what extend this rubber mantel has on what some on the forum called ’ Flabby (bass) sound. Assuming you have a catsn 6, can you compare it to the cat5?
Did you pull your speakers out to tame the extra bass that the Catsnake added?
What other cables did they replace that gave less bass?