I have replaced certified Cat6a cables with “floating” Cat 6a from DesignaCable. These go from switch to PC and from switch to endpoint. I found they gave more detail and opened up the soundstage, particularly depth. This seems to be in line with what many other people have found so I am not trail-blazing here.
1 Like
Just ordered a 2 mt. pair of DesignaCable Belden CatSnake Cat5e for less than 20 € (including shipping to Italy). I’ll give them a try against the BJC Cat6a.
M.
1 Like
It’s a close run thing with different pros and cons. But the CatSnake Cat6a is definitely better than both to my ears in my system (and others too). If you can change the order, I’d recommend you do that (selecting the floating option). It is a bit more expensive, though.
1 Like
All my LAN cabling is Chord Company C-Stream.
Apart from a USB DAC connected to a hardwired Mac Mini Roon server the endpoints are connecting over Wi-Fi which includes my NDX2.
Compared to the mish mash of random cables I used to use and mostly from my kit cupboard at work, replacing them all with the same C-Stream cables made the sound presentation brighter but not harsh, and a little faster from a timing and decay perspective.
I think if I end up wiring in my NDX2 at some point I’ll revisit this topic as that will be a good point of reference between Wi-Fi and wired Ethernet. I’ve no issue adding another C-Stream for that anyway, as a first step at least. I’d probably need a 10m run to cable it directly to the switch in the floor below so don’t anticipate doing anything too exotic beyond a C-Stream due to prohibative cost involved.
1 Like
I mentioned on another thread that I was buying a couple of lengths of Catsnake 6a cables (with floating shield) to primarily compare to my trusty AQ Vodka cables.
The motivation for this was the knowledge that streaming cables have a tuning effect within an Ethernet network and that effect varies between different sets of streaming components (streamers, switches, other streaming cables, servers). I have made a few changes like moving from NDS to ND555 and playing around with different switches and cascading switches. I was conscious however that I had used the same streaming cables throughout these changes (a mixture of AQ Cinnamon and AQ Vodka) so it was time to try some different streaming cables, hence the arrival of the modestly priced Catsnakes.
All I have done so far is exchange the last leg between the second Cisco 2960 and the ND555 which was 8m of Vodka and substituted this for 8m of Catsnake 6a, and please remember the Catsnake is fresh out of the box.
After a couple of hours of listening my initial impressions of the effect each cable has in their interaction with my current streaming network is as follows:
Vodka: Brightly lit, nice separation between instruments and vocals, can go a bit OTT at the top end, tending towards splashiness and sibilance on rare occasions. Clear and energetic, but can get a tad edgy. Great life and verve when portraying upbeat music.
Catsnake: Altogether a smoother and more relaxed presentation with no edginess, but seems a little rolled off at the top. The mids, although smooth, can sound a tad congested compared to the Vodka. The bass is possibly a tad more extended but possibly a lack of control in the deepest registers compared to the Vodka. The Catsnake certainly tames the excesses heard on occasion from the Vodka, but the Catesnake can lack a little excitement.
As a publican I am tempted to make some alcoholic beverage analogies. If these cables were Chilean wines, the Catsnake would be a smooth Merlot and the Vodka a crisp Chenin Blanc. Using a beer analogy, the Catsnake a relaxed evening with some mates in an old pub drinking nice pint of real ale, the Vodka is more of a Friday night out with the lads downing a few Stellas. Now although I am a real ale man, I am currently erring towards the excitement of the Vodka, the Catsnake being velvety but a tad laid back.
I will continue comparing the two as the Catsnake is showing real promise and I am aware it may have a run in period. It is also showing signs of opening up a little. What I will say is the Catsnake is a fraction of the price of the Vodka so I fully expect it to be very competitive when it comes to value for money.
9 Likes
myself started with chord ethernet which replaced bog standard and gave noticeable uplift, then audioquest range working way up from cinnamon (which was nice) to a diamond which i got heavily discounted and gave nice detail like vodka but marginally more. finally got a pre-loved chord super sarum cable which was better again than the audioquest sounding much more natural
all i can say is found ether net cables do make a difference in my case 
5 Likes
That is a good analogy between my BJC 6a and AQ Vodka also. I’m a real ale man myself but over time it can all become a bit heavy and too syrupy. Sometimes i need a good uplift or a clear out with a few crisp Cobras or Birra Morettis. This is when Vodka goes back in and all of a sudden everyone is happy celebrating and partying again. The volume goes up, the hair comes down and then the people start cheering as if it’ the New Year all over again!
2 Likes
Out of curiosity…and because there was little expense incurred, I ordered a BJC Cat6a to compare with my AQ Vodka (Melco 1N to KDS 3). I realise that my set up might use a different topography for earthing arrangements and other design features, but, for me, the BJC was ‘blown out of the water’.
2 Likes
Interesting analogy - and puts people’s various claims of ‘improvement’ into place. Makes me wonder what those reliant wholly on “Tune-dem” find better, the brash glitzy transitory Friday night out with the lads that might not be remembered the day after, or the depth of enjoyment and longevity of memory of the relaxed evening…
Good point…for me, I could reduce my description of Tune-dem down to ‘does it sound right’…a presentation could sound right, regardless of whether it sounded more relaxed or more exciting…maybe even for the same recording.
All this evaluation depends on the truism “we all hear things differently”. Is there any research on this topic? Has anyone seen publications that explore and prove this this is so? We all take it for granted, but, should we? I don’t think so. Xanthe you seem to be very up on that sort of thing. Any comments? If there is lot of interest, perhaps a new Thread? Perhaps that has been shown pretty thoroughly, but I don’t remember seeing anything on it.
I think the issue with data cabling debates is that what people are probably looking for is a conclusive good, better, best list such that if you put cost to one side and focus on the improvements a cable may bring to your system and listening enjoyment you end up with a definative set of options you can then align against budget and priority, much as you would with say a preamp, power amp, power supply and so forth.
Problem being that it depends on so many variables including what sort of “tuning” you like in your sound presentation thst you’ll never get to the bottom of it and the back and forth will run in to many thousands of comments as it has done in previous threads.
It usually ends up with a cluster of individuals singing the praises of some generic/vanilla cable and feeling smug that they are £3000 better off vs the scientific/technical/analytical cluster that will focus on the connector materials and cable twists per cm and so forth and then a cluster that have more time and money than most of us that like to tinker and found that a 1m data cable costing £3000 makes their £50k system sound natural and transparent or (insert adjective as required)
In a way this topic is a bit like music tastes given that these cables are just tuning devices essentially. I could play a piece of music and only a finite percentage will enjoy it as much as me, I could deconstruct the music, sing praises for the mastering engineers ground breaking work, or highlight the amazing vocals of the lead singer, but then if you hate or dislike say avant garde jazz it won’t matter how good it is, you just won’t enjoy it as much as I do.
If you try something and like what it changes for the better and it’s still there 6 months later, regardless of what it cost or if it looks fancy and shiny then that is a good choice for you at that point in time.
2 Likes
UPDATE on the Catsnake 6a streaming cable.
As I was hearing signs of the Catsnake opening up, I left it playing overnight.
Blimey, what a difference today. This thing has really opened up but still maintains that silky feel. More clarity and separation but still a lovely natural presentation. The Vodka now sounds a little forced and its exuberance keeps you on the edge of your seat but sometimes you just want to be drawn into the music and relax. This is what the Catsnake is starting to do.
Listening to the track ‘Caruso’ on Meet Me In London by Antonio Forcione and Sabina Sciubba (192kHz/24 bit version) with the Catsnake connecting my second Cisco 2960 to the ND555, I wondered if it was doing as good a job as the Vodka does at conveying emotion, tough job on this track as I don’t understand a word of the lyrics. To check I put on ‘Over The Rainbow’ from Eva Cassidy’s Nightbird album, which never fails to get me going. Yep, the Catsnake does emotion all right. Blubbing like an old fool!
The Catsnake is now portraying instruments and vocals in a more natural way compared to the Vodka. The slight congestion and thickening in the mids I referred to in my last post has improved greatly and I expect it will continue to improve. Whether this rather dramatic improvement with the Catsnake in the last 24 hours is down to burn in, psychologically becoming accustomed to the different presentation, mood or power supply fluctuations, I have no idea. I suspect it is a combination of the first two.
Moving on from alcoholic beverage analogies, I am going to a pre amp analogy now. Moving from Vodka to Catsnake is like moving from a 282 to a 252. The 282 is exciting and exuberant, the 252 sophisticated, insightful and ‘grown up’. When I compared these two pre amps years ago I used a dog analogy (I love an analogy). I think I described the 282 as an excitable puppy (that could occasionally disgrace itself on the carpet!) and the 252 as a mature, faithful, intelligent Labrador.
A Friday night out with the lads downing a few Stellas can be fun, but it can get exhausting and all you want is a quiet real ale down the pub with friends.
Simon in Suffolk occasionally talks of hearing into the music. I think I know what he means and the Catsnake seems to offer this quality. So I am doing a bit of a ‘Stephen Tate’ or a ‘Dunc’ and I have changed my mind. But watch this space, the story will continue when I substitute the Vodka between my two Cisco 2960s with a Catsnake 6a.
4 Likes
True and fair enough but paradoxically i have always maintained that a pair of jeans and a vodka has shown the others a clean pair of heels. I look forward to your next analogy. 
1 Like
This might be a stupid question: I have my router at a different location and during the construction of the house, the electrician installed a fixed connection from the router with 3-4 meter unbranded CAT5e cable to a socket outlet in the living room.
Would it make sense to have a high quality ethernet cable from the last 1-1,5 meter from the socket outlet to my 272?
I previously have posted my listening observations on Ethernet cables in my system, including details of the system, observations which (other than that the result wasn’t as I expected and had no correlation to cost or intended purpose of the cable) for good engineering reasons are of no relevance to anyone else… (although an explanation of the reasons for this isn’t permitted here). Consequently I don’t intend to repeat that information.
So now we have a collection of anecdotal comments here, each of which individually is of no actual relevance to anyone except the individual poster of each comment!
On the other hand, overall, I suppose the one thing that does appear to come out of these anecdotal observations is the inconsistency!
Oh well, such is the way of much information posted on the internet!
4 Likes
So you keep saying, but you’re overegging the pudding a little, I think: if half a dozen people are positive about something it suggest it could be worth trying, whether on demo, borrowed or bought second hand. Whereas if no one has a good thing to say, well… maybe it can be discounted. So, yes: nothing definitive perhaps, but sharing experiences can be useful… And of course many of us on the forum have similar systems…
3 Likes
Please don’t take this the wrong way but i’m just sharing my opinion here based from a little of my own experiences.
The best thing to do here is try to for oneself. Maybe you can borrow one from your dealer on a trial basis. If it works then it works, if it doesn’t then at least you’ve tried it and saved yourself a whole bunch of cash at the same time. No one can teach you what to like and what not to like.
1 Like
I don’t believe the pudding is “overegged”, rather the inconsistency here supports my point!
1 Like
A. Interesting thing ti do, as I have suggested before, would be to create a database of cables and switches, logging the streamer or renderer(transport) and DAC, a note of the network connected, together with listeners’ experiences. From that it might become possible to tease out combinations relevant to one’s own system, that a majority find beneficial. Through that the huge number of choices and their permutations could be focussed to identify contenders with auditioning. Otherwise it is a big like flavour of the month today, compared to three months ago, slewed by the contributors at the time.