Yes. That’s exactly what I found.
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It’s seems that a lot of hi-end (Snake-oil) ethernet cables are not tested 
M.
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When i receive my CatSnake 6a i will be running it from my Cisco PD switch to ND5 XS 2. All my other cables are BJC 6a. Funny, i find the BJC full loom a bit boring and mediocre. When i have the AQ Vodka in the final leg it adds that bit of excitement that i yearn for with the BJC full loom. I don’t find the Vodka fatiguing at all. Mind you, i do run Neat Motive SX2 speakers that are anything but tiring, no matter what’s feeding them. I don’t miss running bright and forward speakers at all. I can see me sticking with Neat speakers for the rest of my years…
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Well i ordered a Cisco switch a few weeks back, and just plugged it in, still running very cheap ethernet cables everywhere in my system, with the only exception being a slightly better AQ cable from the melco to rossini, but thats even the cheap one.
Early days yet, but its all working still and thats a bonus, but getting back on subject, i have also ordered myself a catsnake cable to run between the Cisco and melco, also the melco and rossini, and finally one between the the cisco and wifi router, my question is fo you also run a better cable from the wifi router to the wall socket, or this a waste? As i guess its from the router and after that matters as if not we are going all the way back
to the exchange lol.
Also while i might have your attention, do you just plug the hifi into the Cisco and leave the rest in the router doing the other, like sky box, tv, etc?
Cheers
Thats what i would do Dunc…even if i could not hear the difference, just keep the high end stuff away from the cheaper components and power supplies.
I needed a longer cable & also to route it via the UPS. I bought some twisted pair “super-go-faster” cable from a www outlet, it looked the part with nicely made sleeved plugs, but it didn’t do anything, same downlink speed, same SQ.
Others on the forum have claimed some other more specialist does improve.
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I got a supposedly Cat6 twisted pair RJ11 to RJ11 from ebay for the wall to BT modem/router and it improved things slightly. So I got a DesignaCable to make me a connector using the Belden CatSnake Cat5e (the Cat6a won’t fit) and that was another slight improvement.
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Yes, that will be the only cable left in my hifi system thats not changing, but cant see that it can make any difference as the 1 meter cable is nothing compared to what the other way has connect to it
They’re very amenable to custom orders, but I’m not share they’d make you a share… even a ploughshare…
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That would be telling! But yes!
But send them an email for RJ11s either end or whatever it is you need
Well quite surprised by the Cisco, as i think it sounds nicer, looking forward to the cables even more now.
Just to add to my previous post (10 days ago), I began to find the new 6a s/ftp’s (With metal around the plugs) a bit fatiguing. Been following this subject from the start, read the posts re floating screen - looked in my ‘wire cupboard’ found some unbranded cat6 with plastic plugs, I presumed they would be floating screen, but regardless: no more fatigue, immediately improved everything, really enjoying the music again (??)
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Hi JR, if your unbranded cable is Cat-6, it’s 99.9% sure it has no screen.
Hi Mike-B, thank you for that.
Just returned home, put the music on: absolute bliss, as the 1st note hit I just looked up at the area of sound & thought; that’s why I own a Naim system, wow!
Can the ‘non-shielding’ really make that much difference - in my system it certainly did 
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I’m sure there is an answer JR, but I also suspect there are more than one & they are different & not specific across all combinations of network components & endpoints.
Myself, I wonder if a screen carries or adds to some noise or other component.
In my case I had a fully screened Cat-7 LAN that I had carefully interconnected & earth/grounded the screen & also specifically disconnected the NAS branch from earth. I managed to break one of the plugs & it needed to be replaced, but I decided instead to join the forum fun & play with ethernet cables.
After a lot of experiment with a bunch of the usual forum fav boutique to basic cables, I ended up with unscreened Miecord Cat-6 between NAS-Switch-NDX plus a BJC Cat-6 between wi-fi hub & switch. That’s it, I’m done.
Mike; I get the ‘upgrade’ path - we all aim to get the best set up that’s financially possible, I don’t think I’ll go beyond the NDX/200 system, but some of the enormous prices for leads/cables shocks me (my system is all ‘preloved’, apart from the ATC’s) the prices can be higher than most of the individual items in my system; very often the ‘simple thing’ works best.
My 200’s off to class A tomorrow for a service - gonna miss it terribly, but really looking forward to it’s return: again the cost will be considerably less than some of the cables people mention, no problem if it works in their system - anything that brings us closer to the ‘seat in front of the band/orchestra’, but: not for me, just want to sit back & listen & I get the feeling that’s you too.
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Do you mean Belden (or Belkin)?
I bought a BJC cat5e with RJ11 plugs to run from wall socket to router.
It seemed to make the bass a tad more prominent, and I never got round to taking it out again.
I plug everthing I can into first Cisco, to get the cables away from the cheap, noisy wifi router. I also bought an iFi iPower low noise plug/psu to replace the wifi router smps.
Then I feed from there into 2 more Cisco 2960s (in PoE configuration) that are for audio only.
Plus a full loom of BJC 6a.
All good audio network housekeeping, and improved SQ.
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Yes. Easy names to mix up.
Not looking to wade into this thread however there is one bit of information I would like to add. I have always used BlueJeans 6A cable between my Cisco 2960 and Linn Klimax DS. I recently upgraded my digital and am now using a dCS Rossini + Master Clock. The engineer in charge of all dCS network and streaming specifically recommends the use UNSHIELDED cable ie CAT6. Another comment made was that shielded ethernet cable is completely unnecessary in a home environment.
I have now just replaced my 6A with 6. By the way my use of 6A was based upon recommendations on the Linn forum.
Best
Gregg
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