Ethernet cables - YOUR LISTENING Shooutout Summary

Never have played myself but this breathing is what I love so much with sigma
Now playing track 3 - phantastic

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Agree but I think itā€™s also in the start of the note. It has to have that instant dynamic ā€˜edgeā€™ as well as the decay. Like you say, if you listen to a lot of live music you know it well. When you start to replicate it on a hifi system you know you are going in the right direction!

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How long has it been burnt in? Just out of curiosity

10 days

Thank you. Thatā€™s 240h if itā€™s been playing 24h a day. Thatā€™s a fair bit of burn in. If you are going to use it somewhere in the system it would be very interesting if you tried it again another 10 or even 20 days from now. However, thank you for sharing your results. It seems the Shunyata Omega and the cheaper Sigma are cables that are preferred here on this forum by 3 different people in 3 different systems.

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Thatā€™s now five as Overprint has Omega and Cheddar Cheeese has Sigma.

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Oh ok, have those guys compared their Shunyatas to the Neotech?

I found overprints comment above. It seems he hasnā€™t tried the Neotech and Cheddar cheeese had a thread going where he was going to try it but it isnā€™t clear if he ever did try it.

But it doesnā€™t really matter. Itā€™s clear to me that the Shunyata Ethernet cables are very good. Iā€™m going to try to test them in my system one of these days.

Yes, he did get the Neotech and more or less made the same comments, saying that it was good for the money but didnā€™t compare to Sigma.

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Yes - Shunyata ethernet cables are a very very good, even the cheaper 2k Sigma :slight_smile:
Now its your turn to try one!

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Shunyatas are stunning cables - I also came from vodka with a short diamond time.

I have also tried neotech but not anywhere near 1000h because that would have meant I had to keep it. If it goes from so so after 100h to extremely good at 1000h it would be very surprising. My non burned in D2 cable sounded ok out of the box but with a week 24/7 playing it is now wonderful indeed. There are people with far more expensive systems than me that I donā€™t share opinions with so :blush:

Also donā€™t forget it was not many months back everyone was raving that there is nothing better than BJC and Catsnake on the last leg. Things change :blush:

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Who are you referring to?

Cheddar cheeese wrote this as his last entry in his thread on Neet-1008

ā€œI have been running the new streaming configuration for a couple of weeks now, so it is about time to undertake the revert test, where the SR Sigma is replaced with the original CATsnake 6a (floating).

Here are some thoughts;

The quality of reproduction from the local Core sever improved markedly over identical tracks streamed from Qobuz. The difference was evident previously, but the AQ Diamond widened the gap. Basically, sonic performance, soundstage, control and PRaT all improved across the board.
I concluded the AQ Diamond was somehow, (magically) improving the musicality of content stored and streamed from the local Naim Core. The AQ Diamond is a keeper, as it did something that the PhoenixNet could not do; improve my system.
The revert test; removing the SR Sigma from the Qobuz streaming chain and reverting to the CATsnake produced very interesting results.

  • The CATsnake performed remarkably for a Ā£50 streaming cable. I cannot recommend it highly enough. However to my ears the SR Sigma was slightly ahead in almost all areas:

  • Increased soundstage depth

  • Slight smoothing of edgy recordings, giving the impression of greater control

  • 3 Dimensional soundscape that was somehow more involving.

  • Slight improvement in resolution/detail
    The SR Sigma had that undefinable ability to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

Based on my tests I would say that the SR Sigma does outperform the CATsnake albeit at a huge cost. Is it worth it? Well the Phoenix Net retails at Ā£3,250 and to my ears made my system sound worse, so yes these cables are worth the cost to me, especially at the bargain basement price I picked then up for. Happy days! Oh and the Chord ee1 basically becomes surplus to requirements in the last leg of the streaming chain. It made absolutely no difference to the performance of my system once the SR Sigma was in place. I have now installed it down stream of the Cisco where there appears to minuscule improvement in background noise or is it a figment of my imagination?

Coming up; my experience replacing the 6 meter run of BJC Cat 6 from Cisco 2960 to EE8 with a Chord Signature T ARAY streaming cable. Look away now, if you have spent a fortune on high end Chord Streaming cables.ā€

It seems he never got around to try the Neet. It also seems he thinks the Sigma is a little better than catsnake and that the AQ Diamond is making the biggest impact?

This is what CC actually said but it was in one of the other threadsā€¦ ā€œSo in conclusion I would say the Neotech NEET 1008 is an improvement on quality tested streaming cables from the likes of BJ and based on the price point proved to be excellent value for money. However, if the additional expenditure can be justified the AQ Diamond and SR Sigma have the potential to take the performance of your streaming to the next levelā€

His remarks on Sigma pretty much mirrored oursā€¦ ā€œVery pleased that yourself and @drago appear to have experienced similar results to mine with the SR Sigma in place. Once again your description of the effect this cable has is spot on. The lack of ā€˜noiseā€™ is amazing and gives the sound a warm airy texture that is very detailed and clean. I found that the AQ Diamond adds a little more ā€˜attackā€™ and excitement. The combination of the two cables connected from Server to Streamer via the EE8 is magical and it is as close to a live performance my system has achieved.ā€

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That is unfortunate. I believe it is better in key ways when it has been burnt in. I havenā€™t had mine 1000h yet so canā€™t comment on that. I think I might have around 400h.

And it doesnā€™t go from so and so to very good. It goes from good to very good.

Before it is burnt in it can sound stiff, congested and not composed. It can sound as if the top end is living its own life and sometimes the bass ā€œdisappearsā€. It then keeps on going up and down in quality. I believe it was only during my final listening session I heard a glimpse of what it is really capable of. But really I donā€™t know how the cable will fare in the long run.

Edit: it isnā€™t actually mine. Itā€™s an extended loanšŸ˜…

Thank you. To many threads to keep track of.

By the way, do you know if he tested the neet in place of the diamond and kept the sigma as last leg?

I should of course ask @Cheddar_Cheeese

Yes, I think his final set-up was Diamond from storage to switch and Sigma from switch to server.

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@Lucifer Yes that is correct streaming path. SR Sigma always on the last leg between Switch and Streamer.

I tested the Neotech 1008 in the Qobuz streaming path between the ISP Router and Cisco Switch. It was good compared to the previous BJC patch cord, but not as good as the AQ Diamond I picked up on eMither. The AQ Diamond is a very dynamic cable that matches the Naim characteristics I am looking for very well indeed. Much much better than the overblown unruly teenagerā€¦the AQ Vodka.

I did not get along with either the AQ Vodka or any of the Chord streaming cables up to and including the Signature TA. The Chord Music was rather a silly price, so I did not bother as I had no success with the Music interconnect.

I recently changed out the final 6m BJC from Cisco to ee8 for a Supra 8>ee1>Neotech 1008.
Slight improvement to my ears. Removes a little harshness from the Qobuz streaming path. The sound is pretty close to the Naim Core server to still not quite there. Not sure it ever will be.

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Sorry - what does an old post copied from a member tell you?
Whatā€™s to prove or go against?
A number of users love the shunyata cables and some found it significantly better than neotech - thatā€™s ok when the price comes to mind.

From your friend, the Swedish dā€¦. :rofl: