Which designer cables?
I am not expert on boutique/designer cables… but if it states Cat 5e… that means it must meet specific base level standardised requirements … so it would be a trading standards matter if it wasn’t I suggest.
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Yes indeed, but the question is, is it oil from sustainable sources, the producer might claim it to be so, but is it certified. Familiar ring methinks.
I’ll get me coat on the way out
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These are the cables that MichaelB uses, made by designacable.
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@Simon-in-Suffolk. Simon, you refer to ‘noise shaping’ in many of your posts, not just this one.
You seem to imply that it’s not exactly kosher. But, as has been discussed, many companies use this principle to minimise noise in their equipment. Moving components around, providing isolation between pcb’s and different circuit functions etc etc. Even the act of cable dressing or swapping seems to garner a response along the lines of ‘well all you are doing is noise shaping’.
Could you please clarify your thoughts. Do you have an issue with this process? After all, if it’s good enough for the manufacturers then surely it’s good enough for us.
Please don’t take this as a criticism. I among many value your posts and the invaluable help you provide. I would just like to get your thoughts on this. 
Hi raym55, if I implied noise shaping is not some how kosher or correct … then I apologise. It’s a very real consideration… in terms of affecting the noise floor in specific ways. I shared several engineering papers on this on this and the previous forum which may have been of interest for the more technical members of this forum.
Further Naim use exactly this phenomenon to ‘tune’ new firmware for their digital products.
My observation would be is that one doesn’t neccessarily need to use expensive cables to ‘tune’ or shape the noise, and it’s affects can be rather implementation specific.
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I’ve looked at the designacable website & it looks like all they are saying is the ‘CatSnake’ cable is made from Belden 1305A (Cat-5e) , and as a Belden Corp stock cable it will meet Cat-5e standards. Then the cable is made into the patch lead that they sell & has the Sentinel RJ45 plugs fitted. These also might meet Cat-5e standards, but assembly errors can cause degradation with NEXT & Return Loss & as a patch cord assy it might not perform to Cat-5e. I don’t see anything on them testing other than for continuity, testing for conformance is something else altogether.
.But, as you said earlier, if it sounds good, thats all that matters.
Thanks… I hadn’t come across them before… but now I know.
Simon, no apology needed. As frequently happens, expressing ones thoughts on a forum can cause confusion and misunderstanding no matter how careful we are when we respond. Some may pick up the exact meaning right away and others, like me, with a few little grey cells less than most, pick up the wrong end of the stick. It happens to me all the time. 
Thanks for your considered reply and I will bear your thoughts in mind for future reference.
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No doubt you have a modicum of sense. Males it would appear do not when it comes to anything shiny, we are like magpies and it would appear are hapopy to pay anything for that shiny.
It amuses me greatly. For instance I do not know what Peder has for hifi but assuming its naim what he seems to be saying is naim kit is not very good. The way to make it good is to spend 8k on a power cable. Only then can he be lost for words how good the naim kit sounds.
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I would be very surprised if Naim didn’t design the Ethernet interface in their products to comply with the ANSI/TIA/EIA-568 standard, in order that they can ensure that their products perform as intended when using compliant cables and associated networked equipment. I would expect a compliant cable would be a good place to start and if you find another cable that works well, well that’s good too.
This is why we have standards, so that we can select equipment with confidence that will be compatible. This is of course not at the exclusion to others, but results may not be predicable. Not everyone has the time, money or energy to try lots of different products in combinations together to find a result that works.
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@Peder , just wondering. You have a lot of hi-fi equipment stored but What do you now use as your main hifi system?
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Yes, and theres so many to choose from.
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did you use the belden catsnake cat 5e cable or 6/6a?
only found the 5e on internet
Peder doesn’t use a 8k power cable Gary. He tested them for a fortunate friend who is addicted to cables… That friend asked him to.
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The Designacable Belden Premium CatSnake is a Cat5e cable and the only Belden they do. In my system it sounds better than any of the Cat 6, 7 and 8 cables I have tried (AudioQuest, BJC, Sablon, Supra and Wireworld).
How does the saying go? “you can hear what you measure but you can’t measure what you hear”. I agree.
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Well there are methods in audio that some of use in our professional worlds such as statistical opinion scoring (MOS) but I think I know what you are trying to say.
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How physically quiet are these 2960 switches meant to be? I’ve just decided to acquire one to try against my existing 2940 I’ve been happily using - which is totally silent.
I’ve inserted the new 2960 to power-up and find the existing network - this version:
…just now connecting it into my existing 2940 - all lights correct and ready to use - I will see if it sounds different when I swap my cables over to it from the 2940.
But it is physically noisy so I’m suspicious in may have a poor supply - a low-level ticking rasping sound.
DB.
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I believe Belden only make the one Cat5e that’s suitable for patch cable use - i.e. with flex wire construction; their other cables are solid core wire.
If you read BJC blurb, they have Belden make a flex Cat6 & Cat6A specially for them to use in their patch cords.
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Changes Naim made to the SN3 increased 2nd harmonic distortion. They accepted that because the amp sounds better.