I don’t do it that often. prob should though.
But can anyone really hear the effect of their plugs needing to be resurfaced, apart from other variations?
In fact it is only the E (electric) field component of the EM field that is impacted by the screen and not the M (Magnetic) field component. You can’t screen the M component at all with a screen - it goes straight through as it it was not present essentially. What can screen the M component is Mu Metal foil - that does work but is not what is in commercial Ethernet screens.
Movement of E field induces an M field which in turn reacts with and induces an E field and on and on… and the E field induced by the M field (which is not screened in Ethernet cables) is caused by current flow in the wiring and hence an induced ‘noise’ electrical current and associated voltages developed at resistances…
The reason I go into this - it is over the top but simple school physics - is that you can’t fully screen things the way being discussed. You can greatly reduce effects by screening but not ‘stop’ is what I’m saying - agree with Simon on that.
Proximity and inverse-square law of fields (reduction of strength with distance apart) is also important in reducing induced noise - you can’t just screen it out.
Keep your cables apart essentially - dress them right.
…so essentially I’m saying there are reasons for all these phenomena that do not involve magic and are are explainable with what is already known.
So just try - listen - tweak - and solve for you - then share! 
Better than arguing over first-order approximations of physics that create a viable electronics then used to develop viable consumer products and our present civilization.
DB.
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Thats fine - allot of people here inc me enjoy this as a hobby and get a kick out of improving their system … but lets not forget at the end of the day its about enjoying music. You’re right - but your system is no less valid just different. I remember going into the Rega room at the Bristol HiFi show and they had a basic Rega integrated amp… and Spendor A2 speakers - and it sounded superb…nothing fancy…
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Yeah, I don’t know how anyone could enjoy that cable in their system,. I’m just thankful I was open minded enough to try the BJC b/c my system wasn’t exciting before and like you say very analytical and fatiguing. Then BOOM. Big soundstage, details and texture that I hadn’t heard before. Now I’m thinking the SU/Ovators are one of the best set ups out there. My current system is far more engaging, fun, and resolving than my previous stack of boxes.
Well I fancy the hobby too and enjoy improving my system. It’s remarkable to me there can be such varied experiences with streaming cables.
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Yesterday afternoon I switched the whole system off as I was a bit concerned about a power outage and possible lightening from the big storm. As everything was off I used this opportunity to unplug and replug every connection, both analogue (including all power leads) and digital, as I hadn’t done so for ages.
Switched everything back on and after a few tracks, I noticed a rather nice uplift. Melody Gardot’s Currency of Man, a real system tester, sounded sublime.
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Will do that this weekend.
Good idea.
Love a free upgrade, me!
I have the same experience. Unplugging and cleaning my contacts gave a nice uplift.
Switching off all my system once a week for a night gives a little uplift too.
What about the Ethernet cables!!!
If you notice a drop off experiment with the 555 alone. I also have a suspicion that ICs take longer to fully improve. It takes time to isolate what does what.
Phil
Yes, I unplugged and replugged everything, including all Ethernet cables, so cannot say which lead cleaning was the most influential in the uplift.
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Mr DB, very eloquent… and I agree, I didn’t realise however that these more exotic home audio cables didn’t use mu - metal (ferrous) based foils.
The exponential decay of electrical field strength intensity is of course based on wave length with respect … some of the relatively low RF type frequencies we are talking have rather long wavelengths. 30 MHz for example is approx 10 metres.
I only got involved with this more recently when studying for CEPT radio licence exams
Some Audiophile cables may ues Mu metal but it is rather expensive for use over very long runs so I was mainly meaning normal commercial Ethernet cables.
I was trying to give an idea that there are few absolutes with screening and keep it simple - but yes it is more complex when you start including different field geometries and other factors.
Screening is still extremely useful to implement as well as possible and you can get it very good when you have multiple layers of screens.
But sometimes you can just shift a problem to an end of the cable and lose sight of the overall system, which is a whole - either end driving and receiving the cable run have their interaction with it and their own internal electronics and how that finds its supply.
As much as I try to puzzle things out to an understanding it still always comes down to experiment as to what works and does not.
DB.
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Indeed, very true.
Chuckle… I was referring to in my mind these exotic ‘Ethernet’ cables as being audio cables, as really they would appear have little to add that is specific to genuine Ethernet use…
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Are you still using the 3 Ciscos?
Yes. But am considering a EtherRegen.
And if I do get one and it makes the Ciscos redundent as yours did, I’d probably sell them.
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The general formula for relating frequency to wave length is very basic.
c = fL
where c = speed of radio waves (approx 300,000 km per second)
f = frequency (30 MHz is on the boundary between HF and VHF so not really a low frequency)
L = Wave length in metres (usually written with the Greek letter Lamda but this website no longer hosts such niceties directly)
So 300,000,000 m/s divided by 30,000,000 Hz gives you your 10m wave length
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OR….if you are unconvinced, I’ll relieve you of your ‘spare’ EtherREGEN.
Please, don’t thank me, it is my pleasure.
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Well, now that the ERs are run in I’ve put the Ciscos back with them. This was supposed to be for a final comparison before selling them.
Well… Hah! Whether it’s because the ERs are now delivering a much more textured sound or a result of the recent firmware update, the Ciscos and ERs are (much to my irritation) performing very well together, with the former (when upstream) adding a greater sense of space and tonal subtlety. It’s extremely beguiling. I need to make sure its just the switches and not also influenced by the cables, but I’m astonished at what’s added, with in each case the second of each respective switch enhancing the effect when daisy chained (alternating them does not have the same effect)…
Anyway, having previously feared you could be losing the plot with three switches, here I am contemplating four! Mania indeed…
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@Peder, have you heard? 4 switches now. Perhaps I should not follow more this thread, for my health and bank account 
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Exactly…(although there are other modifiers such as velocity factor of the conductor) but remember your voltage and current peaks and nulls, as they are at every wavelength/2.
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