Looking at this whole thread …and based on my experience… the whole ethernet chain … is critical ignore it at your peril … I think all the naim streamers will be sensitive … as they are that good! The gradual changes I have implemented … have yielded significant results… I think the advice on this thread is very useful. Decent cables with a decent switch = happy streamer… from my own personal experience I would say my ethernet tweaks = a black box upgrade. I used std cat 6 cables before and a cheap gigabit switch with an IFI psu.
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I thought I could tell a difference with the direction of the Catsnake cables prefering them in the direction of the writing so C of CAT is nearest the source. I may be deluding myself but if there really is no difference than nothing is lost anyway so WTF.
There are quite a few different systems used by people on this thread, not all are in their profiles but I think there is a mix of Naim streamers of both generations, a few Linn streamers and maybe some other streamers with outboard DACs and fed from a variety of data stores, some Melcos, Cores and assorted NAS devices and even internet streaming. If Xanthe’s noise shaping hypothesis is the entire story than the system itself is only a factor and the electromagnetic and vibrational environment of each setup will also come into play. Peoples results from trying various cable should look pretty random in that case but it might be interesting to try and map cable preference to system components after this thread has matured a bit more.
Its a Hi End technique to put a DC Bias on the capacitors to form the dielectric and keep it in an optimal condition. I have seen it used on other gear–I think MIT uses something similar, and Vandersteen uses the same on his High Pass for Subwoofers. They use the highest quality cap and then add the bias.
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Blue Jean Cat 6 cables inserted into the chain and I’m a happy camper! I think the combo of Cinnmamon> Melco> Ghent (belden) were doing a push me/pull me kind of thing. So now it’s NUC> BJC Cat 6 (belden)>Cisco> BJC Cat 6> opticalModule> fiber> opticalModule> Ghent Audio (Belden 1303). I also replaced the final Cinnamon to the Unitiquet in the office with a 2 foot BJC Cat 6, and immediately better.
The BJC cables seem to make the most improvement in the areas of bass - not too pronounced (Melco) or too recessed (cinnamon), no muddiness or veil (Monoprice Cat 6). Music sounds less fatiguing, more quiet and open spaces, fuller. It’s all very subtle but there. So I’m a Blue Jeans ethernet convert, and like Richerioo says above, ignore the whole chain at your own loss. I’m also thinking that keeping to one brand/cable for the whole loom might be important as well (gulp on doing a Chord Music loom).
I know many on here would say my DAC V1 is a mullet, but it just keeps on sounding better and better as I work on the source and network. I’ve become a real source and speakers first advocate with the recent upgrades I’ve made around my core of V1 and 110.
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Oh, and FWIW I installed the BJC’s with the writing readable running in the direction of the music (i.e. server to streamer). No plan on trying in the other direction.
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Just bought a couple of Blue Jeans Cables and they are now installed. I’ll have a go tonight to see how they sound.
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6a or 6?
Same question : 6a or 6?
6
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Hi Charlesphoto,
I also have a mix of LAN cables in my system. Ghent audio and Supra CAT 8 and Sablon.
Did you replace the Ghent cable for a BJC if so was it an upgrade?
I also assume your BJC cables is very new and requires more hours of burn in?
I have recently got fiber installed in the house meaning I need a LAN cable from modem to router. I have now connected a supra cat 8 with a passive LAN-isolator called EMO-70 in between the Ghent audio cable.
Hi, no plan on replacing the Ghent cable or even comparing it to the BJC. I’m going to live under the assumption that since both are made from Belden wires, the sound will be similar, with the edge to the Ghent. But for the price, one can’t go wrong with the BJC’s ethernet cables anywhere in the system imo.
If you really want to isolate AND increase sound quality then I would recommend the Sonore opticalModule(s).
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Thanks for the reply,
Yes the optical module seems like a fine product or wait for the etherRegen I have on order and that will arrive in January hopefully:grinning:
Yeah, will be interesting to hear early listening reports on the etherRegen.
I do recommend now that people should try all one brand/type of ethernet/streaming cable if using more than one in their audio chain. My hypothesis is that if one cable is giving more, another less, (and either way for better or worse) then they are having to compensate for each other down the line, and as neutral a pass through as possible is best. Real, scientific I know, but I’m just talking about the sound. Mine probably need some more burn-in - I was going to play them via the Rokus but couldn’t wait - I wanted to see if there was a change for the better right off the bat, and there was.
About mixing cables ; Could be so yes. At least thats what manufacturers say. They always want to sell a full loom of cables.
With the etherRegen in use ,LAN cable talk or debates will perhaps vanish completely in future ( or not)
What I understand from initial talk at AS forum its mainly the last LAN cable between ER “B” port and endpoint that will matter most.
I have seen those comments … time will tell … I hold a different view
I changed my hub down stream - of my all the rest of my gear … and that made a difference
I think the system/parts variables are the devil in this mix. When a friend & I swapped switch to streamer cables between my NDX - Cisco & his Linn KDSM - HP, we heard specific characteristics of some cables on the Naim, but different on the Linn. and I’m a cable sceptic I will add.
This morning I hooked up my wireless hub to switch branch with it original Lindy cable to compare (again) with the new BJC Cat-6 and yes the BJC is the business. And again I confirmed (to my own ears) that the BJC on the hub to switch branch also has an effect on the NAS-Switch-NDX route (both these are MeiCord)
And Yeti if you want to map all this, away ya go man, best of luck, you’ll need it.
Directionality can make some sense for analogue cables; however for digital cables the only way it makes sense is in terms of a slightly different tuning of the RF stub. The effect of this slightly different tuning will be completely unpredictable or non-existent. In any one system, the system may sound better with the cable one way round, or the other, or both equal. Even if the sound is better one way, that means precisely nothing for the sound or orientation of the cable in any other system; all three possibilities open up again, and the cable may make that system better or worse. The results will always be random.
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I don’t.
Why do you automatically assume that I think cables have directionality?
I said only a few posts ago that I don’t know whether cables make a hifi SQ change if you change their direction.
Hi Xanthe
Well, as you know I disagree that the results will always be random, as per various of my posts above.
So to clarify, let’s say we took a BJC cable and a Chord Music cable and installed them in 100 very good and well set up home hifi systems. And then we asked the same 1000 experienced hifi listeners to individually (i.e. one at a time) judge whether each of the 2 cables sounded better or worse or the same in blind tests. But we didn’t tell them it was a cable test. (And we didn’t test directionality).
Do you think think the results would be that a third would judge there’s no difference; a third would judge that the BJC condition sounded better; and a third would judge that the Chord Music sounded better?
Jim
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