Experiment time.
G
5 Likes
Why spend $20 on a Blue Jeans cable when you can get a fancy boutique ethernet for $1500 that works almost as well. 
12 Likes
I will be interested to hear about the results of your experiment if you want to share. I’m using a cable from a diy shop so I’ll be interested to in if you hear any differences
1 Like
What you can be sure of with Blue Jeans cable is that they meet or exceed Category spec for ethernet transmission, and they include the test report showing that’s true for that specific cable (i.e. those blue/white sheets in the package). Some of the really expensive boutique cables don’t even meet Cat spec, which can result in dropped packets and excessive retransmissions.
I use Blue Jeans ethernet cables for everything. My home office and for my Roon server and NDX2.
3 Likes
BlueJeans are boutique cables. Last time I checked they were about 10 times the price of a regular, tested and certified cable you can buy from the likes of FS or CableMonkey. They’re just not as boutique as a couple more zeros on the price.
Well, for $20 I get a cable I know has been properly terminated and tested. That’s worth a few extra bucks to me.
And I suspect by the time I pay for shipping CableMonkey to me in the U.S. I’ve paid about as much and waited a lot longer to get it. 
1 Like
Agreed.
Its good practice to get individually tested ethernet cables. I didn’t consider this but will for my next purchase.
Having said that, my last ethernet cable was a CAT 8, braided and with 24k gold plated connectors. 5m $20
Also important imo.
My streamer is directly connected to the port built into my router. My hardwired Internet speed is 1.5Gps. My 1Gps chipset streamer steps down from 1Gps to .1Gps to reduce electronic noise.
So does all this matter?….all looks good on paper.
FWIW: you really don’t need Cat8. Cat6a is fine and for audio streaming Cat5e is more than adequate.
I have an electrician doing some work soon, and part of that they will run network cable from my first to second floor. I am having them run Cat 6a and fiber. I’m not using the fiber, but I might in the future (I have 1000 Mb fiber service for internet).
Any regular commercial cable supplier will test their cables. The fact that BJ provide a paper test cert that most customers won’t even understand is just a marketing ploy in my books. Besides, cables from a reputable supplier very rarely fail, and even if their performance is sub-par they will often work perfectly in providing the very low levels of data transfer used in audio.
3 Likes
Let’s not start cable wars folks. It’s a well made certified cable delivered to length and colour preference for less than £20. End of.
G
5 Likes
Agreed
I bought the CAT8 for the extra shielding.
The cost is negligible on such short runs for me.
I’d be interested to know what you think, I’ll wiring up our place early next year and have considered running those throughout.
1 Like
I know one of my dealer customers had a new outdoor music room. As well as ethernet, he ran fibre SFP cables as well to future proof it………they are pretty cheap.
1 Like
The brand seems to get mentioned a lot but the don’t look anything special. You can buy rolls of the stuff on Amazon (well you could last time I looked).
Its just fibre optic cable with sfp connectors at each end. The new Melco server has a sfp port, Cisco switches too, and Steve Sells replied to me that Naim are looking at it. The only downside is you would have to get the length correct for your build as i think the sfp connectors are not diy, but factory fit.
Meet with a company that’s quoting electrical air con and data today. Worryingly they had never heard of them. Guess that means more homework for me.
1 Like
The Atom Headphone Edition returns to its All in One function and the Auralic VEGA G2.2 steps in as Roon Endpoint & DAC for my main tube amps. No more doubling up on preamp stages.
13 Likes
ADOT do the hifi versions over here, and cable lengths can be custom ordered. @james_n uses them.
1 Like
11 Likes
Hello,
This is the right place for my first post…
Just got yesterday my Naim Uniti Core (in replacement of a beloved Auralic Aries Mini that dies).
This morning will be installation (insert HDD, configure, transfer music…)
8 Likes