|
Post by julesd68 on Jan 8, 2020 16:49:16 GMT
Any further thoughts on your Wyrd, Paul?
|
|
|
Post by Slinger on Jan 8, 2020 18:23:27 GMT
Any further thoughts on your Wyrd, Paul? The jury is still out. Stuff that sounded good still sounds good, I just can't work out if it actually sounds better. I've put the 0.3m WireWorld Startlight 7 cable in today to replace the Nordost-a-like so I'll give that a few days to bed in, burn in, whateverthefuckthesethingsdo.
|
|
|
Post by MartinT on Jan 8, 2020 18:30:56 GMT
0.3m is a handy length. I wish Audioquest did shorter lengths than 0.75m.
|
|
|
Post by Slinger on Jan 8, 2020 19:57:04 GMT
0.3m is a handy length. I wish Audioquest did shorter lengths than 0.75m. Same here, Martin. WireWorld were my second choice after AQ, which I couldn't afford, and the shorter lengths, as well as being better than 0.75m for me, kept the prices down a bit. The were "New old stock," from Analogue Seduction.
|
|
|
Post by MartinT on Jan 8, 2020 20:30:56 GMT
Analogue Seduction give a good service. Don't know why they're selling USB cables, though!
|
|
|
Post by Pinch on Jan 9, 2020 23:04:44 GMT
It's been interesting following everyone's experiences with USB cables. I went through a few cables some years ago, and settled on the Black Cat SilverStar USB. I mostly like it because it's green.
|
|
|
Post by MartinT on Jan 10, 2020 6:37:06 GMT
I will say this: I thought the cables carrying the signal were the most important, in this case Asus to DAC. However, I am surprised at the difference the power cable (microUSB) is to sound quality. When I recently changed from a very nice quality JuiceBitz cable to an Audioquest Cinnamon I hadn't expected much difference and I didn't hear much to start with. As the hours have passed (about 100 now), that cable has pulled the system performance up in terms of dynamic clout and micro-detail.
Oh, and I like it because it's red.
|
|
|
Post by Slinger on Jan 10, 2020 15:25:28 GMT
I'm looking at taking what, at first sight, looks like a bit of a backward step as far as networking goes. I've been thinking about moving up to Cat8 from Cat7 but now may move to Cat 6a instead. I've been looking at Blue Jeans Cables' Cat6a, and I'm tending towards believing in construction values rather than fancy specs, and I know I can trust Blue Jeans in that regard. This is what they say about their cables. They also do this... It works out at less than £80.00 to cable from router to Streamer, and from my hub to both of my Synology NAS drives (Classical and Non-Classical music) plus a dinky little link between router and my new TP Link hub. That's 1x 7.5m 2x 1.5m and a 0.5m cable.
There are too many bloomin' options in this hi-fi lark.
|
|
|
Post by julesd68 on Jan 10, 2020 21:55:59 GMT
What benefits are you expecting from category hopping Paul?
|
|
|
Post by Slinger on Jan 11, 2020 0:03:25 GMT
My first idea was to move over to AudioQuest (surprise surprise) ethernet cable, and their bottom of the range "Pearl" is specced as Cat7. Then I made the mistake of reading about Cat8 and how it was the "best sounding" ethernet cable yet. The more I read though, the more it seemed to me as if the actual construction of the cable was a large part of the picture, because the "best" Cat8 was WireWorld Starlight, or some other hideously expensive name brand, and the one thing they all seemed to have in common was build quality. Then I thought about Blue Jeans Cables, and my wallet. As far as I can determine there is absolutely no need for Cat8 standards in music streaming (Standard Bandwidth 2000MHz, Max Data Rate 25Gbps or 40Gbps) in fact it's overkill, pure and simple. Cat6a at 500MHz / 10Gbps should happily cope with anything I can throw at it. It's cheaper (by a long chalk) and although I've never owned any Blue Jeans cables I know a lot of people here have and they have all been complimentary about them. They build their own cables, they specced the cable and Belden make it for them, and they test each cable and certify it before they send it out. It looks like I'll be moving down to Cat6a instead of up to Cat8 now, but the added increase in build quality should equate to some sort of increase in sound quality, I hope. Worst case scenario - it sounds the no different and I've got loads of spare ethernet cables. As somebody remarked, the best thing you could probably do is find out exactly what (for instance) Spotify use, because you can bet your life it only costs them pennies per meter, and it obviously sounds fine. With the miles of ethernet cabling they have it's not going to be WireWorld (or AudioQuest) all the way so why pay that much at home.
|
|
|
Post by Slinger on Jan 11, 2020 0:22:10 GMT
Ordered. I forgot about p+p/taxes etc. So £78.25 has turned into £108.24, which is still a pretty decent price for what I've ordered I think.
|
|
|
Post by julesd68 on Jan 11, 2020 0:52:08 GMT
Good luck with it Paul, look forward to your thoughts. I have a country mile between router and streamer so not economical to even think about changing it.
|
|
|
Post by John on Jan 11, 2020 6:06:48 GMT
I think you are on the right track Paul I was surprised how the Melcord beat my cat 7 cable as it is cat6. I think construction is important in getting the best from Ethernet cables
|
|
|
Post by MartinT on Jan 11, 2020 7:52:45 GMT
Yes, construction is key. Streaming music doesn't really need high bandwidth but it does benefit from waveform preservation and lack of jitter.
|
|
|
Post by naim1425 on Jan 15, 2020 22:35:45 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Slinger on Jan 16, 2020 1:00:20 GMT
My Blue Jeans Ethernet cables arrived at Stansted and were then shuffled off to a FedEx depot ready for delivery to me before midday tomorrow. The AQ Big Sur RCA cable has arrived and looks good, but I haven't tried it yet. My spare AQ Red River pair has arrived but looks remarkably like a pair of Chord cables. The seller mixed up two addresses and some lucky sod has currently got my Red Rivers, and no, I will not " just send the cables back," until I get a return label.
|
|
|
Post by MartinT on Jan 16, 2020 6:18:30 GMT
Doh! It's things like that which are so time-consuming and annoying.
|
|
|
Post by John on Jan 16, 2020 6:40:22 GMT
I once got a shelf instead of a laptop. it took a bit of time to sort out, the courier had changed the address label.
|
|
|
Post by Slinger on Jan 16, 2020 14:46:05 GMT
The Ethernet cables arrived at around 9:30 this morning. The build quality looks terrific; they are quite stiff, and thicker than anything I've already got in place. They also came with the individual test results, as promised, and in the pretty colours that I ordered: Yellow between router and ATB, Orange and Purple between router and my two NAS units, and boring white to link the router and my TPLink 8-port hub. I've just powered down the NAS units; let surgery begin.
|
|
|
Post by Slinger on Jan 16, 2020 15:46:30 GMT
All plumbed in and music is playing.
|
|