I simply think generic and freebee Ethernet is CRAP.
I have expensive Hdmi and cheaper, Cinnamon and low cost, not much difference in sound.
But I think HDMI has so good standards even cheaper because they have to. .
Let me post my freebee Cat5, it was bended many times from factory…
Cat5 must be a dog… As Bjc test proved.
Compared to 20 bucks Supra Cat8
The difference in sound Streaming is very big, astonishing…
CAT 8 cable can’t meet the RL specifications of UTP category 5e or 6 cable. The SHIELD applied over the best singles insulation process impact the capacitance stability of the cable. Going from 5 to 5e was an improvement in the insulation and singles process that much improved the cable bandwidth. Adding a shield to CAT 5 made RL WORSE!
The CMRR of balanced category cable also improves with lower capacitance unbalance making the balanced pairs even more immune to ingree noise, and reducing the need for a shield.
Shannon’s law is SIGNAL and NOISE. The Return loss, RL, is more responsible for the channel performance than external noise 99.9% of the time. RL reflection is ALWAYS impacting the signal quality and thus is very important. Noise is more random. CAT8 uses 22 AWG and brute force to improve the BW as RL is impossible to exceed UTP designs. The BW goes way in excess of Ethernet, even 10G.
The extreme alterations caused by using a shield, especially ISTP, forces 22 AWG wire with foamed pairs to offset attenuation and poor RL relative to UTP cable. Yes, it works but isn’t exactly efficient. For video, CAT7 has been eclipsed with 2183P and 2183R overall FTP shielded CAT6 type cable at a smaller diameter and lower cost. How? My minimizing the effects of the shield directly on the pairs by removing it and using BONDED pairs! Straight physics.
For the best streaming possible, use an ultra good impedance/RL stable design cable. UTP gives you far better RL stability than ANY shielded cable can. This is why BONDED pairs are so good. The C-C is virtually the same all the time, thus the capacitance. It’s the physics, folks. Once you get the insulation as good as you can, the shield magnifies the deficiencies.
Galen Gareis
So would you recommend then the blue jeans cat 5, 6 or 6a Ethernet cables, which I believe are unshielded? I use some. Are those as good as it gets, science-wise? Instead of cat 7, 8 which is shielded?
I think the answer will be CAT5(e) or 6 but not 6a.
Good quality 1700A 5e bonded pair is fine. CAT6 3600 series bonded won’t help more, but it won’t hurt, either.
6A has special requirements for EXTERNAL noise that you won’t use for streaming and makes the cable more costly for 10G requirements. The internal specs are CAT6 extended past 250 MHz to 500 MHz, so again, out where we don’t use the cable. The iso-shield impacts internal noise mitigation that needs to change the lay design and this increases the cost as well as the use of shield. It is just the way it works, add shield, lose 6 dB of internal noise rejection you need to gain back with more design changes.
High quality does not have to mean $$$ as Ethernet adjusts the development costs over a huge user base. We get rocket ship technology at airplane prices. Don’t think for a second that because Ethernet cable is affordable it isn’t absolutely amazing at what it does, if it is really indeed DESIGNED to do the job, that is.
Best,
Galen Gareis
So I can buy this then? This discussion is too complicated for a simple mind 
can you add a amazon link on what you think is the right cable to buy?
Go to Blue Jeans Cable.com
Now click on DATA CABLES.
You can select the length you need, and chose the Bandwidth you feel does the ticket for you in the order form.
All their data cables use BONDED pairs;
Our principal offerings for these three categories are all Belden-manufactured, bonded-pair cable. Belden’s patented bonded-pair technology goes beyond conventional data cable pair twisting and actually bonds the two conductors of each pair together for exceptional impedance stability and low skew, especially under real-world flex and strain conditions. For Cat 5e, we use Belden 1700A, a stock Belden cable. For Cat 6 and 6a, Belden doesn’t sell patch cord stock in its standard catalog (the cables you may be familiar with are designed primarily for “horizontal” use), so we’ve asked Belden to manufacture special patch-cord-optimized Cat 6 and Cat 6a cable stocks for us which we terminate and sell under the Blue Jeans Cable brand. With all of these cables, we use Sentinel brand RJ-45 connectors, manufactured in York, Pennsylvania. We also offer, as a more economical alternative, Belden 1583A–this is a conventional non-bonded pair Cat 5e cable, with a Panduit RJ-45 bootless but “snag-proof” connector. Regardless of the cable stock used, all of these cables are assembled and tested right here in Seattle by American workers.
Thanks! Does this look good? IOW is this the best option you recommend?
Belden 1700A Bonded Pair Cat 5e Ethernet Cable, 3 foot, Green
For music streaming in shorter lengths and patch interconnects, this is the right cable.
Galen Gareis
Myself and many others here will vouch for the quality of the BJC network (and other type) cables and the integrity of the service. Each cable is tested after manufacture and the test report comes along with. It is the actual report for the cable ordered not some “typical performance” graph. Very professional and guarantees the cable performance meets the spec.
I have settled upon the ethernet cable that works best in my system. The Certicable CAT 7A it replaced is a much hotter cable but it buries detail and nuance I am currently running the Certicable between the SGC i5 and cable modem and router. I put the Inakustik Referenz between the router and the ultraRendu the an inakustik Referenz USB feed the Matrix SPDIF 2 and a Wireworld Silver Starlight HDMI to the DSD.
The layering detail and smoothness in voice, reed, strings, and brass just jumped out. Way more 3D soundstage and realism. I thought what I had was special. This ethernet takes it to the next extreme. Only thing left to consider is whether to run two of them. Not sure I wish to upset the tmbreand tonal balance . It was a bit of a wait from Germany but well worth it. Found a site discounting these afterI paid retail. The dampening insulation the Certicable 7A lacks is worth the inakustik price even at retail. Of the 25 plus cables I tried on ethernet this is the best. Maybe the grand plus cords will smoke it? This one seems to do everything right for me.
@Somppsa after this I am going to have to try their HDMI cords.
Edit. Don’t order from this link after looking at xyz domains they are known to be dubious. I would caution one to go paypal if at all. I bought mine of ebay using best offer price and it camae from Seller in gemany with inakustik test data in original package. Completely loving this cable.
That is great to hear,Inakustik Referenz bested 25 other ethernet cables there…any chance to name a few of them? To get an idea what it was up against.
It´s all about balance and now you found good match. I look my cables as a whole…I take transparency somewhere,body and texture elsewhere,etc…overall neutrality being the goal but I always pick less bright cable if I have to choose between two. I have yet to find one cable brand to deliver it all,so it is mix and match for me.
Looking forward your hdmi results,I have no experience regarding Inakustik there. WW PS 7 seems to be overall champion there.
Have you ordered from this website? To be honest, it looks shady to me. No information on the company on the bottom as required. The url registration is only 80 days old. No phone number. I’ll dig a little more but be careful it does not smell right to me.
The details on the site say that they are in the fashion business? WTF
I don´t think he bought from there,just found a scam site offering cheaper price ,like Chinese stores selling real Ray-Bans or Ray-Runs for 15 $ 
Yeah don´t buy anything from that fashion store.
I did just the BJC, certicable, and tried a bunch of certified marked cord jackets from the IT department at work trying to see what might work the best. cat 5e, Cat 6, cat 6A, Cat 7, CAT 7A, CAT 8. Flat ribbon type 5e did not sound bad just noisy. The Inakustik Referenz. Really seems to have best, detail, imaging , soundstage. Live music with crowd noise really envelops you.
I would love to see what a wire world platinum starlight 7 HDMI sounds like compared to the silver starlight. It is hard to find a short one. Though I read longerHDMI cords can be better. I spent a bunch on cables this year and just did a new WW powercable and ultimate beeswax fuse for the DSD. The fuse does provide a difference. So far Iconoclast and Inakustik have been the most transformative.The ultimate beeswax fuse has just hit 150 hours. It did a big change but does not sound half as realistic unless I am running the inakustik referenz ethernet. It seems to be all about the combination match… Digital cables make An incredible difference.
I make my own Ethernet cables. Just search YouTube for the instructions. You can buy Supra CAT8 cabling and Telegartner 8.1 Terminations and you’ll get something that sounds very comparable to an AudioQuest Vodka. I compared them to the Vodka and I had a hard time distinguishing, doing a double blind test. And yes the CAT8 cable does sound better than the earlier standards.
I switched my ethernetcard to 100Mbit this brought more information in low and midrange frequencies. The signal uses only 4 wires of the cable, half the electronic’s is used and probably half the crosstalk.
I think it’s worth the try! It’s also possible to use a cable with a 4 wire 100Mbit configuration. The configuration can easily be found on the internet.
It brought me only wins and no loses. 100Mbit is more than enough for audio streaming.
Destress a network. I replaced my OCXO clocks in my streamer by Ultra OCXO clocks. Normaly an OCXO clock is 100 times more accurate then a normal clock on a mainbord of a computer. An Ultra OXCO clock is many times more accurate than the normal OCXO clock.
The sound of my system clearly increased in SQ. On my streamer with a special Linux OS is a load monitor. You can point out the cores for streaming and system tasks. The load of the processor was with the OCXO clocks between 5 and 8%, but now with the ultra OCXO’s the load decreased to 0.5%.
Both the OCXO clocks and the Ultra OCXO are kept on stable 80 degrees Celcius. This even when the streamer is switched off.
I think there’s far less switching noise due to the new Ultra’s on the network than before.
