# Archimago's musings on ethernet cables and audio **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [March 13, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379 "2021-03-13T22:17:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/graeme_finlayson/32/166152_2.png) [@Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Graeme_Finlayson)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/41 "2021-03-16T20:05:25Z")
Watch out for the pitchforks too! 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/graeme_finlayson/32/166152_2.png) [@Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Graeme_Finlayson)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/42 "2021-03-16T20:08:17Z")
To be fair, some of the ‘snake-oil’ ethernet cables do have some pretty sexy looking connectors. If you’re fancy a bit of audio jewellery, then knock yourself out: [https://cpc.farnell.com/metz-connect/mc-130e405032-e/rj45-field-plug-pro-cat-6a-straight/dp/CN21397?mckv=sLm4cFvae\_dc|pcrid|224645161149|kword||match||plid||slid||product|CN21397|pgrid|45968746254|ptaid|pla-894655518958|&CMP=KNC-GUK-CPC-SHOPPING&s\_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224645161149!!!network}!894655518958!&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrsGCBhD1ARIsALILBYqA5Dnl1nf6Vx4LP3PAPvb4p2iYrmyjS92\_k6NQZivc0TnnM7KxxtsaApaoEALw\_wcB](https://cpc.farnell.com/metz-connect/mc-130e405032-e/rj45-field-plug-pro-cat-6a-straight/dp/CN21397?mckv=sLm4cFvae_dc%7Cpcrid%7C224645161149%7Ckword%7C%7Cmatch%7C%7Cplid%7C%7Cslid%7C%7Cproduct%7CCN21397%7Cpgrid%7C45968746254%7Cptaid%7Cpla-894655518958%7C&CMP=KNC-GUK-CPC-SHOPPING&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224645161149!!!network%7D!894655518958!&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrsGCBhD1ARIsALILBYqA5Dnl1nf6Vx4LP3PAPvb4p2iYrmyjS92_k6NQZivc0TnnM7KxxtsaApaoEALw_wcB) [https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/ethernet-connectors/1618158/?cm\_mmc=UK-PLA-DS3A-_-google-_-PLA\_UK\_EN\_Connectors\_Whoop-_-Ethernet+Connectors\_Whoop-_-1618158&matchtype=&aud-827186183886:pla-338528895961&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrsGCBhD1ARIsALILBYoVegbVJlDn8XzqZqOZtru0m0UkBBq4I1oEzPr1Ia91r0dxO4iO\_PAaAtZsEALw\_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds](https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/ethernet-connectors/1618158/?cm_mmc=UK-PLA-DS3A-_-google-_-PLA_UK_EN_Connectors_Whoop-_-Ethernet+Connectors_Whoop-_-1618158&matchtype=&aud-827186183886:pla-338528895961&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrsGCBhD1ARIsALILBYoVegbVJlDn8XzqZqOZtru0m0UkBBq4I1oEzPr1Ia91r0dxO4iO_PAaAtZsEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds) A bit of expandable braided sleeving and some adhesive-lined heatshrink, and you have a cable with aesthetics to rival the [Audioquest Vodka](https://www.audioquest.com/cables/digital-cables/rj-e-ethernet/vodka) ---
**Author:** ![Jazzfan\_NJ](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/jazzfan_nj/32/50021_2.png) [@Jazzfan\_NJ](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Jazzfan_NJ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/43 "2021-03-16T20:21:26Z")
> [@Kevin\_Roxby](#): > > inflated puffery Filled with purified hot air! ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_Roxby](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/kevin_roxby/32/168519_2.png) [@Kevin\_Roxby](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Kevin_Roxby)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/44 "2021-03-16T21:09:54Z")
👍🏼 Yep “Air heads” perhaps ---
**Author:** ![Jazzfan\_NJ](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/jazzfan_nj/32/50021_2.png) [@Jazzfan\_NJ](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Jazzfan_NJ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/45 "2021-03-16T21:56:05Z")
> [@Kevin\_Roxby](#): > > “Air heads” perhaps For the sheep, yes but the shepherds I’m not so sure. ---
**Author:** ![miklats](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/miklats/32/51769_2.png) [@miklats](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/miklats)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 6:18am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/46 "2021-03-17T06:18:02Z")
But then there are the sheep who think of themselves as shepherds… ---
**Author:** ![Brian2019](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/brian2019/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Brian2019](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Brian2019)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 12:13pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/47 "2021-03-18T12:13:13Z")
Personally, I think hemp string is audibly superior to optical fibre. I recommend it highly! ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Sandwich](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/sir_sandwich/32/57306_2.png) [@Sir\_Sandwich](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Sir_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/48 "2021-03-18T18:21:21Z")
This is up there with crystals. TCP/IP deals with error correction of data that is being transferred. Its no different to streaming video or copying documents over a network. Yes you can get corrupted data but its extremely obvious when you receive corrupted data. There is no difference in the resulting data between a file copied using cat5 or cat XYZ. The only difference is speed of transmission. If this logic was true then every piece of data everywhere wouldnt be a true copy and we’d have all sorts of issues. Piracy wouldnt be a thing if we couldnt make perfect copies. ---
**Author:** ![Jazzfan\_NJ](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/jazzfan_nj/32/50021_2.png) [@Jazzfan\_NJ](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Jazzfan_NJ)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/49 "2021-03-18T18:39:05Z")
> [@Sir\_Sandwich](#): > > Piracy wouldnt be a thing if we couldnt make perfect copies. Did you ever try to watch a [cam recording](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_(bootleg)) of a major new movie release? Sometimes perfection is not the goal. Other than the above little quibble, I completely agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/graeme_finlayson/32/166152_2.png) [@Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Graeme_Finlayson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/50 "2021-03-18T20:11:42Z")
😲 I have nearly 400m of fibre in my place! Mine is all high-bandwidth backbone and trunk link between switches… Transmits ‘music’ data really well 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/graeme_finlayson/32/166152_2.png) [@Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Graeme_Finlayson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/51 "2021-03-18T20:13:56Z")
Yeah, I wondered why some random guy appeared and then walked across my TV screen… 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/graeme_finlayson/32/166152_2.png) [@Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Graeme_Finlayson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/52 "2021-03-18T20:29:04Z")
I find the whole idea of spending obscene sums of money in the digital domain just ludicrous. Audiophile ethernet cables, audiophile switches, fibre media converters, USB cables, coaxial cables - it’s nonsense. I spent a couple of hours after work today ‘salvaging’ an ethernet transformer from an old switch to break a ground loop on a S/PDIF coax. It worked a treat, but if you believed the snake-oil claims around digital, it should have sounded ‘veiled’, lacking in dynamics, with a narrow soundstage, or worse, I should have gotten no sound at all from it! As it happens, it sounded exactly the same, minus the ground-loop noise… ---
**Author:** ![Jazzfan\_NJ](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/jazzfan_nj/32/50021_2.png) [@Jazzfan\_NJ](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Jazzfan_NJ)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/53 "2021-03-18T20:32:39Z")
> [@Graeme\_Finlayson](#): > > Yeah, I wondered why some random guy appeared and then walked across my TV screen 🤣 Since most topics on this community that try to dispel one of the many audiophile myths out there seem to quickly devolve to a pretty much useless back and forth, I don’t see the harm in going off topic with some humor instead. Not to worry another attempt at myth busting will return shortly! ---
**Author:** ![miklats](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/miklats/32/51769_2.png) [@miklats](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/miklats)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/54 "2021-03-18T20:51:28Z")
> [@Graeme\_Finlayson](#): > > obscene sums of money Out of interest. What constitutes an obscene amount of money for you in the digital domain? ---
**Author:** ![Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/graeme_finlayson/32/166152_2.png) [@Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Graeme_Finlayson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/55 "2021-03-18T21:03:12Z")
Anything more than the minimum which allows the bits to get from one place to another unchanged. That’s the beauty of digital - it’s Boolean. True/false, Hi/Lo, 1/0… It has become the most snake-oil riddled part of music reproduction. ---
**Author:** ![Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/graeme_finlayson/32/166152_2.png) [@Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Graeme_Finlayson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/56 "2021-03-18T21:12:20Z")
Incidentally, I read an interesting post on another forum last night by an engineer who installs multi-channel AoIP systems for stage and broadcasting - up to hundreds of channels of 24bit/192kHz. His closing comment was - ‘if ethernet cables made any difference, trust me, we’d know about it’ ---
**Author:** ![miklats](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/miklats/32/51769_2.png) [@miklats](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/miklats)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 9:17pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/57 "2021-03-18T21:17:05Z")
I dont doubt that. I have bad experience with different switches in my house, just breaking after 2 years, after guarantee. I search for reliable, longer than 2 years lasting switches. ---
**Author:** ![Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/graeme_finlayson/32/166152_2.png) [@Graeme\_Finlayson](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Graeme_Finlayson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/58 "2021-03-18T21:29:21Z")
With switches, for longevity and reliability, you want SOHO (small office/home office) grade as a minimum or enterprise grade. You can buy top flight enterprise grade switches relatively inexpensively used or refurbished from eBay. A word of warning though - they’re noisier. They have cooling fans to keep them at safe operating temperatures in order to maintain lifespan/reliability. So they need to be located somewhere that’s not near your hi-fi. I have two big enterprise switches at home - one in the house and one out in the office in the garden. 10Gbit fibre capable (4 ports on one and 2 on the other) and each also has 48 X Gbit/Gbit PoE ports. Neither cost me a couple of beers more than £200. My first one has been running solidly for \>18,000 hours without so much as a hiccup. Brands such as Cisco, Dell, Juniper are solid and reliable - they have millions of switches running in datacentres all over the world. ---
**Author:** ![Matthias\_Trustedt](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/matthias_trustedt/32/133344_2.png) [@Matthias\_Trustedt](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Matthias_Trustedt)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/59 "2021-03-18T22:22:31Z")
“, I read an interesting post on another forum last night by an engineer who …” - now that’s really cool 🕶, having people who know their stuff make such clear statements. Would you have a link to the article (highly appreciated, thx!)? BTW, I very much recommend the posts from “Dr. AIX” Mark Waldrep, same story and clear statements! ---
**Author:** ![miklats](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/miklats/32/51769_2.png) [@miklats](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/miklats)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/60 "2021-03-18T22:22:47Z")
Thanks. This helps. [Previous page](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379.md?page=2) [Next page](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379.md?page=4)