# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Speed\_Racer](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/speed_racer/32/48232_2.png) [@Speed\_Racer](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Speed_Racer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/61 "2021-03-18T22:25:59Z")
> [@Graeme\_Finlayson](#): > > …it’s nonsense. No, you think it is nonsense. That does not make it nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Janssen](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/bill_janssen/32/198723_2.png) [@Bill\_Janssen](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Bill_Janssen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 10:35pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/62 "2021-03-18T22:35:40Z")
> [@Speed\_Racer](#): > > No, you think it is nonsense. Now you’re changing what he said, aren’t you? He asserted it as a fact. Please don’t change what people say when you refer to their statements. ---
**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, 10:38pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/63 "2021-03-18T22:38:55Z")
No, science and engineering PROVE it’s nonsense. I don’t care what your subjectivist beliefs are. ---
**Author:** ![SukieInTheGraveyard](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/sukieinthegraveyard/32/194788_2.png) [@SukieInTheGraveyard](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/SukieInTheGraveyard)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/64 "2021-03-18T22:42:39Z")
2+2=4, regardless of anybody’s thoughts on the matter! ---
**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, 10:43pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/65 "2021-03-18T22:43:58Z")
I was paraphrasing based on memory, so my numbers weren’t exact, but the message remains the same: > **[Do you use 'audiophile' ethernet cable?](https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/do-you-use-audiophile-ethernet-cable.927092/)** > > Just saw an ad for a $185 ethernet cable from DH Labs. Is this pure b.s. or does this actually work? > > All comments welcome. See the 15th post by “guitarguy”. ---
**Author:** ![killdozer](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/killdozer/32/211569_2.png) [@killdozer](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/killdozer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/66 "2021-03-18T22:46:12Z")
> [@Graeme\_Finlayson](#): > > Audiophile ethernet cables, audiophile switches, fibre media converters, USB cables, coaxial cables - it’s nonsense. Nonsense? No, it’s a fair roll call of digital audio-quackery. If I had to criticise I’m disappointed that linear PSUs for said devices were left out 😉 ---
**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, 10:48pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/67 "2021-03-18T22:48:32Z")
My bad, linear PSUs escaped my memory on the list of digital audiophoolery. After all I’m nearly 51 years old 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![InVinoVeritasty](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/invinoveritasty/32/115018_2.png) [@InVinoVeritasty](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/InVinoVeritasty)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/68 "2021-03-19T00:39:43Z")
The Audioquest Vodka has “GEOMETRY STABILIZING SOLID HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE INSULATION.” It’s in caps, so you know it’s extra special. Personally, I like the idea of never having to worry about geometry stabilization again. ---
**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 19, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/69 "2021-03-19T00:44:32Z")
Is that fancy language for “it’s stiff and holds its shape”? 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![ElTel](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/eltel/32/126676_2.png) [@ElTel](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/ElTel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/70 "2021-03-19T00:44:56Z")
> [@Graeme\_Finlayson](#): > > See the 15th post by “guitarguy”. I can’t find a way to like that post enough. That is an absolutely flawless nail/hammer interface. There is a post earlier in that thread which should serve to contextualise why the smoke-and-mirrors still pervades: > Very different from an analog cable where the signal can be colored by the cable medium or interference. ---
**Author:** ![killdozer](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/killdozer/32/211569_2.png) [@killdozer](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/killdozer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 12:55am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/71 "2021-03-19T00:55:17Z")
> [@InVinoVeritasty](#): > > Personally, I like the idea of never having to worry about geometry stabilization again. Does that include self induced geometric instability? 😉 ---
**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 19, 2021, 1:00am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/72 "2021-03-19T01:00:55Z")
I don’t think there’s any arguing with that post 🙂 Analogue cable discussions are in a whole different snake-pit. In theory, they shouldn’t make any difference if industry standard source output and destination intput impedances are used (1kohm/47kohm). But when you factor in oddball electronic designs with weird input/output impedances and then add in esoteric cables with out of the park capacitance or inductance, very weird things can happen to frequency response. “System synergy” as audiophiles like to call it, or cr@p engineering as I like to call it. And then there are some speaker cables that by their very design can cause an amplifier to go into oscillation. ---
**Author:** ![GKern](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/gkern/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@GKern](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/GKern)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 1:28am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/73 "2021-03-19T01:28:56Z")
> [@InVinoVeritasty](#): > > “GEOMETRY STABILIZING SOLID HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE INSULATION.” How hard do you think they laugh when they come up with that sort of thing? ---
**Author:** ![ElTel](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/eltel/32/126676_2.png) [@ElTel](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/ElTel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/74 "2021-03-19T01:50:43Z")
> [@GKern](#): > > How hard do you think they laugh when they come up with that sort of thing? It has to be part of the team pub lunch on Fridays, surely? Everyone writes down 4 or 5 multi-syllable words, each on a single scrap of paper that is then dropped into a hat. They must ensure some tenuous technical connotation can be attributed to each word, of course. After 3 pints, someone pulls them out of the hat one at a time and writes down the ensuing literary-diarrhoea for use in the next marketing campaign. ---
**Author:** ![InVinoVeritasty](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/invinoveritasty/32/115018_2.png) [@InVinoVeritasty](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/InVinoVeritasty)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/75 "2021-03-19T01:55:22Z")
Geometry stabilization becomes a bigger issue with age. It _should_ be in all caps. ---
**Author:** ![Rockhound](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/rockhound/32/70769_2.png) [@Rockhound](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Rockhound)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/76 "2021-03-19T02:33:24Z")
> [@InVinoVeritasty](#): > > The Audioquest Vodka has “GEOMETRY STABILIZING SOLID HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE INSULATION.” I certainly need geometry stabilizing after several large vodkas. ---
**Author:** ![EnjoyTheMusic](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/enjoythemusic/32/86288_2.png) [@EnjoyTheMusic](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/EnjoyTheMusic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 6:38am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/77 "2021-03-19T06:38:03Z")
I have been caught buying some snake oil over the years… Luckily not a lot. Yup, Ethernet cables just takes the biscuit. Good points in this thread re standards, impedance matching, measuring, audible or not etc. Hope this thread saves new audiophiles from parting with their hard earned money. BTW purple cat6 cables sound best over the yellow ones… As if a vail was lifted. I think it’s subjectively to do with the way light is absorbed or sum’it like that. Anyway it’s good to look, question and learn or we would still be in caves listening to bird song…! ---
**Author:** ![Chrislayeruk](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/chrislayeruk/32/47983_2.png) [@Chrislayeruk](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Chrislayeruk)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 8:00am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/78 "2021-03-19T08:00:34Z")
That’s why I use DSP active speakers. The final output is designed. I listened to the result and I liked it. No one else has to… No speaker cables to worry about, no amp matching to do, no major tweaking to worry about, just sit back and enjoy a great sound ---
**Author:** ![garye](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/garye/32/84909_2.png) [@garye](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/garye)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 8:02am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/79 "2021-03-19T08:02:35Z")
No that’s ‘viagra’. It may make a better climax to 1812. ---
**Author:** ![Saturn94](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/saturn94/32/205411_2.png) [@Saturn94](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Saturn94)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 9:28am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379/80 "2021-03-19T09:28:38Z")
Nowadays 2+2 = whatever you “feel” or “believe” it is. 🙄 [Previous page](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379.md?page=3) [Next page](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/archimagos-musings-on-ethernet-cables-and-audio/150379.md?page=5)