Ethernet Cable Comparison - with music samples!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- Well... yes: we are comparing some ethernet cables this time. With music samples.
The track we use: Jack Johnson - Sleep through the Static - Angel. It is the MQA version from Tidal.
Cables we compare:
Stock CAT5e UTP
Audioquest CAT700 Pearl - installation cable with Telegartner plugs
Audioquest Cinnamon (5M)
Shunyata Venom
Shunyata Delta
Shunyata Alpha
Check the lossless samples on alpha-audio.net. Or this direct link: cloud2.alpha-i...
Std Ethernet 2:05
Audioquest cat700 Pearl. 5:06
Shunyata Venom 7:59
Shunyata Delta 10:48
Shunyata Alpha 13:54
Audioquest Cinnamon 16:53
To be honest the standard ethernet cable sounds the best. The sound difference I'm hearing might just be the extra change in my pocket though.
There is *zero* difference. It's a proof that Audiophiles have no clues how digital audio works and what Ethernet frames are.
They also overlook other significant factors such as tilting their heads, atmospheric pressure, humidity, amount of earwax, mental state, how that affects the tone.
Audiophiles are like flat earthers in this context.
No much different , spend the money on other product can tell the difference instantly kojo e ground dual pack connect to dac or ur router
Scramble them and not one audiophool could pick out the Alpha. That’s a vid to make!
thank for test all the cable. . give us a good review 👍👍
Fantastic work. This is how to do it.
Since Ethernet is a digital protocol, there should be zero difference between cables. You can ask your ethernet port to report the frame errors, and for decent cabling it should be zero. If the exact data gets from point A to point B on all cables, then any hearing difference you hear is imaginary.
For a given data rate, you will either need cat 5e, 6, or 7 cables. Since you can go to gigabit speed on cat e5, and it is highly unlikely that this audio equipment goes beyond 1Gbit (only very fast PC's have 10g ethernet),
People selling fancy ethernet cables are full of nonsense. Digital protocols are not like analog. There are quality differences in terms of how thick the copper wire is inside; some of the cheap chinese cables uses copper that is just a tad smaller than it should be. The thinner wires will not sustain as many bends before they crap out.
Wash your ears or go to a doctor
@@joachimmagnusson3128 take your meds or go to a psychiatrist. But make sure it's an "high end, pro grade, low noise, gold plated with diamonds" doctor, maybe he can give you some placebo for you to take.
@@joachimmagnusson3128 Sigh. I'm a software+network engineer. I can tell you with 100% certainty that a $1 ethernet cable will transmit the data the same way as a $1000 ethernet cable. The software protocols involved (TCP) ensure that the data transmitted is always a 100% carbon copy. Your computer literally checks to make sure that it not only received all the data, but an exact copy If not, it requests it again until it's exact. Not to mention if you stream music (lossless or not), through the internet, those bits travel through hundreds of switches, not to mention hundreds if not thousands of miles of cables. You're telling me that the last 1 foot of cable makes all the difference? Get. The fuck. Out of here.
Man, I understand the technical part just as well as you, but the thing we're missing here is that this is an extremely easy money making market! You just put some jibber jabber and pseudoscientific terms sprinkled and an absurd price, and people will die to have your product.
@@tinytownsoftware3837no men, no matter how much one tries to explain this ppl the basics of electronics they will keep insisting it makes a "very audible difference" 😂 this is just madness
Every video from you that I saw was really worth watching. Tx for the work. I check out your shop for shure.
Coming from Cologne it won’t be out of reach.
Thanks! But we are not the shop (i think you mean Alpha High End?). We are an independent review website... ;-).
That was a wonderful demonstration, the Alpha is certainly no.1. For anyone unsure (the differences are are not night & day especially through YT) but go directly from one of the first 2 straight to the Alpha. Thanks.
I thought so too! There's a spot where the guitar strings screech, and it jumped right out on the alpha's. I found some of the cables a little annoying to listen to, especially the last ones. And, I have no idea about these brands which is more expensive or what not. I thought the pearls sounded good too.
I recently swapped my so so ethernet cable (better than stock) for a Kubala-Sosna Elation ethernet cable. It made a huge difference. Highly recommended.
The cable kubala USD 2900 is highly recommended haha
Audiophile ethernet cables? Are you kidding me? XD Some people just WANT to be robbed.
40 years has an audio file ,I’ll tell you right off there’s some cables that after you move them around don’t sound their best
I love your channel! Yesterday I watched the power conditioners demo. I could not believe what I was hearing. I wanted to like Audioquest because I had my eyes set on the Niagara 3000. I played it over and over in disbelieve. Even on my Macbook Pro speakers I could hear the difference and loved the Shunyata. Now the Audioquest vs Shunyata cables show the same pattern. I love the Shunyata sound. I think I want to bring it home with me 😍Erg bedankt!
Thank you for your kind words. And great we can help!
Thank you very much for the video. Since there is indeed no difference in sound, it means I can continue living peacefully with the $5 Amazon cable.
Cinnamon has a very slightly boxed in sound and very slight coloration compared to Cat 700 and Shunyata Alpha.
So I give the best marks to both the Audioquest Cat 700 pearl and the Shunyata Alpha. To choose a winner would require me to have them in house for a comparison. Thank you for the video. This really saves a lot of time and expense.
I really find your clips very usefull and helpfull. I ve always wondered wheather network cables make a difference, and now i can see for myself. I think that there is a very slight difference, but not as obvious as other cables.Thank you, I really appreciate your work. Best regards!
This is a really interesting test. Great video.
Excellent review, and the differences were clearly audible moving up the price chain of each brand. I wonder if you have hear Dutch brand Tubulus ethernet cables yet as they get good reviews without charging exorbitant prices.
That must be placebo effect, all compliant Ethernet cables guarantee exact bit transmission, this is digital after all, all it matters is that the 1s are high and 0s are low and it will give you the sane audio
Not to mention the sound still goes through your own speakers and the creators microphone and TH-cam compression, how can you be sure of anything
Agree 100%, unless the cables are transmitting noise to the streamer that is getting over into the analogue signal. @@kreuner11
People here in the comments swearing that there is a difference in the audio in digital signals transmitted by ethernet cables end up explaining to me why there are so many people who fall for scams like cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
Thanks so much, that was a great comparison.
You are very welcome!
In order to be comparable, the Audioquest cables that should be used are the Diamond and the Vodka. These two are in a similar price category as the Shunyatas.
Thank you to the creator for making this video. It took a lot of effort and I just want to say that I rally appreciate you taking the time to do this for everyone’s benefit. The fact that you don’t even try to press your opinion on others is great. Despite that, some of the comments are still so dismissive and smug. The whole point of the video is that if you think there are no differences, now your beliefs are confirmed. If you think there are., you are also correct. Listen and see. Life is not all magic nor is it all science. Keeping an open mind can yield great results. If I showed an iPhone to Einstein he would call me a witch. There are many many things we don’t understand.
Thank you for the kind words. That is exactly what we try to do with these video's.
Well it is a simple fact that digital data can use the shittiest and cheapest cable as long as it can transfer data reliably at the wanted speed, all matters is the analog part
Believing that "audiophile" Ethernet cables can change of even improve digital transmitted music is like believing that replacing the display of an pocket calculator through a different one with higher contrast leads to more accurate calculation results.
Fully nonsense
Respect!
For your home made CAT7, did you terminate the shield on both ends of the cable, or only the end plugged into the optical to ethernet converter?
This is why the cables have a direction - not because the electrons travel faster one way, but due to which end has the shielding terminated.
Yes. I did. And you are correct.
Bijzonder, dat er zo’n enorme verschillen in 1m kabel kunnen zitten..... dat verrast mij toch wel weer 😮
Mijn voorkeur zou uitgaan naar de Shunyata Venom, zonder dat ik mij verder in de kabels verdiept heb. Voor mijn smaak klink die het best. De instrumenten komen mooi los van elkaar, het klinkt heel evenwichtig, maar ook het meest realistisch ... voor mijn gehoor dan. Zangstem en instrumenten zijn grijpbaar.
Mooie test 👍🏻
Dank!
Nice to see you using a proper DAC. I love Metrum Acoustics, and own Adagio, Ambre, Forte, Aurix and Musette :)
That's a very nice collection! :-). We own the Pavane, Adagio, Ambre, Baby Ambre, Flint and Amethyst. Love them all. All the same signature.
@@TheAlphaAudio It's great to see Metrum back in Cees hands. I am so excited to see what plans they have.
Define proper Dac ?
@@r423sdex I favour the presentation of NOS DACs.
@@r423sdex
Undefine it, since you’re standing under the shade tree ready to start your chainsaw.
This is just hilarious. A video on TH-cam that tries to demonstrate sound differences on ethernet cables. And one should hear it from a TH-cam video! Too funny. You guys are nuts.
Thanks!
@@TheAlphaAudio Digital data is 1s and 0s. No in-between meaning it's not analog. There's no 1.69s but only 1s and 0s.
Data is buffered by the player. If invalid data is received, the Ethernet frame has retry mechanisms to make sure it receives the correct data. Aside from layer 2, data correction is also implemented at higher network layers.
Try downloading a picture with regular vs. audiophile cables (scam btw), see if there's a difference.
@@warmtoiletseat5596 "Try downloading a picture with regular vs. audiophile cables (scam btw), see if there's a difference."
To see a difference when pictures are downloaded you need of course a videophile ethernet cable 🙂
Thanks for the great cable comparison. The sound differences can easily heard but only if one listens thru a high quality equipment (digital out -> DAC -> good speakers or headphones). To my ears the Shunyata cables sound better, more natural and balanced, and Delta & Alpha are the best. I wonder which version of Delta did you use: the original Delta or Delta v2 ?
An Ethernet cable should not make a difference because the data is buffered.
The only possible reason I can imagine is analogue noise injection. Hard to accept anyway.
Standard sounded most natural. The others sounded scooped. If I was going to use a very expensive ethernet cable and media converter to act as tone controls, I’d probably just use EQ during playback instead. Listening on headphones, maybe I’m missing something more…will try studio monitors as well.
Either through ath-dsr9bt or creative x3 + eclipse hd I just can't hear any difference at all. Maybe my ear is too bad or this is just a nonsense mystery.
It’s very apparent the male vocals Ss and SHs are a lot harsher with the standard cable, finer guitar details were also more clearly defined and noticeable with the better cables, the cinnamon was the best sounding to me in your setup, your speakers sound bright in the upper midrange/ treble perhaps why the vocals were very noticeably different in cables.
I tried but couldn't hear a difference maybe as I was using a laptop and it's internal DAC etc and some average earphones.
I've been trying different cables myself and am about to try a 20mtr Cat7 cable between my telecom providers router and my Auralic streamer and my hiend music system.
I live in hope like all other audiophiles (phools?).
Love your channel and thanks for all the work you do for us.
No1 cable std ethernet was generally good.
Audioquest was the most open, lively and presented the best.
Shunyata was not my taste and I personally would not have chosen it over the std cable.
Audioquest was the clear winner and I especially liked the Audioquest cat700 the most.
Thanks for the hard work and saving us tons of money. A good Ethernet cable is fine. The rest is a waste.
Welcome!
I can clearly hear the sound of dollars flying out of some sap's wallet.
I would challenge you on that. My hearing is nothing great but I can definitely judge the standard cable as being inferior to the others.
@@aussie8114 That's not the point. The point is the cost of experimentation in an area where science claims that cables cannot influence the "sound" of binary data flow. This may or may not be the case, according to each person, but there is a cost which can be stupidly expensive in trying this. OTOH, if an Amazon Basics cable sounds great to someone, then he or she should be grateful...
David Smith I don’t know the cost difference. But if it’s not a huge amount then I would pay the extra for one of the upgrades. The audio sounded cleaner to my crappy ears.
There's a generalized idea that's prevalent with this cable thing, regardless of cable type, price or manufacturer - - - just because someone owns high in priced cables doesn't necessarily mean that person is a sap, to the contrary, people that own them spend the money for the sound, diminishing returns? Of course - - and I'm one of those "Saps", the speaker cables I'm currently using cost over 1 and 1/2 times the cost of the speakers I'm running, and yeah, of course I hate that - - so why do it? They're f'ing amazing and I've slowly climbed the cable ladder, so yes, I can personally attest that not only are they better in EVERY department but I could never go back either - - hey, I've run my reference system with standard Monster Cable, sounds fine - and if that's all I could afford I could live with them - insert true high end cables and like me, if money isn't an issue, you won't want to go back - - not looking to "spar" with you either - I couldn't change your mind, which is too bad, because you're missing what good cables can do - nor could you change mine.
@@aussie8114 nothing from shunyata is affordable for most. You have to be a dedicated well heeled hobbyist to go from Audioquest to Shunyata.
Sigh. I'm a software+network engineer. I can tell you with 100% certainty that a $1 ethernet cable will transmit the data the same way as a $1000 ethernet cable. The software protocols involved (TCP) ensure that the data transmitted is always a 100% carbon copy. Your computer literally checks to make sure that it not only received all the data, but an exact copy If not, it requests it again until it's exact. Not to mention if you stream music (lossless or not), through the internet, those bits travel through hundreds of switches, not to mention hundreds if not thousands of miles of cables. You're telling me that the last 1 foot of cable makes all the difference? Get. The fuck. Out of here.
It's not about the data... it's about the noise, transfered from the switch to the streamer.
@@TheAlphaAudio You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Most streaming devices (especially the ones in higher end streamers) use protocols that ensure reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of the data stream. It could be the noisiest environment and it wouldn't matter, because the receiver will just ask for the bad packets again. Each packet contains an integrity hash. If the hash doesn't match the packet contents, it asks for the packet again. The HDMI and USB protocols work this way too (which is why it's stupid to buy expensive USB or HDMI cables to remove noise).
Furthermore, all data still goes through your router or switch even if you don't stream through the internet and you only stream through your local network. A $20 router will faithfully transmit the data just fine, regardless of ethernet cable quality.
If you want to spend $1000 on an ethernet cable because it looks nice and it will last forever, be my guest. But don't claim that it somehow removes noise, because you have no idea what you are talking about. A signal cable? All day long. A toslink cable, yes. Coaxial? Absolutely. Power cable? Maybe. But ethernet, absolutely not, because the software part will ensure you always get the exact data on the other side.
@@TheAlphaAudio That little bit noise that might be added one the last meters is so small that it does not make a digital 0 to a digital 1 or the other way - so the streamer still can read the correct binary data. And even in worst case if there is a missinterpretation the error will be detected by checksums which are added to the data and the streamer will request the packet again.
The Gigabit-Ethernet specification allows that 0.0001% of all packets might contain bit error(s). Even without requesting such packets again you have to listen hours of music until such a error (which impacts one data sample) would occur in average and even this would be hard to hear.
Imagine two people standing away each other 20 m outside in dark night.
One of them has a strong flashlight and is sending data to the other using the morse code.
Now assume an aircraft with position lights set on if flying in 10000 m height above this two guys.
Does that add "optical noise"?
Yes of course:
Do that little lights in the sky causing errors in the data transmission using the flashlight and the morse code?
No of course not...
And the same happens on you couple of meters Ethernet cable. Yes there might be some noise added due to electric magnetic fields from outside. But this little noise do not causing errors in the digital data transmitted....
@@elkeospert9188 you are still looking at the data transmitted over Ethernet. I have written dozens of articles about this. It is NOT a data problem. I know that. The problem is common mode noise getting in the streamer / dac. This will affect the clock and thus the conversion from digital to analog. An before you say: that is impossible and inaudible... We have actual measurements.
@@TheAlphaAudio "This will affect the clock and thus the conversion from digital to analog. "
The clock for such a system is typically created by an quarz based oscillator.
Such oscillators have a very stable clock time (thats why they are used for watches) which is nearly not impacted by small voltage changes (otherwise battery driven quarz watches would run slower and slower the older the battery is).
The far "biggest" problem for their accuracy are changes in enviroment temperatur but you not want to claim that the minimal noise on an Ethernet cable changes your room temperature.....
To avoid this (if needed) it is possible to put a temperature sensor and a heating element next to the clock generator which keeps it on a constant temperature.
But even without that the typical precision of such an oscillator is about 50 ppm which is +/- 0,005 %.
Average humans can hear such changes at about 0,2% . High End turntables have about 0,02 % which is still 40 times higher that a cheap quarz oscillator.
So if you would hear changes in the clock of an streamer than listening to vinyl lp must be an audiophile nightmare for your ears....
And if clock stability would be a real problem than it would be much cheaper to replace the clock by a "Super-TCMO" oscillator which has an accuracy of about 1 ppm - 2000 times better than a high end turntable instead of spending hundreds of euros for Ethernet cables....
The standard ethernet cable has the best midrange sound. I think its slightly boosted over the others, but doesn’t have the crystal clear highs that the others have. The best sounding overall would be the Shunyata Delta. It has a flatter midrange than the standard cable but has the nicest sounding highs. The audio quest and the others are very similar in that they have a reduced midrange and slightly emphasized treble frequencies. The audioquest is my least favorite sounding cable as it sounds too thin. It seems to be suppressing the midrange too much and the treble frequencies, while greater than the standard cable, also sound thinner. So my two favorites would be the standard ethernet cable for midrange and the Shunyata Delta for treble. With a slight EQ tweak on either the standard cable to boost the treble frequencies you could probably come close to the sound of the Shunyata (I’m guessing.) However if you boosted the mids slightly on the Shunyata Delta it might match or beat the midrange in the standard cable. That’s what I heard. edit: i just looked up the price for the Delta and at $450 it wouldn’t be worth the upgrade on your system. I think you would need a much higher resolving system that would cost you in the $100,000+ category to warrant these cable upgrades. Standard ethernet cable is good enough.
please tell me how can ethernet cable work different for highs, bass or midrange ?! cable transmits digital data in packets (packages of informations), there is no possible way how can ethernet cable affect mids or highs in reproduced music.
@@bh69videa In my own system I went from ethernet cables to optical for the streamer/transport from the Wifi router hub. What that does is separate all of the noise from all of the other devices connected to the network which can and does get carried along with that digital signal. A digital signal is carried on an analogue wave, and if that analogue wave is noisy, it can degrade some of the packets and cause jitter. When it comes to a digital signal, it’s all about jitter reduction for the signal that enters the DAC. And the quality of an ethernet cable can vary and carry more or less noise, and subsequently jitter. That’s what I think is causing the difference in sound quality between these cables. You can also experience this noise reduction in the form of power supplies and conditioners that contribute to blacker backgrounds and a cleaner overall sound on the analogue side. We are swimming in EMF radiation, and that radiation affects both the digital signal up to the digital to analogue conversion in the DAC and on the output side to the pre-amp, amp and through the speaker cable to the speakers. So this EMF nose reduction is the final step in perfecting the best possible sound that your system can produce. That’s my 2 cents.
@@BrentLeVasseur optic can be good way to eliminate noise for sure. But you are wrong about jitter. Asynchronous transfer (ethernet, usb) with buffer cannot affect sound due jitter, because timing is on DAC side and DAC reads data from buffer.
@@BrentLeVasseur noise can be easy detected - play silent file (is it possible to download for free on web) at high volume. Are you hear noise ? Can you hear difference with another cable ?
@@bh69videa Because electrical noise is carried into the DAC via the ethernet cable, it can still cause jitter. It comes in the form of electrical noise that can negatively affect the DAC, and time of the data matters as music is a stream of data and if there are missed or corrupted packets that means those packets need to be resent. Now caching may eliminate that, but it doesn’t eliminate the electrical noise. That’s also why power supply and conditioners matter for a DAC, again because electrical noise can negatively effect the decoding process whether it comes from the power outlet or along a USB or ethernet cable. I have proven to myself that this does have an effect on my own system by separating the server from the transport and DAC and by employing optical connections from the network hub and by using power conditioning and good quality power cords. All of these things can add up to give a better overall sound quality.
I can't hear a difference between them; they all sound the same to me.
You and me both !! There will be no difference, ridiculous. Audiophiles seem to believe everything.
@@r423sdex I do consider myself an audiophile, but I am not on the BS train 🚆
I don't think cables matter. Just use well made cables (I use Blue Jeans) and you don't need anything else.
I don't buy into this audiophile network nonsense either. I just bought quality Ubiquiti components and am super happy.
@@r423sdex Jackass, the guy who made the video didn't even say anything sounds different. He's just comparing cables. That's it.
@@wa2368 have you got a audiophile Ethernet cable. 😂
If you browse through the Internet you are downloading pictures for which the data has gone through hundred of meters of standard Ethernet cables - does that influence in any way the downloaded picture?
Of course no...
The same is true if you transmit digital data representing audio over Ethernet - the cable does not know if the bits are encoding a picture, a mp3, a wav a video file or the binary code of a computer game.
A CAT-5 cable could transfer data with a rate of 1000 MBits/second with a typical bit error rate of
10 ^ -12 . So if you transfer the data of 180 CDs in average 1 bit will be transmitted wrong but this error is still detected and causes a retransmission.
Moeilijk te horen zo op TH-cam. Ik meen te horen dat de Shunyata Alpha voor mij de winnaar is. Maar.....ik ben, denk ik niet erg objectief. Heb de Alpha thuis beluisterd in vergelijking met de Sigma en dan hoor je pas echt wat de kabels in hun mars hebben. Heb toen voor de Sigma gekozen, omdat die echt alle kabels die ik ooit beluisterd heb VER achter zich laat. Wat een verbetering, geweldig!! En iedereen die hier kwamen luisteren waren met stomheid geslagen. De Alpha was een goede tweede. (getest op dCS Rossini DAC/Clock en Roon eigen bouw computer)
Helaas konden we de Sigma niet mee-samplen. Herken wat je zegt.
Shunyata Alpha voor mij ook eerste keuze, best goed te horen nog. Zo zie je maar dat alles invloed heeft... edit: De combinatie van converter met sbooster geeft dan toch ook nog ruis, als de betere utp kabel het verschil nog kan maken?
What exactly is this test? If you copy a sound file from a source, will it be different on the receiving end?
It is pure for listening. Determine for yourself if you can hear a difference.
Audio is more than 1's and 0's. Yes: ethernet is package based. And no: there is no data corruption. You can read that on www.alpha-audio.net as well. We written serveral articles about that.
@@TheAlphaAudio OK, thnx. So, it's the influence of the Ethernet cable on all devices upstream?
I'll read your site: what's best article to start with?
Alpha sounds good!
Of all audiophile absurdities I have read in years this THIS is just madness! Ok, Ethernet is a signaled transport layer 2 protocol AND it uses a multitude of frame error detection algorithms precisely to withstand phisical interference and transmission errors (frames are stored in a cache), unless you live under an electricity transmission pylon (you don't) you can LITERALLY use the cheapest crappiest UTP cable, even one chipped away by rats will work, but if you are so concerned about electronic interference just get an STP cable which is specifically engineered to shield transmission wires and it cost a fraction of all these ridiculously priced cables. Honestly people, use common sense and educate yourselves.
Hey Jaap,
Leuk onderwerp weer!
Zo de verschillen te horen via TH-cam is heel leuk en interessant.
Ja als je naast je op de bank zou zitten zal je misschien wel meerdere verschillen horen, maar het is een leuke manier om zo thuis de verschillen te kunnen beluisteren en misschien een doorslag kunnen geven bij het bestellen van een kabel of kabels…
Ik heb zelf zitten switchen tussen de Shunyata Delta en Alpha.
De Alpha lijkt iets meer te sprankelen, maar afentoe lijkt hij wel meer aanwezig te zijn dan de Delta waarbij misschien de Delta wat rustiger klinkt alleen minder detail heeft.
Op naar het volgende onderzoek ;)
Groetjes,
Yori van Gelderop
Helemaal eens met je bevindingen. Zo hoor ik ze ook op de bank.
😂 Use kinked unshielded 20 year old CAT5 cable with a loose connector and place a transmitting GSM phone on it for extra interference.
There is no difference to be heard, except for a little echo because of an empty wallet.
Great work Jaap! Love your channel. Btw, this is a remote shot but can I put in one selfish request... which is if (and when) possible to have more English speaking video in the future? I just discover your channel and now, I wish I know how to speak Dutch so I can watch all the other great uploads you'd made in the past...
Most video's will be either in English or Dutch and English. All Live streams are in English. So no worries!
Except the standard and Alpha, all other cables are more suppressing parts of the music like the 'wind' in the background of the music. Best hearable in the beginning.The standard is most clear, does not 'filter the music' and I believe technically it would have the highest bandwidth. By the way, I am playing TH-cam Premium 4K (this goes with higher res audio) settings and I am using the MacBook Pro with Dragonfly DAC and Airpods Max cabled.
Thanks for this, could definitely hear some differences. Unfortunately, the higher priced cables being the improvement (at least among these). Melco cables would be another interesting comparison.
Do you know that the music which you are hearing did go through kilometers of normal Ethernet cable, dozends of "non audiophile" Routers and is highly lossy compressed by TH-cam?
@@elkeospert9188 These people are beyond help.
@@elkeospert9188 yes, I do. But could still hear palpable differences. Tonal characteristics, frequency differentiation, amplitudes and coloration can still be detected after all of that, as it is reconstructed from the source recording. Just as anyone - that knows how to listen - can hear the difference between ANY A/B test on amps or other gear on here. If you have access to any of our neural pathways, feel free to measure them as any absolutist would prefer. Otherwise, just go ahead and and continue to believe that we're all a bunch of crazy placebophiles 👌
Shunyata Alpha vs Cat 700 Pearl about even in quality, but with differences. Cat 700 voices and some background instruments are more vivid and present. Not necessarily more forward, just more vivid. Alpha is mellower and easier to listen to, compared to Cat 700 Pearl. Very slight horn like sound with the Cat 700 vs the slightly mellowed sound with the Shunyata Alpha.
Great post! I surely did hear differences. I liked the Shunyata Alpha the best but I think the Pearl has a nice dynamic sound and for the price I think it's a steal.
Incidentally, I received the AQ Forest yesterday and on the first listen I immediately found that an upgrade compared to the Pearl.
Just a little less aggressive so smoother a wider stage and more black.
Strange because the much more expensive Cinnamon was too smooth in my set and I returned it.
My conclusion so far: More expensive is not always better in every set, the effect on the sound depends on the rest of the set.
Logical actually, but nice to experience that for myself :)
Swapping cables like this is a nice way to finetune your set.
Can you describe what you listened on and what differences you heard?
You hear differences, recorded through a microphone, in a 128kbps encoded MP3 audio stream, played back on your machine? What's the difference? How much of a difference would Ethernet cables even provide? Its all digital isn't it? 1's and 0's. No analogue differences in digital audio.
I use Pixel Buds Pro and can’t hear any difference at all.
The guitar is slightly suppressed with the Venom, compared to Cat700 Pearl.
HD600 on SMSL SU-9 / SH-9 stack, balanced, reporting no difference.
There’s no difference. I know it’s hard for the cable cult to admit that reality.
To all the people that understands technical background of networking, the thing we're missing here is that this is an extremely easy money making market! You just put some jibber jabber and pseudoscientific terms sprinkled and an absurd price, and people ("audiophiles") will die to have your product.
Even with the coloration/dynamic range problem with the microphone/recorder there are slight but noticeable differences, makes the argument that a wire is just a wire seem silly.... (except I listened to the test using a quality stock ethernet cable without optical conversion:) I am going to look at the wave forms because an aspect of what I heard seemed to be level differences..... wire with gain? Even I am not drinking that cool aid. The track sounds massively better listening to the CD as the source.... one thing thing that the test has given me is a little perspective. I'd rather spend my money on a better DAC or preamp etc than spend stupid money on a cable. Probably you have done the comparison elsewhere, but would have loved to hear the stock cable and at least one on the others without the optical conversion. Thanks for the test.
Wow! At 6:36 in went back and compared the standard with Audioquest. I did not expect that there would be any difference, improvement or not. So surprised that the ethernet cable has an impact. The Audioquest is not only different, but converys more of the musical performance..
The Shunyata Alpha won easily by presenting a more FULL and closer to the music presentation. The vibration harmonics had a natural presence and fade out. Not sure it will retain that quality over time, sometimes they may fade slightly with use. I don't own one that expensive to know for sure, just what I have experienced with some cables of other type. Great comparison.
I think aquest 700 is the winner ,more texture ,wide bandwith ,nice sound . Shunyata venom the second .
The differences are very subtle, i just hear like the standard has some hiss in vocals or siblings if you wish, and a bit of different tonal balance.
I'll hapilly make you a custom cable! Just for €200,- / mtr you'll get; Hand made, from 100% grass-free copper, braided with my cats hair, soaked for 24 hours in 21 year old single malt whiskey to get that clean smooth sound and terminated with plugs a T1000 would be jealous off. Heck, for twothousand more I'll even braid them with a virgin-unicorn's pubic hair.
Make sure to burn 'em in. They will sound AMAZING from the first use, but they will sound EVEN MORE AMAZING after a year. After which they become more valuable, so you can tell the wife it's a 'sound investment' - pun intended.
With one of these cables I'll GUARANTEE you'll loose not a single details from any of your FLAC files (or any other files for that matter).
And it's not only audible. Oh no! It works on pictures too! Pictures of apples won't loose ANY colour or definition when downloaded with this cable. They will look just as tasty as it did on the source. Works for peaches too!
If there's any typo or grammer error in this pitch, it's because you didn't view it using my cable. It came all from the south of the Netherlands too your house without fault. It got all fucked up because of your lowsy cable. Luckely for you, this can be a thing of the past. Buy the cable.
@@michielsimons1828 I don’t like cats.
In that case I highly recommend you go for the virgin unicorn pubic hair braid option.
@@michielsimons1828 can you burn them in !.👍👍
A direction on an Ethernet cable which is using CSMA/CD protocol??
Final, just checked prices. Shunyata Venom $450, Delta $850, Audioquest Cat700 Pearll $59. Audioquest the easy winner. The difference of the Delta is really minute. One would have to be a loon to pay an extra $800 for that over the Audioquest. Shunyata are not a good value for money at all here.
Yup, the Delta combines the qualities of the Audioquest and Venom. Sounds close the the Audioquest. Given the limitations of the Airpods I can only go on that, but the Delta does offer a bigger sound, better focus (like the Audioquest), and perhaps a tad more naturalness. Its very close though. If the Delta cost a lot more than the Audioquest i wouldn’t hesitate to spring for the Audioquest, because the improvements are very subtle.
There's zero difference between any of them
Don’t forget that most dacs buffer the data. Hard to see in this instance why there would be any difference. Not sure I heard any differences, but this was through my iPad.
It is not about data... It's all about common mode noise.
@@TheAlphaAudio thanks.
The only remotely interesting "test" here would be to see if anyone could tell a difference if you did NOT disclose what cable is being used. Once you tell people what they are listening to, the comparison becomes meaningless.
We did loads of blind tests already.
So you say, but no doubt there is no video record or any other independent evidence to confirm that a true, proper double-blind test was done and/or that anyone was able to distinguish different ethernet cables a statistically significant number of times. This is old, very old story. SNAKE OIL!
Ethernet cable?!... Wow
We are pretty nerdy... yes.
Great, no difference as expected... save your money 💵
Audio science has all the proof anybody needs to prove many of these manufacturers are just taking people for a ride.
I still like to come and watch videos like this because I find it amusing.
It will make a difference if it’s expensive and look premium enough Placebo effect will take care of it.
The first one sounded a big crappier but not a lot. I thought all the others sounded about the same as each other. I checked the price of the one with the filter, over $2,000. Bugger that, but I will by something a step up from a cheap standard cable. Should not need to spend more than $100 though.
If you can’t hear a difference y’all probably should find a new hobby
@@njrumenos If you hear a difference you should find a mental institution. Even if there were 0.01% difference for any reason, you are going to tell me you hear that difference trough youtube compression? Moving the mic for a mm while recording or your headphones while listening will have an actual notable effect, not the ethernet cable. You want to spend 2k on that, great! Go ahead, I rather spend my money where it actually makes a difference.
I like your Videos very much, thx for the effort. I can hear a difference in sound with my iPhone and coustom molded IEM Rhine’s Stage 5. The „standard“ cable sounded stressed and nervous compared to all others. Between the Shunyatas there is little difference to hear via compressed y‘tube. I liked the CAT7 with Telegärtner plugs the best.
good job! thanks!
Cat700 Pearl was more natural, more present, and slightly larger imaging that the first cable.
Come on guy...BE SERIOUS !!!
One thing people forget about ethernet cables is while the data is digital, the signal is analogue and suffers from EMI and jitter effects. I definitely heard a difference on your compressed video even. The streaming application is time sensitive versus bog standard computer TCP/IP with retries and error correction.
Ethernet is quite resistant to emi especially any low levels in the home and jitter really isn't an issue if the DAC is built properly. Most $100 chinese DACs with power bricks don't even have these problems any more. AudioScienceReview has debunked a bunch of this BS.
no, jitter is nice word, but many people use them as mantra without understanding how it works ... ethernet works with data packets, it's asynch communication where data are stored into buffer of streamer/DAC and there is no jitter caused by data transmittion. Only problem that can occure is buffer underrun (empty buffer) if there is some bigger problem. But such problem will cause interruption of reproduction. EMI can theoretically be a problem but how can some fancy cable solve this ? And there is no measurement that proves it, or do you know some ? *** Easy thing to test - if you unplug ethernet cable (or USB in case of USB DAC) during reproduction music will not stop immediatelly (there are data in buffer).
Man, I can hear no difference at all...
your system is not resolving enough! :D HAHA - what they mean is not expensive enough! :D . Basically is that when you have spend as much money on the things as believer have, this kicks in:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
Shunyata venom es la mejor para mi.
Proof that Audiophiles have no clues how digital audio works and what Ethernet frames are.
They also overlook other factors such as tilting their heads, room, humidity, and amount of earwax how that affects the tone.
That is the point - the only way an Ethernet cable using TCP/IP (or only IP) would be able to made the describes changes to music would be an integrated microprocessor which does packet inspection , decodes packages belonging to the music stream, send them to a digital signal processor which does that "magic" improvement, encode the output back and send it to the receiver.
@@elkeospert9188 Audiophile cable that does MIM deep packet inspection that decrypts SSL/TLS traffic 😂.
@@warmtoiletseat5596 of course. I assume they have a hidden NSA uplink to do that in real time
Ok the Audioquest and Shunyata are a little more difficult, but i prefer the Audioquest. On Shunyate, voice is a little bigger less tightly focused. I hear more of the inner detail and dynamics of the voice on the Audioquest. They are both improvements over the stock ethernet. I know, heresy, right?
Delta and Alpha were the best. It would be interesting to compare without fiber convertor.
I think the Shunyata sounded more natural
De hamvraag voor mij is hoe ik een zo subtiel verschil tussen ethernet kabels kan vaststellen via mijn eigen internet netwerk vanaf een IMAC. Ik wil nog wel geloven dat er een summier verschil in kabels is, maar dat kun je naar mijn mening alleen maar vaststellen in de luisterruimte zelf. Dat geldt in feite voor vrijwel alle componenten.
Maar aandacht voor het onderwerp kabels is op zich goed en de installatie zelf lijkt mij een heel mooi op elkaar afgestemd geheel.
Het systeem vangt verschillen op. De verschillen kan je het beste horen op een hoofdtelefoon. Let wel: het is geen meting van kwaliteit... Dat kan niet ivm alle schakels en variabelen. Maar verschillen worden - indien ze er zijn - wel weergegeven... Op een goede set of hoofdtelefoon.
Laat je niks wijs maken Ruud. Een Ethernet kabel gaat geen enkel verschil maken in het geluid dat door je speakers komt. Zelfs niet heel subtiel. Dit is pure kwakzalverij.
The alpha was the best
More detail and texture, deeper more controlled bass
Can you explain how a UTP cable can effect the sound? Assuming that the bit stream is on all cables smooth and in phase.
Even if the bitstream would not be "smooth and in phase" it would not make any difference as the transmitted data is buffered on the receiver anyway....
Why is this better sounding than other comparisons done with the same devices?
I think I know: there is 3200eur in those Italian acoustic devices behind speakers.
@@Burevestnik9M730 Also... yes... but we actually use studio grade high-end micrphones and pre-amps. ;-). And... we actually put some effort in placing the mics the right way.
What exactly is the network topology here?
Digital data is digital data...unless you have some kind of EM interference I can't see how such a short run would have any impact at all. What happens if your out in the middle of nowhere with very little interference? I think data cables are the least of anyone's worries and I would be more worried about the signal once it turns into analog after the dac. No? Once wifi and internet get really fast this will become even more ridiculous. LOL!
The AQ Pearl and Cinnamon and the Alpha are the best, IMHO. By comparison the standard cable seems slightly muffled.
lol just use some off the shelf STP Cat7 and call it a day
what kind of optical converter do you use? Thank you
We use Delock converters with FS modules.
@@TheAlphaAudio thanks
2:37 5:36 8:29 17:23 11:18 14:23
Are those the rode m5 mics ? Also why don't you put them at the listening position ?
Those are Rode TF-5 microphones. Microphone response (and thus placement) is different from your ears. Every microphone has a sweet spot in terms of placement / distance / etc. This is (in my opinion) the best - most neutral - spot for the TF-5.
@@TheAlphaAudioHey what kind of mic do you think sound sommelier uses on his sound demos when he walks around ?
@@Smood47 I dont know. I think I recognized a Zoom in one video.
Even though some people may hear difference, it’s just not worth the extra money over a standard cable IMHO. The first demo sounded just as good as any other (what I mean is, if you hear it you don’t actually miss anything at all).
I obviously have a much more revealing system than you do. The first cable was unlistenable at reference volume. The second one was better, but still bad. The Cinnamon was the best. Actually not that bad of a song on the Audioquest. I was also able to adjust my system so that I could easily hear that the reviewer had quite a few cars passing on the street. Could you hear them?
@@davidluke3289 unlistenable 😂 You’re a funny man David.
@@Ceko
I wanted to turn the volume down, but I stuck it out, as that would alter the tests for me. It paid off in the form of seeing how much more listenable the same tune becomes when certain frequencies are not a shrill or overbearing. I’m going to rewatch it with my son to see what he thinks. I did some things to stimulate his hearing when he was in the womb and it resulted in him being born with oversize eardrums. He has remarkable hearing, much like an animal that needs it to survive in the forest.
Zero difference in sound. The only difference is the outrageous prices of some of these cable that some people buy.
Lol, you just have poor ears/hearing most probably due to poor genetics. This is obviously not for you.
@@wa2368 There's Zero difference in sound. You may have just tilted your head, or humidity changed, or earwax hardened a bit.
Clearly you don't understand digital data and obviously not for you.
Standard cable seems to be the most musical one to my ears. The rest seems to trade the soul of music for audiophile enhancements. I hope he can demo better than standard but won't lose musicality one in future too in future.
Cables burned in ?
The Delta is the most natural. All those filters on the higher end mess with the mid range i fell. The low end sounds more liquid but it feels less natural. Everything is too much polished to my taste. Even the home made stuff Wich is less transparent is at least realer than the filtered ones.
Great 👍 for i don't hear any difference between cables, they all sound exactly the same!
you do know that theres no difference between these cables, right?
just buy the cheapest one you can, literally the same outcome
Ask any network engineer. It doesnt make a difference. It cannot make a difference. Tcp/ip makes sure the data arrives intact even over crappy iron cables. Stop with this bullshit!
I am a network engineer.
TheAlphaAudio then you should know the protocols take care of data transmission and make sure everything arrives bit perfect. No need for expensive cables. Playing music over udp could validate any claims if the application layer ignores error correction,
It's not about the data. I know how TCP works. It's about common mode noise rejection.
TheAlphaAudio could you please make a video how this would work? The science part? I’m interested in what i am missing here. When a packet comes into your system is passes through the nic and os buffers before it reaches the application layer eg your music player. At that time all packets are reconstructed into bits 0-1 which should be 100% perfect. This can be tested by transfering files and checking it integrity via hashing algorithms. So theres no way a cable can influence the audio quality. It arrives bit for bit in the same order at the application.
Bad cables could give you packetloss but tcp/ip should fix this by retransmitting the lost packets. Buffers prevent data loss and stuttering.
What does playing music on you tube tell us? NOTHING!!!
On one hand "audiophiles" claim that they can easily hear the quality loss caused by mp3 and on the other hand they are uploading sound recordings of different Ethernetcables to TH-cam for comparison.
A strong lack of knowledge about computer networks is really needed to come to such an crazy idea....
Amazing video. Thank you. Could you, please, explain more about the fiber converter? A video about that would be nice.
Thanks!
Check www.alpha-audio.net and search for fiber network. You will find a complete article about it! :-)