|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
96.224.88.244
First off I do not post here but read this forum often. I have great respect for reviewers and what they write.
As a teen I traveled to Times Square in Manhattan by subway religiously to Hotalings to purchase all the British hi-fi magazines and Wireless World. (The internet has changed the world)
I read every original Absolute Sound and Stereophile probably a thousand times, and they're probably still packed away somewhere in storage. I respect reviewers and their reviews even though we all may have different opinions.
It is always enjoyable to read what others think and discuss them intelligently. In many ways this is a big part of this hobby and gives many of us great enjoyment.
Something really bothered me and I posted on the computer audio board but it was taken down, but I would like to maybe try to discuss this here a bit.
Cables are a controversial subject as it is, but in my opinion they are an important part of what we do. Heck, I've probably spent enough money over the years on cables to feed a small third world country. LOL
The recent review by Part-time audiophile on ethernet cables in my opinion is based on a totally fictitious scenario. There's nothing wrong with saying that he felt these cables improve the system but to create total fiction that his network was basically broken until the use of these cables is disingenuous.
There is no way a network could function as badly as he initially states unless the cables were wrapped around fluorescent lights! Maybe he feels people are that naive, and that's pretty sad but it was really not necessary to go that far to tout the qualities of the cables.
Just a couple of points. To stream audio successfully for instance from a NAS to a music server 100 Mb is more than sufficient, and even then you are not using much of this bandwith. A common mode choke ethernet filter on a gigabit line reduces the speed to 100 Mb and in this scenario there are no dropouts, glitches or any other problems streaming music. I do this and so do many others every single day. As far as video goes even 4K video can easily be streamed without dropouts as depicted in this review.
It is important for we as consumers to respect what reviewers do, but it is also important that they respect us and not insult our intelligence.
I would love to have a meaningful discussion about this and possibly the author of the review instead of having posts deleted can step in and tell us what his network set up consists of. Maybe we can fix it and save him some $$$...
Respectfully
Bob
Follow Ups:
I trust the cynical Ars Technica about as much as I trust the credulous Part Time Audiophile. Both fall somewhere between 'misfit' and 'loser' on my radar screen.
Here's the thing, though. This is incredibly easy and cheap to test. Buy identical lengths of Cat 5e and Cat 7 from Monoprice. Connect the Cat 5e cable between your network switch and your renderer. Listen. Change for the Cat 7. Listen again. Change back. Listen. Change back again. Listen. Repeat (using whatever kind of test you think appropriate or relevant) until you are convinced that it either does or does not make a difference.
If you detect a difference (be it fewer drop-outs or magical sound quality improvements), you have just taken a step toward buying better quality cables, and that might lead to spending money on audiophile network cables. If you didn't detect a difference, then you saved yourself from unnecessary expenditure. You might need to periodically repeat this exercise: for example, as and when you upgrade your equipment.
Regardless, whatever conclusion you come up with, keep the results to yourself because you don't speak for everyone. The world is too full of socially-misfortuned people who treat the internet as their personal mouthpiece in order to prop up their flaccid egos. Why join them?
Finally, do not respond to this with some kind of "I know more about this than you do because I am an expert/uniquely qualified/invented the internet" statement: I don't know you, I don't want to know you, I certainly don't know whether you are what you say you are, and most importantly I don't give a crap.
The call me The Kosher Butcher. I only fight in Orthodox stance.
Rather funny you had to make up a fake ID to post this instead of just posting as yourself but what the heck.
Of course one has to try different things and see if they work in their system, we all do this hopefully. It would be a bit crazy just to run out and spend boatloads of money on anything just because someone says it's the best, or the latest and the greatest. We always have to be the judge, and final arbiter in our systems, at least I hope so.
The whole thing was… and still you mentioned dropouts, any network even running 100 Mb should really not have any dropouts. Forget about cables, forget about anything else it would be broken, so to bring comments like dropouts in the discussion shows that there is something else wrong, and in my estimation it is a lack of honesty and truth in reporting. It is just a way to embellish the story, and people who write well are able to do that and be convincing. But when someone does that it can be considered unethical. There is a difference when a good writer does a review and of course through the skill of his words paints a picture, but there is always that sense of trust and honesty that we have for these people. When it gets taken further it starts to smell and leaves a bad odor in the room.
I post under a fake ID because I am a solid-gold misanthrope, and I prefer my own inbox free of hate mail. Eventually my character will shine through, and I will get under the skin of enough people here to get banned. Again. And then I'll respawn. Again.
In the meantime...
What part of my "I know better because" point did you fail to understand? I thought I made myself ABUNDANTLY clear on that matter. This being your first offence with the new me, and me still fresh from the regeneration process, I will let you off with a caution. I'm "nice" that way.
However, unless you were directly involved in diagnosing and resolving the guy's network problems, your noise about what did and didn't transpire is just as open to being treated with acute skepticism as the original claim.
End of discussion.
-
They call me The Kosher Butcher. I only fight in Orthodox stance.
do i push any chineseness?
get to what's relevant in your posting.
roger wang.
""However, unless you were directly involved in diagnosing and resolving the guy's network problems,""Very funny... But... Common sense dictates that one with any decent system, let alone a few hundred K one will not be sitting there with dropouts. Some people are just too smart for there one good...
Edits: 08/02/15
"Just a couple of points. To stream audio successfully for instance from a NAS to a music server 100 Mb is more than sufficient"There are a number of factors that influence netowrk capacity.
1. What else is being used on the network.
2. What is the peak load, and what is the typical load.
3. The latency of the network (or lag).The magic number seems to be 20% for overall bandwidth to avoid degradation of sound (sounds like jittery digital) or to have compression in the video (which usually ins't much bigger a stream than audio!). But if you are going through a couple of switches, you might need to be less loaded, still.
ANd if you have a bunch of appliances on the network that pop up once in awhile ... you might need more overhead, too.
To do the simplistic math you have, is to not take into account peaks, interrupts, and latency.
100Mbps *ought to be fine* until you consider other things.
But there are other things within the 100Mbps, too. The gear you have chose to use (unshielded or shielded cable? A 100BaseT switch will have more latency than a gigabit switch, and cause your network to lag even more.
This isn't a simple thing!
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
Edits: 07/28/15
... with my experience:
But even on it's best day (downhill, with a wind at its back), the NAS-streamed audio always sounded different than locally-fed playback, to wit, it sounded "thick" and slow, veiled and compressed. But with the Cat7 cables from AQ in place, I could not only make it work (with zero configuration changes anywhere else in the network), it worked well enough to warrant an A/B with local playback … which still crushed it. But the gap had closed. Not entirely. But some.
************************************************************************
Anyway, in the spirit of "context", I'll add that streaming services, even a truly excellent lossless one like Tidal, still lag behind playback from the state-of-the-art in local playback (no network), which was always better and often, much better.
************************************************************************
And that, BTW, refers to the setup with AQ cables in place.
I posted something to the same extent after experimenting with networked playback vs. local (internal SATA) awhile back. Of course, in my case, network cables were generic CAT5 ones. The thing is, and I'm sure you understand that, there are very good reasons why it is indeed the case - and cables have nothing, or very little, to do with it.
I have found local playback sounds better than over a network. And both of those beat streaming.It "shouldn't work that way" because things are buffered, etc. etc. But it does. Though to be fair streaming over the internet sounds different day to day like the weather.
I will add a fiber 1Gbps connection makes streaming (video and audio) loads better than with a cable or presumably a DSL style connection. And provided your network is up to snuff, you can have lots of people using bandwidth intensive services at the same time and not suffer too much.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
Edits: 07/28/15
Anybody who has used a purpose built file render with an ethernet input would find his conclusions absurd. Especially when using a USB DAC. The USB receiver has NO idea of the files were streamed via network or were stored locally. I have had numerous conversations with DAC designers about this.
Seriously, using terms like "crushed' would lead one to believe the whole write up had the conclusion first, which was that the AQ cables are JUST fabulous, the coolest thing since sliced bread, then everything else was written to fit into that premise.
You like to comment about certain folks here posting "excrement" well this column is pure excrement.
I have no first hand experience comparing different Ethernet cables since I don't normally stream music over them. At present, I use them only for Internet access (no music except the occasional MP3 sound clip as part of a purchase decision) or downloads or file backups.
I have compared computer playback (using a sound card on a PCI bus and to several USB DACs) under the following conditions. I list them in order of decreasing sound quality:
1. playback out of a RAM disk
2. playback out of a local inboard disk via SATA
3. playback out of a file folder via a SAMBA share over Ethernet from a NAS.
I have also compared the following out of that RAM disk to various DACs. Again, I list these in order of decreasing sound quality. I haven't haven't tried all the various combinations, optimatizions, software configurations, etc. that are possible.
1. Playback of WAV files
2. Playback of FLAC files that are read-time decoded
The results do not surprise me. In each case, the choices that I found to sound best were the ones that placed the least processor load on the computer system.
My USB Regen is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I will be conducting a new serious of experiments to see how much this hides the various computer differences (all of which were bit identical in terms of what was sent to the DAC). If I am still hearing differences, I may try interposing a low powered computer to serve as HQPlayer "Network Audio Adapter" and see what this may do, but at present the 7 watt Intel Nuc is busy being a server on my LAN.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
~!
The Mind has No Firewall~ U.S. Army War College.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
Thanks for reporting past experiences.
I def. look forward to your findings with the much buzzed about REGEN.
In these listening tests, I would venture to guess you have not used a file renderer/playback device built form the ground up to receive data via Ethernet then send out to a DAC, like say an Auraliti, a MiND, or a Sonore.
Yes, these will absolutely make a HUGE difference...quiet power supplies, light, non commercial operating systems, galvanic isolation.
Receiving networked audio on a PC is a nonstarter.
Back to you original point, having the processing done as far away from the DAC as possible is key. My NAS does all the decoding and just lets the streamer coast.
toward unable-to-be-modified hardware: we'll all be left to purchase ever rarer, more single purpose, computing devices like the Rasberry Pi. This is welcome IMO, as hobbyists & tweakers will be setting up their own transports under the principles that high performance audio manufacturers have employed for years with great success.
"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"
Just look at the most recent batch of MACs. No more user upgradeable memory or hard drives, reduction in the number of ports, and an ever more closing ecosystem.
""Yes, these will absolutely make a HUGE difference...quiet power supplies, light, non commercial operating systems, galvanic isolation.
Receiving networked audio on a PC is a nonstarter.""
LOL smh...
I may as well review a mechanical watch and you declare it absurd since you are playing a record player!
I read the article, and honestly, I don't understand your beef?
Ethernet cables are networking devices. So when you use a good one or a bad one it should make you network more or less robust. To think it somehow applies to someone that had taken a (cop out, I think!) approach of a local hard drive and a USB cable I think demonstrates a lot more about the person complaining than it does about the reviewer of review!
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
They are two way cables designed to move digital signals, (packets), in two way communication BETWEEN networking devices.
A computer or single purpose networked player for audio purpose is more concerned with receiving packets, and, (hopefully), loading them into RAM.
In Carcass case, - he is onto something in regard to speed, which seems to be an important element in all cabling: (that is for high performance audio).
I think that it would behoove all of us to understand the differences between traditional two way network communications, and the principles that make for good audio applications.
Cheers,
"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"
"Ethernet cables are networking devices. So when you use a good one or a bad one it should make you network more or less robust. "
Is this a joke? What is a good or bad cable? A defective cable will not work... Where all his other cables defective? Wrapped around florescent fixtures?
The total article was fictitious, and just written to steer people to the AQ cables. You can try to make excuses, and look for other possibilities, but anyone with knowledge of networking and audio will understand this.
I have dealt with defective cables before. A pseudo-CAT7 with shield detached in some cases will be somewhat worse than a CAT6 or even a CAT5e.
You were making some sort of weird claim about USB and trying to link it to the review.
If you have copped out and use a local hard drive and USB to your DAC from your computer, then no matter what anyone says about Ethernet to you, won't matter much.
I have been working with networks at home for more than 15 years - wired and wireless (I have fitted out the last 3 houses I own with wired ethernet). I didn't see anything in the article except "problem solved with these cables" with his video and audio dropouts.
I am pretty sure he's not a shill.
But I don't understand your outrage. Seriously. The only fault with his article was it was a bit on the long side.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
""You were making some sort of weird claim about USB and trying to link it to the review.""What are actually talking about??? Do you understand that Ethernet connects to the streaming computer and the USB connects to the DAC?
""If you have copped out and use a local hard drive and USB to your DAC from your computer, then no matter what anyone says about Ethernet to you, won't matter much.""
If who is using a local hard drive? Again what are you attempting to say?""I have been working with networks at home for more than 15 years - wired and wireless (I have fitted out the last 3 houses I own with wired ethernet). I didn't see anything in the article except "problem solved with these cables" with his video and audio dropouts."
Multiply the years X 2 and the amount by several hundred...
""I am pretty sure he's not a shill."" LOL sorry...
""But I don't understand your outrage. Seriously. The only fault with his article was it was a bit on the long side.""
Nice of you to try and repair his image... Hmmm... Interesting...
But it just get worse... Let's see how this sounds...
I am an IT professional formally with Cisco systems. I claim to be an IT guru... I am a serious audiophile with a commercial website. I own well over TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in Audio equipment, but I was living daily with a broken network plagued with glitches and dropouts... until... I was lucky enough to just happen to be sent these magical AQ cables... PRAISE THE LORD MY NETWORK HAS BEEN HEALED...
Edits: 07/28/15
"I am an IT professional formally with Cisco systems. I claim to be an IT guru... I am a serious audiophile with a commercial website. I own well over TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in Audio equipment, but I was living daily with a broken network plagued with glitches and dropouts... until... I was lucky enough to just happen to be sent these magical AQ cables... PRAISE THE LORD MY NETWORK HAS BEEN HEALED... "
I see you also graduated from the Andrew Carnegie course. Let me know how well that works for you.
(In all seriousness, grow up and get some perspective on this things. It's a freaking cable, not some sort of personal validation through trashing others group fest)
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
I shall say no more - only that a certain device, made by a certain brand we both are quite partial to, is on its way.Oh, and I don't like calling something an "excrement" - it's just that sometimes I HAVE to, and they frown upon the word "shit" a little bit more here.... :-)
Edits: 07/27/15
I very much look forward to your posting about your experiences. As you noted in your thread on the other forum, those posting with non-epxerience are abundant.Like you I have, I have been involved in file playback for a decade plus...but I in no way pretend my findings, across many systems and set ups is somehow definitive. Others will perceive different things..within reason.
For instance, note one poster (known well for totally against the grain preferences) posted he preferred mp3s over lossless FLAC files.
Edits: 07/27/15
Right on.....
I have been curious about Carcass' findings regarding SQ with the file source being a few inches away from the player hardware.
Without more and needed investigation, - I have to admit that it is frustrating as it makes it less convenient for multiple & different devices in the home to share the music.
I regard this as being similar to I2s devices, - where it seems to be critical to have incredibly short cable runs.
"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"
The fact that Part Time had network issues whose symptoms were audio and video dropouts and rebuffering that were mitigated in part by these cables - whose construction looks to be extremely thorough in the shielding - is showing a positive benefit.
If you don't have issues, you don't have drop outs, and you are happy with your aired ethernet audio and video performance, clearly you don't need to make changes.
But ... if you really have been doing extensive home ethernet networking, and have the scars to prove it, you'd know noise mitigation, and crosstalk mitigation is the name of the game.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
This is a typical example of someone who seems not to know much about the relevant technology or even basic experimental design. It doesn't take deep knowledge to hear problems (be they gross or subtle) but it does take skill to attribute a cause. I'll give you two specific examples as to what might have been going on, and there are plenty more examples that come to mind: 1. The old cables might have been improperly seated, causing occasional data errors. This is unlikely with a proper RJ45 connector that snaps into place, but if the weak plastic tab somehow breaks it is entirely possible to continue running OK. However, any cable strain or random motion may then result in a loose connection. (Been there, done that.) 2. Plugging and unplugging cables can easily reconfigure one's network. This may create a different traffic pattern and hence different potential network congestion.
Without any technical knowledge, any reasonable experimenter would have simplified the problem network down to the fewest number of boxes and cables needed for a test and disconnected everything else. Most hobbyists would also have multiple cables and boxes and would be able to swap supposedly equivalent boxes to further narrow in on the problems. Finally, it would take just a little technical knowledge to know that Ethernet controllers detect errors, that drivers count these errors and that there is operating system software that will display these counters. Similarly for routers.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
"This is a typical example of someone who seems not to know much about the relevant technology or even basic experimental design."That statement, given the review ... I have no idea where to begin. The guy is an IT professional, and if you read the article, has had everything from a rack of prfessional gear to a simple home setup. I don't think trying to refute his experience actually washes.
But I will say with my own experience is if you find yourself unplugging and replugging cables to change the network traffic to relieve the congestion" it really means you do not have enough bandwidth and the lack of congestion will reverse itself soon enough.
I have had enough bad experiences with cheapo cables not actually meeting their own specifications that I find the availability of well build reliable cables to be a breath of fresh air.
When I upgraded to gigabit internet, I had to go back and upgrade all but one of my switches and had to go through the meddening process of cable swapping all cables that were supposed to have been meeting the same spec (Cat-6a shielded) and even cables bought from the same vendor weren't built the same and certainly didn't perform the same. I eventually got a solid throughput of 700-800Mbps throughout the house (to 1Gbps at the PON).
But I felt the review was fine. But ... if you think you know better, you would do well to put yourself out there and write your own article.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
Edits: 07/28/15
Sorry, you are talking to the wrong guy, here when it comes to computer networking.
"IT professional" can be as low a level job as a person who answers a help desk, or more likely a computer operator or technician. However at a computer manufacturer or network equipment manufacturer, there are engineers who design the gear and then there are the engineers who make the inventions that make the designs possible. And finally there are the highest level of engineers who set technology strategy and develop the engineering culture.
When I worked at Digital Equipment the highest level engineers were called Corporate Consulting Engineers and at DEC I was one of these people. At other companies such as IBM and Cisco, these people are called Fellows. Two of the people who worked for me (and whom I mentored at one time) went on to become fellows at Intel and Cisco. Other people in my group are now professors of Computer Science at various universities. While I was managing network technology at DEC my group developed over 400 patents. Among other things, my group developed the first commercial LAN bridge. Part of this project included inventing the spanning tree protocol which manages LAN connectivity between switches. (That's how I know what can happen if people start plugging and unplugging cables.) The group also did fundamental research on network congestion starting in the late 1970's. I started this research program at Digital, because I anticipated that network congestion was going to be a serious problem.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
That's quite a resume!
It is easy to get your background wrong, since much of your posts it is easy to assume that you are a simple "nay sayer."
But I think it is also a mistake to trash the experience of the author of that article for similar reasons.
(And you might be surprised at my background as well. I have hardly fallen off the turnip truck, but my background is a little different than yours)
I rarely dispute someone's observation, and have learned to take it implicit that the root cause may not be understood. Perhaps this is why I am so tolerant of all of the empirical observations endemic in many audio reviews, by people who are in essence enthusiastic hobbyists.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
"Without any technical knowledge, any reasonable experimenter would have simplified the problem network down to the fewest number of boxes and cables needed for a test and disconnected everything else. Most hobbyists would also have multiple cables and boxes and would be able to swap supposedly equivalent boxes to further narrow in on the problems. Finally, it would take just a little technical knowledge to know that Ethernet controllers detect errors, that drivers count these errors and that there is operating system software that will display these counters. Similarly for routers."
Hi Tony,
Thanks for your post. I did not quote it in totality but the first half and the scenarios you set forth are all possible and he could've had some bad connection which were corrected when he just happened to hook up the Audioquest cables. And of course I could also be the Queen of England. :-)
I believe we could go past this as the gentleman lists himself as an IT professional and a former employee of CISCO SYSTEMS! I would hope that this would bring with it a modicum of network knowledge. Having worked with and deployed a ton of network devices I really have to chuckle, at an IT Pro living with a broken network and doing nothing to fix it until the expensive cables arrive.
He also mentions previous employment with the Absolute Sound, and looking at the other recent thread in this forum regarding said publication brought back fond memories. The Absolute Sound from that era was truly enjoyable and in my opinion very honest in what they did, nobody has done it better since. I don't think he carries forth the same values of that venerable publication.
Regards
Bob
"He also mentions previous employment with the Absolute Sound, and looking at the other recent thread in this forum regarding said publication brought back fond memories. The Absolute Sound from that era was truly enjoyable and in my opinion very honest in what they did, nobody has done it better since. I don't think he carries forth the same values of that venerable publication. "
This is incredible. You guys really do love taking an article and then trying to tear it apart.
This is why we can't have nice things.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
"I believe we could go past this as the gentleman lists himself as an IT professional and a former employee of CISCO SYSTEMS! I would hope that this would bring with it a modicum of network knowledge. Having worked with and deployed a ton of network devices I really have to chuckle, at an IT Pro living with a broken network and doing nothing to fix it until the expensive cables arrive. "
It doesn't strain credulity. It really depends upon your "honey do" list.
I think the saying would go "The kids of the cobbler have the worst shoes in town."
While I am not going to defend someone whose network had dropouts that they wer ein a position to burn time to fix, I do think this is a little unfair. Especially since putting in fancy cables gave him an improvement on his network throughput doesn't refute that basic point.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
To be fair nobody was insulting you, so please do not read something into my comments that were not intended. When discussing things it is nice to have at lease a little something factual to base one opinion on. If you are of the opinion that this was a reasonable assessment of the products... fine.
I would bet that even if you spoke to someone at AQ they might think it a bit strange that one length of their cables can fix a broken network.
... you can have an entire network slowdown with a slow link depending upon what sort of connection you have (sometimes a "switch" isn't a switch at all but something that broadcasts all the data on all lines - I will call that a "hub" for brevity, and something that does actual traffic routing through switching a "switch"). Sometimes they slow down just that link, sometimes they slow down all links.It is not inconceivable, actually, if you had a connection that would slow down all traffic through it (as some do). Having a slow device or cable on a hub would do it. If it was a cable that was billed as "Cat-6" or "Cat-7" but in reality was Cat-3 or 5 effectively, replacing it with something with more capacity (a real Cat-6a for instance) would speed up everything. But that could also be alleviated by buying a true switch, and if the device on the end of the offending is slow, for sure you'd need a true switch.
This doesn't show that the replacement cable would be magic or anything, but how a replacement of a single cable could possibly help the whole network, even if it might not be the optimal solution.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
Edits: 08/04/15
There can be an endless array of possibilities that may cause packet loss or other network errors. Switches, hubs, connections, network cards etc. can all cause errors send bad packets, cause retries, blasts the network, anything is possible.
In his article there is no description or mention of the network and its configuration. He may have one cable, two cables, 300 cables. How many switches, routers, etc. Do you know? There was one picture of his Apple router with some cables plugged it that's it.
If you want to see an honest article look at Michael's Audiostream article and how he explained what he was using and how they were connected and his resulting opinions. There is a big difference and it is pretty evident.
Regards
You asked if it was even possible. I indicated a (pretty common) source of network slowdown that a new cable could improve things not directly hooked up to it.
As far as I am concerned I answered your question.
At this point, due to the dead, bloody horse being beaten, I have no more comments about the various articles.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
I do not believed I ask you that question. :) But ok... I can give you a thousand more scenarios. Sadly they do not apply here...
Regards
Serves me right for responding on a mobile device ...
As a side note, this has inspired me to do a few measurements of throughput and latency and order a few verified Cat-6a cables (shielded) recommended by our IT group, and updating my switches to see if I can get faster throughput. Though no real complaints thus far, but a number of places I noticed a weakness, and honestly, it isn't that expensive to have a simple home network that is blindingly fast.
Given a single AQ Cinnamon 1.5m cable was more than what ALL of my other cables cost (and these are made with Belden cable and measured when built), that particular "try out" will have to wait.
I'll let everyone know what that does for streaming, if anything.
Right now I reeling a little bit with finding a Furman power filter (I think it retails for $80 or so ... but it's about 5 years old and found it in a box I thought lost in a move) and putting it on the auxiliary stuff in my righ (all the digital stuff, networking stuff, and the turntable motor ... and ... the sound cleaned up a little. Wonder how much digital trash was getting where it shouldn't have got? I hate this sometimes! ;-)
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
""Wonder how much digital trash was getting where it shouldn't have got?""
Possibly a great deal.
IMO network filters or trying fiber are important, and seemed to be ignored by many.
Filtering,. RFI/EMI, Room Acoustics are like a trifecta of "boring" compared to a new component.
I have had my biggest improvements - bigger than a compnent swap (though I don't swap lots) from these "boring" things, so I agree with you.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
Thanks! for sharing- Bob.
I, too, am a "cable" guy. This is the most important part of any system, at any price-point. Don't believe me? Try listening to any gear w/o them!
Fiction had been the hallmark of a small number of posters in Computer Asylum - it has been getting worse.
Someone plugs in a Sonos or has used a Squeezebox and they know more that Cisco ....
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
I am in complete agreement with your post. Any one with a modicum of experience with networked audio or video would laugh at this write up.
Hey!
I have a modicum of experience. I didn't laugh.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
Didn't confidently claim he compared the AQ cables to Cat7?
You were SO sure you smugly asked "Did you read the review?"...ooopps...you looked pretty stupid didn't you.
I'd just about shut up at this point if I were you.
Glad the Andrew Canegie course is paying off so much.
Nope, a minor error in recall means nothing in the grand scheme of things.
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
""Glad the Andrew Canegie course is paying off so much.""
You keep using the same line, but honestly what is your point?
It is clear to any thinking person that he created a totally fictitious set of circumstances in order to hype the cables.
You made your opinion crystal clear. You think the reviewer is lying and are willing to pre-hurl insult anyone who thinks otherwise ("...to any thinking person...")Rhetorically that is trying to intimidate people into either publicly agreeing with you or to be silent for fear of being labelled a "non thinking person," by you. Fortunately for me (and maybe you) I don't need your validation or approval for a sense of self-worth.
Plus I have little respect for an argument predicated on a "disagree with me and here's your insult" - that's not very nice. I know it isn't meant to be, you are trying to intimidate and insult, so that stands to reason.
And "Andrew Carnegie" I keep mixing up with "Dale Carnegie" If you make the substitution, you will probably understand what I was trying to say.
But honestly, if you want me to take you more seriously, you could try to tone it down. We likely won't agree some of the time, but that shouldn't be taken as a threat, as you seem to now. Life would be boring if it was simply an echo chamber, eh? Now, you probably don't need MY validation or approval for YOUR sense of self worth, but it might make for a more pleasant discussion.
(And yep, I was condescending right there, and here. But do consider it anyway).
============================
As audiophiles, we take what's obsolete, make it beautiful, and keep it forever.
Hey! I have a blog now: http://mancave-stereo.blogspot.com or "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/mancave.stereo
Edits: 07/29/15 07/29/15 07/29/15
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: