hi there
what’s the best, after the box: rj 45 shielded, or like the Melco’s, asymmetrical ground wire with floating ground?
My electrical installation is old, without ground
thanks
Personally I use cat 6 USTP, ie no shield.
thanks for your answer!Some people tell floating ground acts like an antenna for noises…
I think you mean “shield” instead of “ground”. Two very different things.
hi
no!new melco rj 45 have a ground wire not connected at one extremity for avoid noise transmission
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Its not clear what the ground wire is draining, so why would it run the whole cable length??
thanks !
i’d like to know what kind of cable is used by the forumers…
My take on it is that they are butchering the English language. The shield is attached at one end and they are calling that end the “ground point”. Most audiophile ethernet cables are constructed this way.
It’s probably marketing mumbo jumbo. I don’t think there is one approach that works best in all situations. Shunyata, JCAT and Wireworld all advised me they connect their shields to ground at both ends because it sounds best in the context of their total design (typically some ‘filtering’ type thing in the cable design).
I use some Synergistic Research Atmosphere X Reference and their HD ground cables, and these have shield connected at one end and I gather the shield is connected to the ground cable connection to in turn go to earth or ground block - this appears to a cornerstone of many of their cable designs using their own techniques and materials. I also have Shunyata Sigma and JCAT Signature but sold the Wireworld Platinum. My experience is the cables are the weakest links in a network used for audio, so I also use fibre and wifi where they are the best solution in my network.
Bottom line is a given cable performance will probably vary depending on what is connected to it at each end and how those behave all together. Unfortunately, you need to experiment what works best for your preferences in your system.
Setting up a network optimised for audio is an endeavour in its own right. The cables is just one element of that.
My experience is somewhat different in that although I use a Sablon Ethernet cable from my Cisco 2960 switch to my PhoenixNET, I then use a 50cm length unbranded cheap Cat 6 unshielded twisted pair between the PhoenixNET and the Oladra. That sounds best to my ears.
WiFi and fibre in particular sound much worse (worse being defined by my ears as over emphasising percussion notes). I really have tried to get fiber to sound good but so far I have been defeated and everything sounds much worse with it no matter what I try.
The Cisco switch I mention is used to supply Ethernet to my tv and various tv related gadgets. The PhoenixNET is only connected to my Oladra.
Imagine a person who tries an inexpensive audiophile server, finds himself unimpressed, and then makes the claim that “audiophile servers sound much worse to me”. I think every single one of us on this forum would consider that statement unfair.
Fiber can sound anywhere between abysmal and excellent, so blanket statements are somewhat worthless IMHO. As with everything else in this hobby, how well fiber has been implemented has a lot to do with it how well it performs. But even an exceptionally-well implemented fiber setup can sound like crap if ends up being the greatest source of noise on a network that’s been extremely-well optimized.
One of the biggest surprises I’ve had in this hobby was the utter shock that came from placing the original Stillpoints cones under my speakers. I heard a massive improvement in many areas but I found myself more annoyed than ever by a coloration that became apparent. It turned out that the coloration was caused by the Symposium Svelte Shelf used beneath my turntable. The stainless top plate was reflecting energy right back into the metal feet of my table. Yanking it out eliminated the coloration. When I first added the Svelte Shelf, all I heard was goodness, but that was only because the harm it caused was being masked by something else that had been causing even greater harm.
I suspect a day might come when a move I make to improve my network might cause me to be able to notice that my fiber span is no longer a net positive. I’ve seen too many people sour on fiber to believe that day won’t come. In the interim though I will continue to enjoy the heck out of it.
Kenny, also there are very few generalisations that hold true no matter what. You mentioned your speakers and I have been frustrated by many people declaring that Gaia isolation mounts are best when I have found that they only improve the sound if one has a floating lightweight floor. With a solid concrete floor such as mine I found that in my room spikes sound by far the best.
Also, I much prefer discussion actual sound characteristics rather than just saying ‘better’ which is pretty meaningless (and I know I am guilty there!!).
It seems horses for courses. My fibre is 10m and there os no way I can afford a copper that comes close to the benefits for that length.
My wifi is dedicated to connect to my Devialet, nothing else accesses that wifi. That is one less wire feeding noise to the Devialet,so now it has only speaker, power and ground cables connecting to it … the bare minimum. So in that context, wifi is better than the best wired connection I couid concoct in reaching that conclusion, and that was daisy chaining 2 ERs and 2 Gigafoils. Someday I will try wired again after reviewing the network.
So the lesson for me was, listen to each connection and find the nest solution.
About speakers … I have found springs tuned to 3Hz to cancel vibrations to be better (IMO) than IsoAcoustics Gaia and spikes on my 200mm thick suspended slab concrete floor.
In our multiple vfd high hp ( totalling >600hp ) installations, electrical noise could be extreme. Usually the vfd’s were on an ethernet control network with usb local controls. Without proper ethernet and usb grounding there was no possibility of control. We found that the most effective grounding was to connect the shield at one end only using cat 5e or cat6 stp with shield connection removed at one end. In most audiophile installs 5e or 6 UTP with no shield should be sufficient. For that reason I have replaced the ethernet STP supplied with my K30 and EX with my own custom length cat 5e cables.
I replaced the Gtech media convertor feeding my K30, EX listening station with the opticalModule and Finisar and unfortunately did not hear any upgrade. I am lucky as electrical noise appears to be at a minmum in my house.
thanks for your explanation!
“A blanket statement is a generalization that is made without sufficient evidence or nuance”, as per a definition my search engine came up with. By contrast, the generalizations hold true no matter what tend to have plenty of evidence to back them.
I hadn’t seen that declared before. Surprising anyone would declare one brand of support the “best”.
Or maybe you aren’t sensitive to noise. Might explain your preference for Roon.
(ducking)
I know what I like and like what I know.
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