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Internet cable shootout



I have been using some basic network cables until I recently tried if an upgrade would make sense. The cable is between a Netgear switch and my DAC which contains a streamer as well. At the time I chose an audiophile grade Audioquest Forest cable of just 75cm long. It sounded pretty good I thought and it just carries ones and zeros with fault checks right? So how can this be bettered?

Today it is pretty simple to try some competitive cables. You buy a few online and can return them after trying them up to thirty days or so. I bought an Audioquest Vodka Cat7 cable (400 euro for 75cm), Supra Cat8 cable (29 euro for 1m) and cheap Qubix Cat8 cable (11,72 euro for 1m).

To make it easier to distinguish the cables sonically I used a track ¨Fröjda Dig, Du Kristi Brud¨ from Cantate Domino (Proprius, 88Khz/24 bits) with a single female voice in a church with lots of low volume reverb.

Now the interesting thing is that to my ears and in my setup the cheap Qubix cable sounded very similar to the most expensive Vodka cable. This may have something to do with superior shielding of the cheap Cat8 cable compared to the expensive Cat7 cable. But why does it sound better than the Cat8 Supra cable. I have no idea why but my ears tell me so.

So when you are willing to accept that network cables can make a difference soundwise, I would advise to try a couple and certainly include cheap Cat8 ones and the Qubix one if available to you.