Cat cable

[Chrispy]

Forgive my ignorance but this is a genuine question. In a discussion about audio cables making no audible difference, provided they are basic but we'll built and suitable for the job required, gauge, shielding etc, a friend said well Cat 6 cable allows much more data through than Cat 5 due to more copper and better construction, why can't 'improved' audio cables do the same.? I guess the requirements of data transfer are completely different to audio requirements. Can someone give me a simple answer please.?? Always trying to learn, but often feel way out of my depth on ASR. Thanks.

Basically cat 5/6 are not "audio cables". Comparing them to analog audio cables, or even dedicated digital ones typically used in audio like coax/optical, isn't apples to apples. Just a lot of cable companies claim a lot of bullshit on various factors, including copper wire gauge and "construction".

 

[Victorr_]

CAT6 uses twisted pairs of wires with differential signalling, what do you think this does?

IQ test?
I know what twisted pair is and why Ethernet cables are designed this way. I wrote that my choice in favor of FTP Cat8 was based on a slight difference in price. In addition, the cable is hidden under the floor. Very soon it may happen that the bandwidth of Cat 6 will not be enough to transmit video content with a resolution of, say, 16K and more. I would not like to replace the cable and make repairs on this occasion.

 

[Speedskater]

Basically cat 5/6 are not "audio cables". Comparing them to analog audio cables, or even dedicated digital ones typically used in audio like coax/optical, isn't apples to apples. Just a lot of cable companies claim a lot of bullshit on various factors, including copper wire gauge and "construction".

It's common now, in pro audio to see unshielded CAT5/6 cable used as long 4 channel analog interconnects.

 

[Redacted]

CAT6 uses twisted pairs of wires with differential signalling, what do you think this does?

Indeed.
And for a few more days, until my 1G fibre is installed (we live at the edge of the known universe), I have hundreds of feet of basic UTP (2 pairs, one in use) between my house, going underground with masses of other cables and into a street box. It provides 27.5 Mbps d/l speed for my internet connection (and a landline). It's been rock solid for almost 7 years, but any errors are handled by higher-level protocols.

 

[Redacted]

IQ test?
I know what twisted pair is and why Ethernet cables are designed this way. I wrote that my choice in favor of FTP Cat8 was based on a slight difference in price. In addition, the cable is hidden under the floor. Very soon it may happen that the bandwidth of Cat 6 will not be enough to transmit video content with a resolution of, say, 16K and more. I would not like to replace the cable and make repairs on this occasion.

Cat 8 is 40 Gbps up to 100 feet, IIRC.
It will be a while before your internet connection will keep up, or indeed the PCs or storage units on your LAN, but future-proofing isn't a bad idea. The cost is in the labour and general PITA of cabling round the house. I'd have probably added fibre at the same time though, for that PITA reason. 30m of OM3 is £25 in small quantity.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Basically cat 5/6 are not "audio cables".

So what. That's only a label.
They can be used for audio and tests over the years support their suitability. See AES72.
I have been using them for analog and digital connections for years.

 

[Aure]

Hello,

I have five Cat 6 Ethernet cables at home:

• Grundig 10 m Cat 6 FTP (bought for €3.99 at an Action store in France)
• Temium 5 m Cat 6 F/UTP (bought several years ago for far too much money—not currently in use)
• No-name 3 m Cat 6 S/FTP (bought new, second-hand, for €1)
• 1aTTack.de 1 m Cat 6 S/FTP (sold on Amazon)
• 1aTTack.de 50 cm Cat 6 S/FTP

I honestly have no idea whether they're particularly good in terms of shielding or construction, but they all work perfectly in my setup.

Of course, they're not very audiophile cables.

 

[voodooless]

Anything beyond 5e is an abomination to get a connector fitted I f*cking hate fitting any connector, but these are the worst by far!

 

[Berwhale]

Indeed.
And for a few more days, until my 1G fibre is installed (we live at the edge of the known universe), I have hundreds of feet of basic UTP (2 pairs, one in use) between my house, going underground with masses of other cables and into a street box. It provides 27.5 Mbps d/l speed for my internet connection (and a landline). It's been rock solid for almost 7 years, but any errors are handled by higher-level protocols.

I have 1.7Gbps fibre, my ISP (Zen Internet) provided a nice looking Eero 6E router which I was considering making use of until I noticed it has one 2.5GbE port (for the fibre connection) and a 1GbE port for my internal network

 

[Berwhale]

Anything beyond 5e is an abomination to get a connector fitted I f*cking hate fitting any connector, but these are the worst by far!

This and the fact that I pulled a brand new 305M (1,000ft) box of solid copper CAT5e out of a skip (dumpster) when I was involved in the decommissioning of an old data centre a couple of years ago has kept me on CAT5e

 

[Berwhale]

IQ test?
I know what twisted pair is and why Ethernet cables are designed this way.

So why write this?

The main difference for us (music listeners) is that Cat6 has no protection against external electromagnetic interference.

 

[mcochris]

It's common now, in pro audio to see unshielded CAT5/6 cable used as long 4 channel analog interconnects.

Most of the pro audio gear I've seen uses shielded cables. Note the shield contacts on this ethernet to XLR box:

 

[mcochris]

So what. That's only a label.
They can be used for audio and tests over the years support their suitability. See AES72.
I have been using them for analog and digital connections for years.

What do you use to convert the RJ45 Ethernet connection to a RCA or XLR connectors?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

What do you use to convert the RJ45 Ethernet connection to a RCA or XLR connectors?

See post above yours and also https://studiohub.com/adapters/#

 

[Chrispy]

So what. That's only a label.
They can be used for audio and tests over the years support their suitability. See AES72.
I have been using them for analog and digital connections for years.

Understood, just better described as what they already are, cat 5 or cat 6 network cables....altho these days for sure a lot of our audio comes via networks.

 

[Victorr_]

So why write this?

I simply pointed out an objective difference. What exactly do you think is incorrect?
Under normal conditions, this does not matter. And if you have a powerful source of electromagnetic radiation nearby?


Ignore the fire (we are bombed by the Russians from time to time). Pay attention to what is mounted on the roof of this multi-story building? Two TV transmitters - 1 kW, two more TV and three FM radio transmitters of 100 watts each

 

[Devnull]

I simply pointed out an objective difference. What exactly do you think is incorrect?
Under normal conditions, this does not matter. And if you have a powerful source of electromagnetic radiation nearby?


Ignore the fire (we are bombed by the Russians from time to time). Pay attention to what is mounted on the roof of this multi-story building? Two TV transmitters - 1 kW, two more TV and three FM radio transmitters of 100 watts each

That's nothing in terms of spectrum power. Millions of people live under and around transmitters often approaching a megawatt of radiated power without the need for shielded Ethernet cables.

 

[john61ct]

For using CAT wiring intended for Ethernet to carry Balanced Analog instead

this really is a completely different discussion from AoIP protocols, much less generic Ethernet networking

the use of standard Cat6A ScTP (Shielded Twisted Pair) cable allows for one pair to carry each analog audio channel, the shielding being in common, thus 4x balanced audio channels per RJ45 connector.

This is standardized as AES-72 (type 1, "audio-over-CAT") wiring.

What I'm after is a reasonably priced pre-wired adapter module pigtail and/or Neutrik D-size cutouts in a grounded rack patch panel

that converts a pair of RJ45 to DB-25 TASCAM pinout (AES59) wiring for 8x balanced analog.

I believe the same scheme can carry AES/EBU digital

Can anyone suggest Reasonably Priced mfg brands and / or supply sources?

@Kal Rubinson

 

[john61ct]

ASR has a rep out there for being BRUTAL. That is not something to be proud of...

 

[Chrispy]

ASR has a rep out there for being BRUTAL. That is not something to be proud of...

Brutal in what way? What sites "feel" this way?