[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Levitator

Ok guys - I thought I’d share my experiences after a week of trialling the Alpha and Sigma Ethernet cables against my existing $10 Cat 5e cable.

Firstly to note, I have never tried any alternative Ethernet cables and was somewhat sceptical about hearing any differences or improvement with the Shunyata cables. I am certainly a believer that cables do make a difference after migrating my system to all Shunyata power and digital cables and Wireworld speaker cables and interconnects but Ethernet cables I was quite dubious on!

I only focused on 1 Ethernet connection and that was between my router and Esoteric streamer given we have a 4G connection straight into the router. Fortunately the distance is short so the 1.5m option that Shunyata offers was sufficient.

I started the testing comparing my current cable with the Sigma cable because I wanted to make sure that if there was a difference, i would hear it straight away or not at all which would mean I could send them straight back to my dealer!

I made sure the system was well and truly warmed up, and then proceeded to play a few tracks that I knew intimately. Changing Ethernet cables was very quick and easy making short intervals between changes.

So was there a difference? Absolutely - not a major one, but definitely a difference. The Sigma presented a larger soundstage, imaging was more precise and a clarity and ‘realness’ to the sound that wasn’t there with the cheap cable. The noise floor was also notably lower, probably helped by the two filters contained in the Sigma cable.

To help validate my thoughts, I then asked my wife to change the cables around in no particular order and in all cases I was able to identify which cable was in place.

Now that my scepticism had been removed from the equation, I was keen to see what differences, if any, there were between the Sigma and Alpha cables. After comparing the same tracks, and a variety of other music over 2 days, there were differences, not night and day though, that you could hear between these two cables.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but what did surprise me was that the Alpha cable made the music present itself more forward while the Sigma cable made the sound slightly more recessed and laid back. At first it sounded like the soundstage was larger with the Alpha but it was more the way it presented itself. There was an ease and overall balance to the presentation with the Sigma that wasn’t quite the same with the Alpha. It was almost like with the Sigma you could crank the volume right up but it wasn’t in your face. the clarity and ‘real ness’ to the sound with both cables was sublime though!

Please don’t read this that the Alpha was harsh in any way, but for my ears (and my wife’s) we preferred the sound from the Sigma. In A/B testing after a couple of days of listening to both cables, we could both hear the difference in presentation between the cables which was interesting.

I suspect that depending on your set up and speakers, you may actually prefer the Alpha cable but the good thing is that either cable isn’t going to break the bank and the price jump from Alpha to Sigma isn’t huge, especially for those of us that have invested $$$ in our systems. There is also the cheaper Venom cable which I didn’t have the option of trialling.

So IMHO based on my system, Ethernet cables, at least when it comes to Shunyata, do make a difference and for those looking for a subtle but tangible improvement, I’d encourage you to at least trial one of Shunyata’s Ethernet cables.

Congrats to Caelin and his team at Shunyata - you guys are certainly setting a very high bar for others to achieve for the benefit of us who love our audio!

One last point: if your router uses a switch mode power supply, you may want to consider getting a Shunyata Venom 14 Digital power cord for it. You might also consider getting a Venom NR-V12 for your Esoteric streamer as well. The NR-V12 on your streamer would bring quite a notable improvement, I'd predict.

These will lower the noise floor even further, and may allow you to discern the impact of the Ethernet cable to an even larger extent.