I recently wrote about a gushing review of an audiophile Ethernet cable, and how it is just plain ridiculous. Digital cables transport 1s and 0s, and unless they are severely damaged, the TCP/IP protocol used ensures that the data received is the same as the data sent.
Archimago, who likes investigating such things, tested a number of Ethernet cables, because:
“I have seen audiophile reviewers and forum posters still claim digital cables make an audible difference and when questioned they provide lots of words but no actual empirical evidence. It has been awhile since I’ve seen any articles claiming objective evidence for cable measurements – haven’t come across new ads or audiophile articles although of course I may have missed some.”
He tested five different cables, from 1 foot to 50 feet long, testing the audio output, when using them to stream music, compared to the input. As he says:
“there are no significant differences in the audio output at all.”
And he sums up, saying:
“There’s no evidence that any of the digital cables make an audible difference be it TosLink, coaxial, USB, or now ethernet within an error-free system.”
Archimago has graphs and tables, so I’ll let you read the rest of his analysis