BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

Audiophile Ethernet – Pushing the Snake Oil Barrier?

Despite all the heat I took from my last “snake oil” article, I’d like to think that I’m open-minded about the performance of tweaks.

This one, however, pushes the limits another step – it appears to be an audiophile-quality ethernet cable priced at $500!

In truth, it seems that most pundits at Wired, Slashdot, and elsewhere are assuming that ethernet is the underlying hardware standard and TCP/IP is running on top. But just because  the cable looks identical doesn’t mean it is identical. And Denon describes the ‘Denon Link’ as a proprietary standard capable (in V3) of transporting SACD and PCM natively.

Now that the geek-speak has made everything clear as mud, I’ll offer that:

• Were I a betting man, I’d say that this is a standard “ethernet” cable; and
• I’ve not heard these, and so can’t comment on their sonic efficacy. (Personally, I use radio waves as my ethernet transport at home.)

And, as in all such things, YMMV….