At the end of March I posted regarding the importance of grounding your network to get the best out of streaming music.
I felt this was relevant as more and more people are streaming music from Tidal or Qobuz into their systems. Also, if you pull music off a conventional NAS like a QNAP and feed that to a Network Player music is being pumped across the network.
Based on that last post there were a small handful of people who ended up purchasing the various ex-demo ground boxes and RJ45 ground cables I had on offer and I’m delighted to report everyone who made the jump was glad they did. As is often the case with Entreq people can be bit sceptical looking from the outside in, but once you’ve played with it in your own system, that initial sceptism quickly gets swept aside as you can hear what it’s doing to your music. Veils were lifted, performance gains were had across the board and customers were happy.
When I signed off that blog post I did say I would follow it up with another post on the new RJ45 Ethernet Cables, well at long last, here we are!!!
With the coming of age of streamed music the importance of Ethernet and a stable network is more relevant than ever.
One question I often get asked is ‘what is streamed music?’
First and foremost streamed music is music played off the Internet, using a subscription based service like Tidal and Qobuz. Both of their services offer CD quality (16 bit, 44.1kHz) streaming and higher in some cases. Most Network Audio players have Tidal and/or Qobuz integrated into them, you simply enter your username/password into the player and you can stream away!
Another form of ‘streaming’ music is from within a closed network, all of your music is stored on a NAS drive and you ‘stream’ that music to a Network Audio Player like a Lumin S1, Naim NDX or Linn Klimax DSM over the network.
A Naim NDX for example, can stream in both ways as outlined above.
All of the above requires Ethernet cables in one way or another. Your Network Audio Player connects to your router (or switch) via an Ethernet cable, likewise with your NAS. It all starts at your master phone socket, where you connect an RJ11 terminated cable which connects to your router.
Ethernet cables typically are inexpensive, designed to serve a purpose, they simply just work. Many audio-cable brands have released esoteric Ethernet cables some of which are very good and are certainly a step up over the very basic cable you can buy for a couple of quid.
Enter stage left……..Entreq Primer
Entreq have been working on a new entry level range of interconnects and I’ve been playing with their new Ethernet cables.
Entreq have always done things differently to everyone else, they use minimal alloy, nothing synthetic wherever possible and utilise cotton braiding, wooden connectors (non-magnetive and conductive) to keep things as natural as possible. It’s how they get their great sonic signature which is musical, full of texture and is never aggressive or fatiguing.
The vast majority of audio cables are shielded, this helps to protect the delicate musical signal, the shields picks up noise, electro-interference, RFI and EMI and it runs along the shield, right next to the signal, but the signal is protected right?
Entreq have never shielded their cables, they’ve always argued it was detrimental to performance. Instead you simply connect a signal cable to one of their passive ground boxes via one of their ground cables and that box acts as a reservoir/dump for the noise/interference to live. Think of the boxes as an attractive place for unwanted noise to reside!!
So, the the Primer RJ45 cable is un-shielded and it comes with a dedicated Primer ground cable and Primer ground box, all included in the price of £260.00 for a 1.1 metre length. Longer cables are not a problem, it costs an additional £40.00 for every 0.55cm after the first 1.1m.
If you are familiar with Entreq you will know this is a real step for them as typically the price of admission has always been way higher than this and the ground cable and ground box were always bought separately in addition to the cable.
In my main demo system I have a Melco N1ZH/2 – it is full of music stored on the hard drives, but that music is sent via USB so not relevant here. Thankfully, I have both a Tidal and Qobuz Sublime account so ‘streaming’ using the Melco is no issue, I primarily use these services to discover new music which I either buy on CD or download in Hi-Res.
My Melco is connected to my router using a well known cable brand’s flagship Ethernet cable which costs almost 4 times the price of the Primer – the Entreq isn’t off to a good start.
Comparing Ethernet Cables!
I queued up several tracks on both services and spent some time listening via my own cable. It sounds great, it’s musical and informative. It’s not as enjoyable as pulling content of the Melco itself, but it’s still very good. I listened to the same tracks on both services and to my ears and system Qobuz has the edge. Tidal sounds good but it is a little two-dimensional compared to Qobuz.
Making the change to the Entreq Primer took no time at all, but as always with Entreq it takes a little while the box to settle and for the noise to dissipate. I hit play and almost instantly you could tell the presentation had changed. One of my go to albums is ‘Popular Problems’ by Leonard Cohen and track number 2 ‘Almost Like the Blues’ is the track I always start with.
The ‘other cable’ sounded thick and heavy in comparison, a bit slow and Leonard’s gravelly bass baritone sounded almost like he had a cold. The Entreq had opened up the soundstage completely, it sounded bigger, wider, more dynamic and simply more interesting to listen to. I left the Primer playing for a good hour or so to let it settle and it certainly seemed to solidify over that time. Instrument placement seemed more become cohesive across the soundstage as time passed.
To make sure I wasn’t going mad, I took the Primer out and put the ‘other cable’ back in. Sure enough the pace slowed up, a veil came down and Leonard’s cold had come back. Don’t get me wrong, it still sounded really good, but the Primer sounded more accurate and simply ‘more right’.
So, the next step was to take out the 2 ‘branded cables’ and connect a basic Ethernet cable between the Router and the Melco. Playing the same tracks as before left me in no doubt this was by some margin the poorest sounding of the 3 cables. The presentation has become rather flat in comparison to the other 2 cables and it sounds a bit thinner and less interesting.
I must stress this is all relative, the system still sounds great and it hasn’t exactly fallen flat on its face, but the performance has definitely taken a good few steps backwards. Back to my original cable, we’ve gone 3D again and things are way better, after half a dozen tracks I move back to the Primer and the same thing happens again – the soundstage has opened up become wider, taller and there is definitely less mush and more going on. It simply sounds cleaner and more musical – the Entreq fundamentals of texture, flow is definitely working, the fact I can hear more suggests the noise floor has dropped.
The next step (which I have not done yet) will be to get a longer cable to go from the master phone socket to the input on the router and what happens there.
So, to sum up if you stream music from a good online source like Qobuz to your Network Audio Player or you stream your own CD rips from a NAS to a Network Audio Player changing the Ethernet cables pays dividends. For £260.00 the price of admission is relatively modest when you consider what you get and the performance is great. It has certainly pulled Qobuz way ahead of where it was and is making music much more engaging with better flow and fluidity.
I keep reading online and talking to people that streaming isn’t as good as playing physical media, the performance is lacking. If spend a bit of time addressing your network, get it grounded (check out the original blog post here) and change your Ethernet cables to some Primer and you can really unlock the potential of a system with ‘streamed music’ as serious source!
The Primer RJ45 Ethernet Cable is available to buy now. For now I have only put stock 1.1m lengths up to purchase but you can choose RJ45 to RJ45, RJ11 to RJ45 and RJ1 to RJ11. If you need a longer length please get in touch!
For anyone who serioulsly wants to unlock the performance of their network audio, there is also the Apollo and Atlantis RJ45 cables as well, they have integrated ground cables but require a seperate ground box.
Thanks for reading!
