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Key Features
AudioQuest have upped the material qualities to produce the fantastic Forest RJ/E Ethernet cable; introducing a 0.5% layer of pure silver to the non-stranded LGC conductors. With more emphasis on quality loss when using bog-standard Cat 5 patch cables when connecting streaming devices to routers, the AQ Forest should give you the uplift in aural differences for not too much outlay on cost.
Product Ref: 200193
"Here, I heard a slight but noticeable difference mainly in the texture of vocals—voices sounded less harsh with the AudioQuest Forest Ethernet cable. There also seemed to be a greater sense of ease as if some underlying noise had been removed."
A boost in material quality is all the AudioQuest Forest Ethernet cable needs to add a little refinement to your listening sessions. The connection to your internet switch or router has until now often been an afterthought, but of course the demand for music streaming has now highlighted a need for maintaining a solid connection which cares about how digital music sounds rather than just transferring bulk data fast.
Standard-issue Ethernet cables are fine for transporting a lot of data at very fast speeds, but with cheap plastic connectors and no real thought put into the copper quality the one thing that is bound to suffer the most is audio. AudioQuest's Forest RJ/E is a directional Ethernet cable made with the same hallmark materials, philosophy, care and attention that is applied to all their interconnects, whether it's an entry level introduction to hi-fi or a died-in-the-wool music connoisseur.
At the heart of the cable are Solid Long-Grain Copper conductors, AQ's tried, tested and trusted manufacturing process of drawing through the raw copper ingot at a much slower speed to leave an ultra-smooth surface for a signal to travel. The solid LGC conductors on Forest have an extra application of solid silver; a naturally superior signal conductor giving you much of the performance of a solid silver conductor but for a fraction of the cost. The terminations are an area where signal loss is common, so AQ plate the nickel plugs in a generous plating of pure gold ensuring you'll always achieve a noticeable uplift in sound quality whilst keeping the price agreeable.
Solid conductors eliminate strand-interaction distortion and reduce jitter. Solid silver-plated copper conductors are excellent for very high-frequency applications, like Ethernet audio. These signals, being such a high frequency travel almost exclusively on the surface of the conductor. As the surface is made of high-purity silver, the performance is very close to that of a solid silver cable, but priced much closer to solid copper cable. This is an incredibly cost effective way of manufacturing very high quality Ethernet cables.
All audio cables are directional. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable. Arrows are clearly marked on the connectors to ensure superior sound quality. For best results have the arrow pointing in the direction of the flow of music. For example, NAS to Router, Router to Network Player.
Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation and circuit board materials all absorb energy (loss). Some of this energy is stored and then later released as distortion. Solid High-Density Polyethylene Insulation ensures critical signal-pair geometry while minimizing insulation-induced phase distortion.
Conductor | Solid 0.5% Silver Conductors |
---|---|
Dielectric | Solid High-Density Polyethylene |
Jacket | PVC (Install-Rated) |
Plug Type | Gold-Plated Nickel Ethernet RJ45 Connectors (x2) |
Shielding | Standard |
Type | RJ/E Ethernet |