[acadie_bazz]

Ehternet cable quality important with a BDP-3 when using Tidal HiFi?

[soundmax]

Definitely!

[Anonamemouse]

Nope, any cat 5 will do the job.

[schmidtmike76]

Nope, any cat 5 will do the job.

i disagree I’ve played with a few and audioquest was a huge upgrade over the cheap stock.  Everything opened up and a sudden clarity came through.  I highly recommend any upgrade

[soundmax]

The best I found so far is Audioquest Diamond Ethernet.

[zoom25]

For unshielded UTP - the best measurable performance is from Belden bonded Cat6. That's what I use with my BDP-1. I haven't found anything better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7QEuD0Xb6I

With shielded cables and how the shields and grounding is implemented at both ends, you can introduce noise into the system which can change the sound. You may or may not like it.

I've used and tried almost every ethernet cable type with my BDP-1. Cat5, 5e, 6, 6a, 6 FTP, and 6a S/STP. A lot of these were individually measured on a Fluke device. Pay attention to the length of the cable used as well. I also have 4 different switches/routers (both 100mbps and gigabit) with stock power supply and Teradak linear power supplies. Lots of things to try out if one feels inclined for either SQ or just curiosity. All of them will work. No dropouts with any combination. You can always find a use for them.