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[ahjeff]

Hi teknik99

Mr B is right that the Ethernet standard is 100m, but this figure is based on a maximum allowable bit error rate (BER). Any Cat5 compliant cable will work at 100 meters, but to pass the standard, it is allowed to introduce some bit errors, which correspond to packet errors and lost information in the data stream. For most Ethernet applications, this is acceptable, because the TCP/IP protocol that most services use will detect the error and resend the data.
In the audio world, there is no time to resend the data – if a sample is lost, by the time the system has realised, it’s already time to play the next sample. So in this case, the Cat5 standard BER would result in interruptions in the audio. This is why people like EtherSound and now us at A&H individually test specific cables to make sure that they work at the specified length with zero errors (in our case even during 1kV mains line spikes).
It is then very difficult to predict in advance what length of a particular cable will work without errors, without actually testing that cable. We now have 5 recommended cables, so although I’m not saying that the Canare cable will not work, the safer bet is to use one of those.

Cheers

– Jeff