Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
Thad,
From what I've discussed, the integrity of the data transfer isn't the issue - the protocols take care of that.
Yes, you are right. We can regard the network as black box. What goes in one end comes out the other: the workings of the box ensure that --- unless some catastrophic failure takes place. There will always be some circumstances in which the thing may be too stressed to work at all. Fluorescent lights are a common cause of interference, and my idea about somebody wrapping a cable around one wasn't entirely a joke.
However, apparently there is some kind of hash in the audio that gets removed when using a good shielded cable.
asliarun deals with this far better than I can, and has done. What I feel is that us letter mortals (very much including me) should either accept the black box as something that does work, or we should get out the networking textbooks and find out what really happens in the box. I had to do a certain anount inside that box for my work but, somehow, I just don't find it very interesting any longer ;(. Well, ok, interesting, yes, but not very :lol:
I did exchange notes with someone today who confirmed that Cat6 is enough for streaming audio - so I might just do that to start with.
Should be able to get a good Cat 6 cable locally so costs would be reasonable.
You are probably (I'm guessing) going to connect devices with 100Mbs network devices. IIRC, even cat5[e?] goes to 1000Mbs. My Squeezebox Duet wireless device is much less than 100Mbs. It works --- but I cannot remember what the maximum native sample-rate is.
I usually fall into an embarrassing pit if I try to do stuff with numbers. Especially past bedtime ...or I'd calculate the time taken (in round numbers and ignoring overhead) to push a CD's worth of music across a network. But just now my brain is about as keen to do that as it is to work out sub-net boundaries :lol:
asliarun. yes, I linked to the original BJ article, which I found via the audioholics site.
(4.20am... even owls have to sleep... Goodnight!)