Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Cat 5 UTP vs Cat 6 F/UTP

Audio endpoints seem to be 10/100 but devices with core/store seem to be Gigabit.

Iirc that MC600 has two network ports. I would assume that one is Gigabit, but not sure about the 'clock' port. If that is designed to connect to audio endpoints, that may well be limited to 10/100.

The original Gigabit standard required the use of CAT 6 cable to achieve Gigabit speed over 2 wires. However, some bright spark decided that you could use 4 wires over CAT 5e to achieve Gigabit. I don't know if the Gigabit spec has officially been extended to cover 4 wires, but it certainly has become a defacto standard used in the majority of Gigabit network devices that you would find in domestic situations. I don't know about corporate kit just incase someone is using corporate grade switches.

It is important not to confuse network category with shielding, With CAT5 and CAT6 cabling, shielding (of individual twisted pairs) and screening (of the whole cable) has always been optional.

As for CAT5 UTP vs CAT 6 F/UTP, obviously the difference is in the shielding rather than the CAT standard. This could affect the network quality in noisy environments, such as being in very close (typically parallel) proximity to electrical cables, or in how external interference is handled. To be honest, I would be surprised if the shielding made a difference to network data as UTP TP is still pretty robust unless it has not been laid properly (i.e. running parallel within 50mm of mains cable). That said, I have noticed that many consumer network cables are supplied shielded without any mention of the shielding on the packaging and the reality that the difference in cost between shielded and unshielded cables is a few penny's. When I buy a patch cable now, especially longer lengths, I go for the shielded version as invariably there is a birds nest of cables behind the equipment, but the reality is that even in this environment, I have never witnessed any network errors on either type of cable - sadly I have spend much time examining my home network at low level including inducing network errors on purpose.