Sablon Ethernet - 2020 model

[Sablon Audio]

Here’s some photos of the lovely Telegaertner cat8.1 plugs, nakey nakey naked...

If you look closely at the wire manager, you can see the pcb traces and gold plated contacts. Although this plug shell looks identical to the regular IE format Cat6a model, with die cast zinc body featuring wrap around shielding, the pcb differs.

 

[Kingsrule]

Awesome

U shouldn't cover up that beauty with heat shrink, IMO

 

[Sablon Audio]

Flexibility. You may think you want it.....but think again....

The higher cat ratings are indicative of lower noise / losses. To achieve these elevated levels of performance requires the use of thicker conductors, tighter twisting and more shielding. All of these are mutually exclusive to having a slim and flexible cable.

I am now using quintuple levels of shielding, which as you can see from the photo below is the limit of what the plug locking collars can accommodate.

 

[Kingsrule]

Mark

So this will be the production version?

 

[Sablon Audio]

Sure is!

 

[onsionsi]

Flexibility. You may think you want it.....but think again....

The higher cat ratings are indicative of lower noise / losses. To achieve these elevated levels of performance requires the use of thicker conductors, tighter twisting and more shielding. All of these are mutually exclusive to having a slim and flexible cable.

I am now using quintuple levels of shielding, which as you can see from the photo below is the limit of what the plug locking collars can accommodate.

View attachment 64754

So did you figure out any enhancement over previous shield?

 

[Sablon Audio]

So did you figure out any enhancement over previous shield?

Yes, there’s another layer of shielding in this version Sadek.

 

[Sablon Audio]

Length. What’s the ideal length is a question I get asked quite frequently. Unlike spdif or to a lesser extent usb cables, there isn’t really a pressing need for a particular minimum length.

I would therefore recommend that people choose a cable that is short enough to fit their particular application in a straight line or with only a gentle bend. The reason for the latter is that aggressive bending of ethernet cables can disturb the geometry of the conductors which in alters the characteristic impedance of the cable.

In a short (say <1m) and relatively inflexible cable, it is useful to consider the orientation of the plugs at each end as you might want the cable built so that they face the opposite way up to each other rather than the same way round, which is my default build spec.

For particularly long cables, say >4m, I can be more flexible on my regular length upcharge making Sablon an even more compelling proposition in its peer group.

 

[howiebrou]

Length. What’s the ideal length is a question I get asked quite frequently. Unlike spdif or to a lesser extent usb cables, there isn’t really a pressing need for a particular minimum length.

I would therefore recommend that people choose a cable that is short enough to fit their particular application in a straight line or with only a gentle bend. The reason for the latter is that aggressive bending of ethernet cables can disturb the geometry of the conductors which in alters the characteristic impedance of the cable.

In a short (say <1m) and relatively inflexible cable, it is useful to consider the orientation of the plugs at each end as you might want the cable built so that they face the opposite way up to each other rather than the same way round, which is my default build spec.

For particularly long cables, say >4m, I can be more flexible on my regular length upcharge making Sablon an even more compelling proposition in its peer group.

Wouldn't reverse orientation plugs also result in altering the geometry inside the cable, perhaps necessitating a demo that the original characteristics have been retained or even bettered may be!

 

[Sablon Audio]

Not at all Howie as the four pairs of conductors are spirally twisted / wound inside the cable so the point at where you cut the cable determines where the colour coding pops up in relation to the other end.

 

[howiebrou]

Not at all Howie as the four pairs of conductors are spirally twisted / wound inside the cable so the point at where you cut the cable determines where the colour coding pops up in relation to the other end.

Ah ok. Makes sense.

 

[Sablon Audio]

Essentially I cut the cable a little longer and work backwards from there to get the correct orientation.

A key point in terminating these cables is to keep the conductor pairs twisted and sheathed in the foil all the way into the cable holder. This keeps the impedance constant and minimises what is known as Alien Cross Talk (AXT) between the conductor pairs.

 

[howiebrou]

Alien Crosstalk? Sounds like someone's daily briefing!

 

[Sablon Audio]

I may have overdosed on my daily bleach injections Howie

 

[Sablon Audio]

Some background reading on AXT

www.belden.com/blog/smart-building/what-you-need-to-know-about-alien-crosstalk-today

 

[ronfint]

Many thanks to Mark for allowing me to try his new ethernet cable last week. I was already using the previous version, which I think is great, but it took me only a few times swapping cables to realize that the new version is quite a bit better. So in went my order.

Others have analyzed in detail why this is so, but for me the key is ‘presence’, the feeling that one is attending a live performance. I own several Sablon cables, and with each new one musical presence increases. This didn't surprise me, what did was that when I placed my older Sablon ethernet cable in my basement running from my Roon core to a wall jack, sound improved even more. So now I'm not so patiently waiting for the production run to begin so I can get my own Sablon ethernet cable 2020 and have that great sound back again.

 

[XCop5089]

I've sadly waved goodbye to Mark's loan new 2020 Ethernet cable, following a few days listening in place of my existing Panatela Reserva ethernet cables.

I can only echo others evaluation of the new cable - More 'palpable', blacker backgrounds, greater depth to the soundstage!

The bass also appears to extend lower, with real "growl" as I discovered listening to one of my favourite albums "In Absentia" - Porcupine Tree, streamed in Hi-Res via Quobuz Studio Premier!

My network chain = Router (grounded & powered by LPS) > Sablon Panatela Reserva > 'A' side Uptone EtherREGEN (reclocked from a Mutec Ref10 SE-120 and powered by an LPS) > 'B' side EtherREGEN > 2020 Panatela Reserva LAN cable > dCS Vivaldi Upsampler/Vivaldi DAC.

A solid upgrade on the former cable!

Now waiting for the magic to be restored when production begins again!

 

[kimurastanley]

I have also just said farewell to the demo cable today..
Just need to wait for more production units in the future.

 

[rgmd11]

Mark is going to send me one to audition, something to look forward to in these strange times....

 

[Blake]

I'm jealous of those who have had the chance to demo!

I have his existing ethernet cable, the prior version usb, the new 2020 usb and some Sablon power cords and look forward to receiving my new 2020 ethernet cables. My orders are in, now the waiting begins.