AES50 Cables and ESD

[Klaus]

Thank you very much GaryH
I may be lucky ,
my new ones seem to look the same...
but not pass-through design
well time will show....

BTW
Neutrik's compatibility list
https://www.neutrik.com/media/12939/dow ... 22.pdf?v=9
has some 'unstepped' ones to...

Thanks all for the detailed help !
Best

Klaus

[MJKlein]

@garyh I've been enjoying this discussion and now I am thinking that maybe my Dante Audio Network would benefit from Ethercons.

[GaryH]

@MJKlein Dante audio networks are not as susceptible to the effects of esd as aes50 systems so you are probably ok with good quality network cable. Nonetheless ethercons are great for making a strong mechanical connection. The X-Dante card and many other similar Dante devices don’t offer an ethercon connector so that is a factor as well. The Wing-Dante card has them but the Wing internal card ports do not. I have several other Dante devices with no ethercon connector.

[MJKlein]

@MJKlein Dante audio networks are not as susceptible to the effects of esd as aes50 systems so you are probably ok with good quality network cable. Nonetheless ethercons are great for making a strong mechanical connection. The X-Dante card and many other similar Dante devices don’t offer an ethercon connector so that is a factor as well. The Wing-Dante card has them but the Wing internal card ports do not. I have several other Dante devices with no ethercon connector.

So it would seem to be an industry consensus that Ethercons are not beneficial in that application.

[GaryH]

@MJKlein I think that is a safe assumption. Lots of times with Dante systems there ends up a network switch or 2 involved as well which do not accept ethercon adaptors. I once long ago (well over 5 years) had a back and forth interchange with Neutrik regarding ethercons and how they function within aes50 systems and they maintained emphatically (several times) that ethercons have NO electrical properties at all. The effect with aes50 in blocking ESD seems to be a coincidental one however not by design. It is still the accepted standard for aes50 cables, shielded cable, shielded rj45, shield connected on both cable ends WITH ethercons.

[GaryH]

I recently had a (somewhat heated) exchange over on the FB private forums regarding Cat5E. I knew well going in where I had placed myself. Kind of like the guy at the county fair who sits in a chair over a tank of water while people try to hit the target and dunk him in. I do that every now and again over there in an attempt to dispel, imo, the old wives tale that Cat5E is the ONLY cable that will work for AES50. It did not matter what i quoted, what examples (from MT even) i gave, true believers can't be convinced otherwise, or won't ever admit they might be wrong.

I did get some satisfaction from the OP of that exchange a few days later when he informed everyone that Thomann (MT European Super Partner) had recommended Cat7 to him and that IS what he finally bought from them. Imagine that.

I am going into year (I think) six with using Cat7, year four with Cat8, not one issue or problem to report. If it ever happens it will be my cable construction at fault and not the cable itself. Yes I am stubborn. I thought I was wrong once before but as it turned out I was only mistaken. Seriously, I don't think there are too many people around who have done more research, more experimentation and more documentation about the uses of aes50 cables (since maybe 2014/15) than me...now that might indeed make me a bit foolish but not the reported, honest results from those tests.