While extending our 40Gbps backbone for the compute nodes, we noticed how big these latest Cat8 Ethernet cables have become to support the bandwidth. The exotic cable topology and shielding layers required to give reliable 40Gbps transmission are starting to compete with high-end audio cables.

In fact, a few manufacturers already produce Cat8 cables for audio components...

We know... it's an error detecting and correcting protocol, so it shouldn't make a difference for gigabit and 100Mbps connections typically used for streaming. Still, we can feel a test coming up to compare the measured behaviour of some high-end network cables.