AES 50 "supermac" is not TCP/IP data. The only thing in common is the Physical Layer, i.e. the use of 4 pair network data cabling.This is an M32 and is running to the box and with some Dante all on UTP. I used to run data cable as a high school gig and they very rarely spec'd STP for any runs unless it was going over something that would absolutely cause interference or the client paid for the extra cost. Or if there was an issue with an installed cable dropping a lot of packets. With IP based data it's not so much of an issue unless you start having signal problems since the twisted pair tends to help reject interference as I understand it, but I don't know what sort of protocol is used in streaming to a stage box since they'll all be proprietary. I'd wager it's some sort of UDP streaming, but I've never experienced signal drop on a digital board to the degree that it manifests in sound issues. That's interesting about the X32 popping problem with the data cable.
The shield is required because Music Group's design is not the same as the original Midas/KT AES50 design used the DL21xx, DL2xx, DL4xx stage boxes (which run happily on UTP) and ESD will cause loss of word clocking between the i/o boxes and the M/X32. Nasty POP, a half second or so of no audio while the clocks sync back up.
In this use the shield has nothing to do with radiated energy escaping the cable or entering it over the run... it's about avoiding the nasty noise and embarrassing interruption.
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