For anyone interested…Have had a few days now with my 2 Pink Faun ethernet isolators. Well, I have to say they are doing something not for the good when plugged directly into my Bricasti M5 streamer. It takes the life out of the music. Really noticeable when playing live recordings. The stage depth, recording room acoustics and micro details just fade away. I placed one on my server router connection in a separate room and that didn’t appear to make a difference good or bad. Leaving that pink faun in place and adding a second pink faun in front of my optical set up sounds excellent. Mesh router- ethernet- pink faun- fmc-optical-fmc-ethernet-streamer seems to work best on my system set up. Can’t say it’s much of an improvement over not using them. Minor improvement at best probably due to having optical.

@ozzy Nice! Thanks for the follow up! Have fun and keep us posted. 

Well, I just got the iFi ethernet filter.

First impression, it does seem to do more than the much more expensive Aardvark, but not sure if it is a keeper.

Right now, it sounds like the music moved up a bit in frequency response. There does seem to be a wee bit more detail. I’ll let it play for a few days before I take it out to decide its merits.

ozzy

Cool. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. 

So, I ordered the iFi ethernet unit. It was about 1/4 the price of the Aardvark and perhaps if it doesn’t do much for my audio it may help my video.

And, through Amazon I can always return it for a refund.

ozzy

@ozzy I’m pretty sure that anything before or after the etherregen will not make a difference. In place of etherregen yes may be.
Ultimately you are converting copper to fiber and fiber is what goes into Lumin. There’s no noise in that link. You’ve taken care of that by the regen. Of course playing around with the tweaks is just fun but in my opinion this will be fruitless as far as obtaining any improvements. 

Has anyone tried one of these?

LAN iSilencer by iFi audio - LAN iSilencer (ifi-audio.com)

ozzy

Good to know. Thanks!

Oh yes. The PS Direct Stream did also. Using fiber eliminates the wire in the equation. To me, the sound change was immediate and a large improvement. There is a calmness to the sound.

ozzy

So the Lumin sounds better with the fiber in than with the copper?

Yes, originally when I had the PS Direct Stream Dac, I used similar converters. They seemed to work well.

ozzy

@ozzy curious if you had ever tried copper to fiber media converters from amazon in place of your etherregen

A Pair of 1.25G/s Bidi Gigabit Multi-Mode Fiber Ethernet Media Converter with 2PCS Bidi SFP LC Dual Transceiver Module Included, 10/100/1000Base-Tx to 1000Base-SX SMF RJ45 to SFP Slot up to 550M

https://a.co/d/4YPjUPP

Don’t have them in my system but I’m told that in addition to the usual benefits of passing the signal through mini-transformers, the Pink Faun LAN isolator device works to shielding against high-frequency (HF) noise originating from the LAN network and components were chosen based on what they sound like rather than specs alone. 

Nice to hear about your results on your system.  I just purchased 2 used Pink Faun Ethernet Isolators to try out in multiple locations: in front of my optical, after my optical and without my optical. Anyone else have experience using Pink Faun Isolators?

No, sorry.

The EtherRegen is essential to my set up because it outputs the fiber to my Lumin X1. There was no way to try the Aardvark after the EtherRegen. If it couldn’t improve at the front end, then I had no need for it.

But others should try it with different equipment it may just impress.

ozzy

@ozzy 

Did you end up testing the Ardvark before and after the EtherRegen?

@ozzy

the Etherregen‘s active moat actually performs the same function as the Aardvark. In my system using an additional Pink Faun Isolator between reclocked and LPS‘d Etherregen and streamer actually further cleans up the stream. I guess it is a function of the incoming signal and EMI/RFI as well as ground level incursions near the system. So totally concur: you can‘t know unless you try.

So, after much testing, for me, in my system, with the Ether Regen, I did not hear any benefit with using the Aardvark. As a matter of fact, I thought the bass was diminished. My hat’s off to the seller who allowed me to try it and then grant a refund (-) shipping costs. This seems to be the only way to tell if these types of filters will work well within a system.

Perhaps without the Ether Regen this device would have performed differently.

I sent it back.

ozzy

Today, I will remove it and comment on the difference.

ozzy

Hi Ozzy,

Any initial thoughts?

Thanks

Oh, boy, just received the Aardvark! Came early via Fed Ex.

I'll give it a listen today!

ozzy

Fiber optic definitely sounds better than without it on my set up as well.  I am using an LPS on both FMC’s but not on the router.  @ozzy It will be interesting to see if you hear improved results on your Fiber set up.  

Perhaps, but I have found it to really sound better, much more natural sound. However, my Lumin X1 can receive fiber direct without conversions.

So, I have fiber coming out of the Ether Regen to the Lumin, seems to be much better than when I used ethernet cable. At least with my set up.

ozzy

@tksteingraber 

in my experience the conversion to opticsl has its own issues leading to a grey, anodine sound. Certainly the converters lead high quality LPSs to get acceptable reults. I nevertheless ultimately stayed with Ethernet

I think, (if these things do work), if you can reduce noise, it should be a sound improvement. Especially, if it is in the front of the chain.

ozzy

Ok all is intriguing and it will be interesting to hear about the performance.  Would there be any benefit to installing an ethernet noise isolator if you have an optical set-up like mine? Thanks

Mesh Router-ethernet cable-Fmc-optical cable-Fmc-ethernet cable-streamer

Wow Thanks for that info! I'll check it out.

The Aardvark comes with a 14-day return (-) shipping costs. And I'm not shy about returning something if it doesn't impress me.

ozzy

I use a Pink Faun Isolator after my Antelope clocked Etherregen directly into the Innus streamer. The effect is very beneficial. I use two DXEngineering filters and an ENO EM-70HD Isolator on the dirty side of the Etherregen, again highly beneficial. The advantage of the Pink Faun is that it diesn’t need a second cable

Thanks, the English Electric was one that I was thinking of when I read about the Aardvark unit. I wonder how they compare?

ozzy

I have added the Chord or English Electric EE1 filter in my audio streaming chain. I have the iFI filter coming out of my modem into my network switch, next the EEI is in my listening space connected to my TeraDak 212 that is connected to my SFP Media Converter going into my Zenith. Additional filtering on the noise side has made my streaming experience more detailed, black background and just overall more enjoyable, much closer to my analog. 

jayrossi13,

Thank you for your post.

I am skeptical, and I do have an AfterDark Clock connected to my EthereRegen. Going from the EthereRegen to my Lumin is a fiber cable. So, I will place the Aardvark before the Ether Regen. Perhaps it will clean up the signal going into the Ether Regen? Who knows?

Here is a recent StereoTimes review.

AARDVARK ETHERNET ISOLATOR by Ron Cook (stereotimes.com)

ozzy

I hadn’t heard of this until your post. I checked out their website and I’m not sure what it will add above and beyond the EtherRegen.

Based upon what it does, I’d place it between the EthereRegen and your Lumin. I’ve read forum posts about the psositive benefits of daisy chaining EtherRegens, or even using a Network Acoustics filter after the EtherRegen.

Speaking of the EtherRegen, adding an external clock made a big difference for me.