Are you having a problem with noise? Have you narrowed it down to the streamer if you are? Couldn't be from something else?
Adding a Cisco Gigabit Switch
I was reading that the signal coming in from my cable router carries a lot of noise. My Pro-ject Stream Box S-2 Streamer is connected from my cable router to my streamer via Cat 5e. I recall reading that adding a Cisco Gigabit switch in line from the cable router would reduce noise and re-clock the signal at the same time.
what are the thoughts and opinions on this addition? Should I upgrade the 5e to a higher level Cat?
what are the thoughts and opinions on this addition? Should I upgrade the 5e to a higher level Cat?
5 responses Add your response
A network switch does not "reclock" the signal like you think. It uses a "store and forward" data packet communication method (like sending letters through the mail on random days). Most Cisco switches have built-in switching power supplies. They are great and very reliable for normal computer networks, but aren't the best solution if you want something to reduce noise. So if you want to try to shield noise from your cable router, buy a cheap switch like an Asus or anything from Best Buy. Then buy a linear power supply like SBooster or a Teradak linear power supply from ebay/china (these are very good). Like djones51 said, you may or may not be getting noise from network. The Cat 5e cable is fine because you are not likely going to run anything faster than 100 Mbit anyways. The Pro-Ject streamer is what clocks the music signals, and if you use USB to the DAC, the DAC has to re-clock the information into the right sampling rate anyways because USB uses different clock frequency. I don't know that putting a switch in the middle is going to give you the best results. I think you will get a lot more results from just upgrading your Pro-Ject streamer with a 18V linear power supply (like SBooster or Teradak/ebay). Also, you should do the same with your DAC if it also uses a switching wal-wart power supply. |
Something else you could look at to reduce network line noise is presented in this article by Michael Lavorgna titled, "Electrically Isolate Your Networked Audio" - a relatively inexpensive add in the audio world: https://www.audiostream.com/content/electrically-isolate-your-networked-audio I power mine with a LPS. |