best network switch configuration for audio


I have ceiling and walls opened for a remodel for an audio/ HT room. My primary 2 channel music listening will be streaming using Roon, a NAS and Tidal.Have decided to redo entire house (not that big) ethernet. Question is whether my current configuration of a single Cisco managed switch for PoE WAP's, streaming movies over internet, office equipment, etc as well as my 2 channel music can be improved upon.Is it better to run individual ethernet cables to each piece of equipment in HT room (only one of which is streaming 2 channel) and in 2 other "audiophile" listening and media watching areas, or is it better to run 1 ethernet cable to each equipment location and put individual switches there? Is it better to keep dedicated 2 channel ethernet isolated from other ethernet uses, and if so, how? PS. if you think none of this matters, could you give some reason other than' "It's all just 1's and 0's?"
Ag insider logo xs@2xcraigus
Your design seems very sound. In particular, I applaud your use of a POE-enabled switch and wireless access points; I truly wish more people would understand the substantial benefits from having a solid wired ethernet infrastructure that also supports commercial-grade WiFi.

I recommend one ethernet jack per audio location (or potential audio location).  For a 2-channel system, typically the only thing that would require an ethernet jack is a DAC or some sort of audio data transport device (audio streamer) that would connect to a DAC.

For a home theater, get a small switch (I use HP's commercial-grade 8-port gigabit ethernet switches for this) and use this to attach all ethernet-enabled devices (Blu-Ray players, Roku/Apple TV/Amazon Fire TV/etc, audio streamers, modern HT receivers, etc) to that ethernet jack.  There is more than enough bandwidth in even 1 GbE (which cat6 cabling can do easily)  Typically, you're only going to be streaming music or video to one device within that system, anyway; the rest will effectively be on standby.

I also suggest ethernet jacks to every television location, as most TV's made in the past few years are network-enabled.

Ultimately the limitations in your streaming likely lie in your Internet connection.  If you're using a local server, and it's on some very strong hardware, consider link aggregation to connect it to the switch, but this is very likely just overkill.  (I did it because my server and main switch are located together, and I wanted to learn how to use it.)

If you use Cat 6A, you'll preserve the ability to go to 10 GbE and 40 GbE in the future, but it might be difficult to find people who are used to working with cat 6A.  Realistically many cat 6 runs can do 10 GbE, although possibly not if you're pushing the 100 m max guaranteed ethernet cable length.  (It will depend on the capacitance and near-end crosstalk characteristics of the cable.)  But the 10 GbE and 40 GbE hardware is going to cost a pretty penny, and the 1 GbE is enough to handle multiple video streams.  (I stress-tested my system by streaming video to all 3 TV's and 2 wireless laptops at the same time, and my 1 GbE network was more than able to handle this.)  Streaming audio and video allows you to function relatively close to the maximum capabilities of your network, as there are relatively few packet collisions that can really start to slow networks down.

Congratulations on doing your homework with regards to computer networking, and rest assured that one network jack per audio location (with a small switch there if needed) is perfectly adequate.

Michael
The biggest issue IMHO are not the switches and data but the wall warts and the noise they might inject into the power line.

Switches at the rooms are extremely convenient, and often necessary. :-) I have 4 devices in close proximity that need Ethernet access. TV, DVD, Chromecast plus my music server.  Wifi is severely congested here so wireless streaming is unreliable.

I would use local switches when necessary, but try to isolate the wall warts by putting them "outside" any power conditioning.
Thanks all. So to summarize to date, it sounds like consensus is that:
1) bandwidth is likely not to be a consideration. Seems that way to me also. Haven't had problems yet and internet download speed is typically 150 - 170 Mbps.
2) As long as CAT 6 or 6a is used for long runs, my fairly revealing 2 channel system (CAPS microZuma server, PS audio DirectStream DAC, Magtech amp, Soundlab M-1's) is unlikely to suffer audible RF problems.
3)Having non 2 channel components (pre/pro, TV, DirecTv receiver, etc) connected to the same local switch as the DAC is not likely to adversely affect SQ.
4) wall wart (low quality switched mode power supplies) powering the local (or central) switches are likely to affect SQ. Running these on a different circuit will help isolate that. Hmm.
 I can do that since I put in a separate line off the electrical service entrance panel to a Torus panel and have 5 circuits off that dedicated to the HT room. The DAC will be on one of those circuits. I also left the original outlets in the room which come off the house subpanel. Local switch can be off that circuit.Problem may be that since those house circuits have a different ground path (but all grounds ultimately do tie back to the service entrance panel) there is a possibilty for different ground  potentials in the two circuit systems which can then interact via the low voltage connections (in this case ethernet) between components. I know this is a real phenomenon through the work of Bill Whitlock and Jaime Fox, but not sure how big a deal it might be in this application. Sounds like using the house circuit might be the first thing to try though since it is so simple.
I suppose other options might include linear power supplies for the local switches, ethernet filters, wire to fiber then fiber to wire  transitions before the DAC.....All options to occupy future cold winter days inside.
I just thought - does anyone make a non megabuck fiber switch and is using that even anything other than the deranged musings of an OCD audiophile?
I'm not sure that wall warts WILL cause an issue, but a couple of audiophiles have chased noise problems that ended up being related.

No, bandwidth will not be a problem at all, assuming you are running anything more modern than Token Ring. :D :D :D

Cheap switches are almost all universally 1 GigE. Unless you are running multiple DSD256 at the same time. :)
Hah! Multichannel quad DSD - wouldn't that be nice! I can only imagine. Maybe next year:)
Thanks again for your input, it was quite helpful. Happy new year!