Cheapest way to enhance SQ with digital streaming

tksteingraber,

Thank you so much.  Dummies like me need this sort of clear and specific info.  That said, in reading further on ways to improve the streaming quality, I am wondering also about adding something like an Etheregen unit upstream of the Innuos.  Anybody have any thoughts on that?  Would doing the optical + Etheregen be beneficial, or are these two ways of accomplishing the same thing?

 Buy a dedicated music server if you run Roon.  

@kingofgix  try this easy set up for only $80 on amazon.  Jaw dropping improvement for me.  The other suggestions listed are even better but cost a lot more and more involved.  Maybe down the line I will head there…

Purchase these:

2 of these between your router and Innuos:

Gigabit Ethernet Multi-Mode LC Fiber Media Converter

With this fiber cable between the 2 fiber converter boxes:

FiberCablesDirect - 1.5M OM4 LC LC Fiber Patch Cable | 100Gb Duplex 50/125 LC to LC Multimode Jumper 1.5 Meter

So it would look like this. Router>ethernet cable to first black converter box>optical fiber cable to the second black converter box>ethernet cable from second converter box to Innuos>Usb from Innuos to system

I just got a streaming system setup and would like to try optical, but streaming is new to me and despite all the specific advice in this thread there is enough jargon that I don’t understand what I need to do.  I have a single Ethernet cable running to an Innuos streamer/server (I don’t even really know what those words mean), then USB to DAC.  There is talk in this thread of so many different pieces of equipment, I basically have one thing, an Innuos.  I do not know what I would need to incorporate optical.  

Yes, ethernet vs optical cable cost is important variable to consider. Prior to optical I tried various classes of generic ethernet, worked up through Supra, Wireworld, and various AQ from Cinnamon on up to Vodka. Vodka substantially better from generic, cost becomes consequential when you add up all the individual runs. Optical cable cheap, and more importantly, higher resolving than any ethernet cable due to complete isolation. Per Romney80, noise free cable has a different sound, it is the absent of sound, you're only hearing pure signal.

The only thing that can alter the sound of cable is the converters and power supplies used with them, whereas ethernet cables have sound of their own. Ethernet cables have various shielding schemes and metallurgy, all effect the sound. I'd rather have the zero variable of optical cable.

@dbb I am really glad you tried and worked. Sometimes people are used to digital noise and they might not like it when using fiber optic because of “change” but at least it is least expensive way to try in expensive hobby. Once you get used to noise free digital, it’s hard to go back. 
Another good thing about the fiber optic is that it is made of glass and no amount of purification/ processing will change the character and hence works out cheap, unlike copper or silver cables, where you see the price going Uber high with different manufacturers and how they build it. 

@romney80
@fmzip

+1 for me. Many thanks to both of you for suggesting this cheap but dramatic improvement to my network audio setup. It was so easy to order exactly what was recommended on Amazon. I am thrilled at the sound quality. I switched to playing my local music files from my computer directly to my dac via usb to streaming them via an ethernet lan connection through a dedicated streamer (Zen Stream) about six months ago. I added an inexpensive D-link switch a few weeks ago with excellent results for $25. Adding fibre optics for about $80 has been the icing on the cake. The sound is even more relaxed yet more detailed, dynamic, and three dimensional. If I heard the total improvement from behind a curtain, I would think it was a mega mega buck new setup with state of the art components.

@sns Trying the Opticalrendu would be next, but the expense of it is a deterrent. Thanks for sharing your extensive knowledge and insight.

@docknow my Macbook Pro does not have an ethernet port built in.  You have to use either usb or thunderbolt port with a converter/adapter.  This worked fine

@tksteingraber 

Why not ethernet into the Mac, instead of fiber converter>Basic ethernet cable into ethernet to usb converter into mac?

@car123 i set mine into a mesh node into a Mac (not a dedicated streamer) and it worked wonders.  $80 … Worth a go!  Cheers!

@romney80 I gave your suggestion a go…Thank you sooo much for sharing this asylum tip.  It is insane how these 2 Fiber converters and the Fiber cable improve the sound quality in my system.  If I told someone for $80 if you buy these 3 gadgets your system will be transformed they would lock me up.  I don’t know if it just my system, since it’s not real hi end, but I am blown away with what I am hearing. I did not think this was possible or that my speakers had this in them.  I no longer feel a need to upgrade my DAC or buy a dedicated streaming. (for a few days anyway;) I am using a Macbook pro with Amarra software and Tidal Hi Res

Input set up: basic ethernet cable into Linkysis mesh node>fiber converter>fiber cable>fiber converter>Basic ethernet cable into ethernet to usb converter into mac. 
Output set up: Mac>Audioquest jitterbug >Audioquest forest usb cable>Black ice fx glass tube DAC>Raven Blackhawk tube amp

Cheers!

Finally had chance for first listen with opticalrendu running off Uptone JS2 LPS. Don't like hyperbole, but this is major upgrade over two TPLInk MC220 with Sotm SMS200 neo (all with LPS). Certainly one of best digital upgrades I've experienced, another level of resolution together with more relaxed, analog like sound. Easily worth the extra cost over the generic FMC.

Wharfy ,

no the fiber cable doesn’t need to be perfectly straight you can put slight long turns in it and if the fiber cable is to long don’t wind it up in a small coil rather loosely rap in say a 1 meter long loop.

Do you think this would make any difference when using a mesh network?  My aurender is wired with an ethernet cable to a mesh node and it is the only piece of equipment plugged into the node.     

Hi All-I am reading this thread with great interest. Thank you for all the info and recommendations. At the price point I am reading about, this is worth trying out. I have a question-

Does the fiber cable need to be run in a straight line? My router/switch is about 50' away, in a different room. To run the cable I would need to make 4 right angle bends to get it to my Aurender streamer.

David

I'm moving on from generic fmc and Sotm sms200 neo to the Sonore Opticalrendu, replaces one FMC and it's lps and sotm. Next will be optical out server such as Small Green Computer Sonictransporter I9 or diy solution with optical out, this gets rid of second fmc and it's lps, and upgrades present server. At this point all optical post server. At some point I'll get router with optical capability, lps on this, no switch. My goal is all optical post modem.

Full optical is way to go!

@fmzip i am glad you tried and worked. Digital “noise” is more than we imagine. We don’t know unless we hear “minimizing the noise”. Since my last post, I have done a bit more in the digital chain. Router > sotm with cat 7 > ethergen with fiber optic > English electric 8s > ENO acoustics > streamer. Not every step is superior but synergistic and now more organic (less “digital”). 

Bumping this thread to say thank you @romney80

Just picked up exactly what you described, fantastic improvement is right!

Best $80 I’ve spent!

2 of these between my switch and Sonore UltraRendu:

Gigabit Ethernet Multi-Mode LC Fiber Media Converter

With this cable:

FiberCablesDirect - 1.5M OM4 LC LC Fiber Patch Cable | 100Gb Duplex 50/125 LC to LC Multimode Jumper 1.5 Meter