In addition to answers you receive here, you may want to run a search for your topics as you will find additional discussions in threads such as this one and this one.
Back to your questions, I use fiber optic cable as you described but my run is 45 feet from my router to my main system. I use LPS at both ends in place of the small wall warts that come with the converters. After conversion, a short CAT 8 Ethernet cable run from the fiber converter to:
- Bonn Silent Angel N8 switch (made by the same people who make the English Electric Network Switch 8), then short Ethernet cable to
- GigaFOILv4-INLINE Ethernet Filter (with LPS), then Network Acoustics Streaming Cable to
- Network Acoustics ENO filter, then the captive streaming cable to
- music server
The set-up works fine and sounds great but I would caution that to me, no one of these things made what I would consider a significant difference in sound quality, especially to the transitional levels sometimes posted about in these forums. Whether that is my components, my overall system and room, or my hearing, I hear nothing more than subtle differences with these tweaks/digital cables.
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If a switch is not needed in your system for switching duties then what good is having one in the chain (as discussed in recent posts in this thread)? In my network, the only hardwired device is my music server, since everything else is connected by Wi-Fi. I can run the Ethernet cable directly from the router to my server, which makes me wonder whether the supposed benefits of clocking and noise isolation provided by “audiophile” switches is of any value, or just another myth coming from the marketing department to sell us more stuff.
Hans Beekhuyzen would have you believe there are benefits in clocking and isolation provided by having a switch as he shows in his “simulated” jitter graph, while Paul at PS Audio and Amir at Audio Science Review both indicate there should be no benefit resulting from the switch, which Amir shows through his measurements saying, “jitter and noise are extremely easy to measure.” Of course, as audiophiles like to say, “everything can’t be measured” and “if you hear the difference but can’t measure it, you are probably measuring the wrong things.” All I know is that in my system the identifiable sonic results of digital add-ons like switches is usually so subtle that I cannot reliably say they improve anything.
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"I have tested other Ethernet switches under $1K and they had a minimal or next to nothing impact with ENO filter."
@lalitk - I respect your experience and can see that you are currently using the $4K Telegärtner M12 Switch Gold in your system. However, your comment about "minimal or next to nothing impact" resulting from switches "under $1K" would then rule out the claimed benefits from a number of under $1K switches that are advertised to dramatically lower noise and reduce jitter, such as:
- English Electric Network Switch 8
- Bonn N8 Silent Angel Switch
- UpTone Audio EtherREGEN
- AQVOX AQ-Switch SE
- Fidelizer EtherStream Network Switch
- SOtM sNH-10G Ethernet Switch
- NuPrime Omnia SW-8 Ethernet Network Switch
I noticed you qualified your observations "with ENO filter" so maybe some of the above switches have a larger impact when used without the ENO filter, particularly in systems where there is significant noise on the network cables for some reason. I guess I keep coming back to - if I can't hear it, if it can't be measured, and if I don't need a switch, then what benefit am I getting for the money? Everybody's system and hearing are different but I struggle with the dichotomy between claims of technical superiority by manufacturers and reports of profound sonic improvements by listeners compared to the absence of any measurable differences (Audio Science), and comments by other industry professionals (Paul at PS Audio and networking specialists on these forums) who say these Ethernet switches cannot make a sonic difference wrt to reduced noise and jitter. Of course the final straw is that if I cannot hear it in my system then it provides no value to me.
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This weekend, I plan to simplify further by moving my HD Plex LPS to power my modem and router then 45 feet of Cat 8 directly out of the router to the area where my system is and into the Gigafoilv4 (optical isolation) which will be powered by its own LPS, then the Network Acoustics streaming cable into the ENO and into my server. The server uses the JCAT USB Card XE so I run USB from the server to may DAC. Later, I will take out the Gigafoilv4 and try it with just the ENO.
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So I moved things around and my digital signal path is now cable in > modem > router > Silent Angel Bonn N8 switch > Gigafoilv4 > Network Acoustics eno > Mojo Audio server/streamer > Mojo Audio DAC…
The modem and router are powered by two separate DC outputs from a single HDPLEX 100W LPS and the switch and Gigafoilv4 are powered by one each of these 5V LPSs that seem to work quite well for 5V peripherals.
All Ethernet cabling is good quality CAT8 with gold connectors except the run between the Gigafoilv4 and the eno, which is Network Acoustics’ own eno Streaming Cable, and from the eno to my server/streamer, which is the short, captive eno Streaming Cable.
The Gigafoilv4 provides optical isolation just before the eno and streamer/server and is much more convenient than using dual converters and a separate optical cable. The eno provides further isolation using transformers and I am not sure whether this is redundent with the Gigafoilv4.
The Bonn N8 switch is currently located near the modem and router but I also have the option to run the Ethernet cable directly from the router to the Gigafoilv4, without the switch. I may try that option later. I honestly cannot say whether this reconfiguration and adding LPSs has been an improvement, but the system sounds good.
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@sns, Post server is easy, JCAT USB Card XE outputs USB from the server and the Triode Wire Lab Split Power & Data USB Cable connects the server with my DAC.
I have also tried AES/EBU and coax through an outboard Roon endpoint but none of those options sounds as good to me as the direct USB connection.
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I will try w/o the N8 next and then maybe w/o Gigafoilv4. I am considering running Ethernet to my television, in which case the switch would make sense to keep. I also sort of like the idea of optical isolation, which makes sense for the Gigafoilv4 so another option would be to leave those two in place and ditch the eno.
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@sns - I hadn't thought about that but you may be right. I will try disconnecting the power leg of the USB cable to check it out. I seem to remember being able to do that with my Pavane DAC.
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I tried several different configurations tonight between the Gigafoilv4 and the Network Acoustics eno, and I perceived the following differences.
- Having both the Gigafoilv4 and NA eno fed by Ethernet cable in front of my streamer/server sounded very good. This was my baseline.
- Removing the Gigafoilv4 and sending the signal through the eno alone caused me to perceive a bit more tonal density. I can understand how this sound could be desirable.
- Reinstalling the Gigafoilv4 and removing the eno resulted in the perception of a touch more brightness without harshness, but a different sound than the eno alone.
- Surprisingly, removing both the Gigafoilv4 and the eno, and connecting the Ethernet cable directly into my streamer/server may have resulted in my favorite configuration.
The differences were so subtle as to be borderline perceptible but exercising poetic license related to my aural perceptions I would say #1 sounded pretty good, #2 a touch dark, #3 a touch bright, and #4 perhaps the best balanced. I would like to listen more to #1,2,and 4 but I cannot help wondering if any of this stuff makes a big enough difference to bring value. At least in my system, the direct connection sounded so good that I could easily make a case for buying none of the add-ons.
One other thing I would like to try is to use one of my 5V, 3.5A linear power supplies on the power leg of my TWL “Split Power & Data” USB Cable so the USB power would no longer be coming from the server. I would be interested to hear from anyone else who is powering their USB input using an external linear power supply, and the perceived effect on the sound of your system.
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Surprisingly, removing both the Gigafoilv4 and the eno, and connecting the Ethernet cable directly into my streamer/server may have resulted in my favorite configuration.
Further listening, and connecting/disconnecting stuff has led me to the same conclusion as before, which I have quoted above. My system and environment must not suffer any particular noise problems since these accessories that are intended to mitigate noise seem to have almost no sonic effect on my system. If anything, the ENO adds the extremely subtle effects of smoothness and darkness, with no noticeable improvements in noise reduction as noise in my system is already vanishing low.
As before, the Gigafoil seems to move things a tiny bit in the other direction, also with no noticeable reduction in noise. Maybe this is why my second choice set-up was to include both the Gigafoil and the ENO, since they sort of cancel each other out wrt sonic contribution.
Therefore, my only conclusion is that these add-on accessories (ENO, Gigafoil, Bonn N8, and fiber with converters) seem to be unnecessary in my system, so I can save my money. Also, there may be something to the thought that having better components reduces the need for accessories as I cannot envision these things making the substantial levels of sonic improvements reported by some here. YMMV
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I spent some time listening to my digital options yesterday and, as usual, nothing I did was anywhere close to a game-changer with respect to the overall sound of my system. I reconnected the 45 feet of fiber (instead of Ethernet cable) from my router to a fiber converter and Bonn N8 switch located at my server and then the Network Acoustics eno Streaming Cable into the eno Ethernet Filter and its captive cable into my streamer. Linear power supplies on everything (even my modem and router) except for the first fiber converter. Again, no huge sonic changes, but that seems to be the set-up that sounds the best to me.
I tried the eno in and out of the chain several times and with the eno it seemed to sound just a touch smoother with a touch more tonal density (darkness?), some might call it “organic.” In my experience, this is not an uncommon effect of adding transformers but I am at a loss to explain why transformers would make a difference to the sound of a digital signal. Again, any changes were so small that I am not confident enough to say without a doubt that there was in fact a change in the sound. The recent changes I made by going from Mojo Audio’s EVO B4B21 to their EVO PRO DAC, or by changing tubes in my Hattor Tube Active Stage from reissue Mullard to NOS Amperex 12AU7/7316, both made a more significant sonic improvement.
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