@cleeds Curious why would you think this?
Properly designed AP filters and switchers, IE. Sonore Optical Module Deluxe, UTA EtherREGEN, Edisoncreation Silent Switch, Sotm, Network Aucoustics ect all are shielded to reduce EMI and RF emissions. I have also used additional shielding internally to my Zenith using Faraday tape.
That’s the best reason to keep them as physically separated as possible from the rest of the system, imo.
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@jcipale -
The maximum cable runs for cat 5 or 6 is 328 meters.
Slight correction... it is 100 meters or 328 feet.
Also, I had a friend check on the residential building codes in Wisconson. Plenum rated cable is required by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 262 unless it is run in a sealed metal conduit or metal sheathed (i.e. flexable) covers. This is a safety requirement and if there was a fire, could void your homeowners insurance policy.
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Just to add to the discussion, Below is something I posted in another tread that I think also applies here.
To comment on a "Clean Network"...
@sns - As you said, the WiFi signal is very noisy. What everyone forgets is that WiFi is a radio signal. So is the celluar signal your cell phone uses. And if your equipment, and not just your streamer, is not shielded properly, it will affect the circuitry. Will that affect sound quality, yep. At my previous residence I had to change out my interconnects between the turntable and phono pre to shielded cables because I was able to pick up the local 1st responder radio dispatches in the background.
Just think... hearing Led Zeppelin go "Hey-hey momma, said the way you move...STATION 9 RESCUE 1 POTENTIAL HEART ATTACK AT xxx street..." 
But there is more to the "clean network" in any building. I have "helped" many friends work on their home networks. And most of the time it is just correcting mistakes, not spending money on upgrades. There are so many simple things to improve network performance that people can do without spending much money.
Off the top of my head:
- Put your modem, network switches and routers on a UPS (APC, TrippLite, etc.) They typically have decent surge protection and better than average filtering, and will help fill in the momentary flickers in AC.
- Most wallwart power supplies on modems, routers and combos are very under powered. Upgrade it to something that has the available reserves to handle heavier current draw. While something like a sBooster linear supply will work, even a larger (i.e. higher current, regulated switching supply will be an improvement.
- Don't run ethernet cable along or parallel to electical cable. If you have to cross an electrical cable, try to cross at a 90 degree angle. This will reduce inductive noise from the electrical circuit.
- Don't run ethernet cable longer than 100 meters between two devices. That includes all the ups, downs, left/rights, etc. This is the TIA/EIA standard. Cat 5e, unshielded twisted pair, solid wire should be the minimum wire type. Cat 6 is better. Above that, starting Cat 7, will support 10 Gbs rates, is usually overkill, especially considering that everything else on a home network is usually topping out at 1Gbs.
- If you have to go above 100 meters, then you need to switch to fiber optic cable. Setting that up is a subject in it's own.
- When running ethernet cable, don't kink or bend the cable. I've seen so many cables bent 90 degrees at the RJ-45 jack, which turned out to be the data problem. My rule of thumb was to try and not have a bend radius of less than 4 or 5 inches.
- Don't use those little female to female jumper plugs to extend an ethernet cable. They are junk and usually will eventually cause problems.
- Keep the contacts clean. Most cables and switches use brass as the contacts in the jacks. They will corrode over time. A pencil eraser or 1500 grit sandpaper works well to clean them. Some of the "audiophile" cables use gold plated contacts which is a plus.
- If you need an additional switch(s), get decent quality. At a minimum, get a known brand, middle of their product lines, look for a full metal housing, and a decent sized power supply. (Netgear, DLink, Linksys are some examples) If it has POE ports, that can be a good indicator that the power supply is not a bare minimum size. Avoid the cheap plastic no names like you find on Amazon or EBay.
- A lot of routers have a built in switch on them. Even if you already have a switch in your network, try and run the ethernet cable from the streamer directly to the router. The fewer hops to the modem, the better.
One thing I have always wondered that when someone goes and buys a $1000 audiophile switch and replaces all their ethernet cabling with CAT 7 or CAT 8 cable and hears "ground breaking" improvements, is a large portion of the improvement coming not from the new equipment, but rather they fixed the bad implementation of the original setup. Hard to say....
...my 10 cents (since the tariff on the EU went back to 50%)... lol
-Jeff
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foggyus91
Curious why would you think this?
As I explained: "I’ve had the best results by keeping these items far from my system ..."
Properly designed AP filters and switchers ... all are shielded to reduce EMI and RF emissions.
Yes, of course.
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@cleeds The physical distance between the modem/router and streamer is of little or no consequence. The only possible issue would be if wifi enabled, emi-rfi can contaminate nearby components, since wifi disabled no issue. @foggyus91 explains why quality audiophile equipment would be less impacted by close proximity, still, remember we are disabling wifi which makes the issue moot.
If you're worried about internally generated noise migrating via LAN cables, shorter is always better, longer LAN cable lengths don't magically drain noise away.. Another added bonus of shorter lengths is less financial expenditure.
Bottom line, modems and routers with wifi disabled, sitting in close proximity to any or all other streaming components will not contaminate those components in any way. The benefits were obvious in my setup.
As @jeffbij points out, this setup provides both a 'dirty' and 'clean' home network, all streaming components go on clean side. For a more in depth explanation of a 'clean' or audio home network people should check out the Dejitter IT Switch X, this is a highly modified Mikrotik managed switch, replaces router altogether, I suspect we'll be seeing more of managed switches replacing routers in the future. These noisy routers, even with wifi disabled don't belong in really high end streaming setups.
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