Has anyone tried the new Synergistic Research UEF Performance Enhancer - Ethernet Filter?

Its difficult for me to understand how audio technically works.  And then you have multiple components made by different manufacturers that creat effects amongst them.

For this one, the name “Synergistic Research UEF Performance Enhancer - Ethernet Filter” sounds very cool.

I wonder if in the future you will be able to buy 1 or more sources that have everything inside of them.  No wires, separate boxes, etc.  I’d like a pair of B and O BeoLab 8000’s with a streamer, DAC, power supply and subwoofers built in

Well we see how quick that post got taken down. I guess we know who's in the bag with that scam artist.

I am a devotee of SR's purple fuses. They make a very obvious improvement in sound quality. What they do not reduce is online forum noise.

I have Spectrum coming to my home. It goes into their modem, then to a new, Netgear router. From there I’m using a Netgear Powerline 2000 to get internet to my Node and Hegel H390.

Where would I put any of these devices? 
 

NETGEAR Powerline adapter Kit, 2000 Mbps Wall-plug, 2 Gigabit Ethernet Ports with Passthrough + Extra Outlet (PLP2000-100PAS) https://a.co/d/6JvKNfZ

Synergistic Research makes some excellent products.

I love it when people bash on them, especially having never tried any of their stuff.

Don’t like them or don’t believe their stuff works? Your loss.

@ozzy , please report back with your findings.

@curiousjim I would advise you to try to take out the power line adapters if possible, hard wire or wireless. 

made a big difference when I took mine out, they were on the same ring main as my stereo though (UK member).

I’d love to @discopants , but I have no easy way to run a hardwire. I could go Wi-Fi with my streamer, but not the Hegel. It has to be hardwired.

So you think I owe anything to all these quarrelers who hijacked and fouled my thread?  I don't think I need to waste any more time on Audiogon threads, many of which go this way.  I will PM @ozzy when I get results.

You do generally have to try these tweaks and evaluate yourself. 

@curiousjim , what about trying a Wi-Fi extender with an Ethernet port, you can hard wire the Hegel to the extender.

@discopants 

I tried a Netgear Wi-Fi extender and it kept cutting out. My Netgear Nighthawk router is solid as a rock and so is the Powerline 2000.

I haven’t used the Wi-Fi in a while, maybe I’ll see how the streamer sounds.

@coralkong 

 Maybe people who rather spend money on something that cannot physically work. Ethernet and the related protocols are literally designed to thwart any type of modification of this kind. 

@fredrik222: There are people who look for arguments on Internet forums as personal entertainment. You are in a discussion with one of them.

For copper, digital zero is <300mV, digital one is >3.8V. That means anything below 300mV is ignored. Plugging into an unused switch port is ignored because the switch is 1) ignoring a passive component component. 2) Because a switch only allows one port to port connection at a time. This isn't up for discussion. This is just basic Ethernet operations. When you bounce any Ethernet tweaks or cables against reality, there's nothing there. 

I think all these Ethernet discussions are pretty mind blowing. People who argue for these devices and the companies, know nothing about Ethernet or how related protocols work, not a single person have demonstrated even basic knowledge. This is exactly what these companies count of, and why these companies harass people who perform objective tests, and refuse to have their products undergo any testing at all.

it is super simple, test the product by measuring the output from the speakers. If there is a difference, it will show there, but Uptone, SR and other absolutely refuse to submit their products to this type of testing. That alone, should tell you everything you need to know.

Yawn

I ordered two of these and they should arrive some time next week. I've had good luck with SRs somewhat unconventional products in the past (fuses and ECTs). On the other hand, my ethernet setup is on the other side of an optical network bridge (EMM Labs NS1), and in the past I have heard little difference with Etherregen and fancy ethernet cables with this particular setup. There was a big change from network stuff when I had DCS Bartok connected directly via ethernet, but I didn't like that DAC.

I have come to the conclusion that ethernet brings quite a few digital nasties along, and I have noticed some improvement using similar devices on USB busses.

I also find that the power or grounding systems may also be implicated in this. For instance, my current setup is largely impervious to ethernet cables and Etherregen makes only a small difference. But switching between a copper and silver DC cable from my LPS 1.2 to Etherregen did have some notable qualities. It seems extremely improbable that any change in the signal chain happened, so it would have to be related to the mains or ground noise. Having had a few experiences like these gives me some hope that these tweaks will have an impact on my system, despite the apparent odds. I'm hoping to bring noise contamination down from the system as whole from my router and Etherregen, but I dont believe these will effect the linear signal chain in my case.

We will see...

Ok, after a long wait (maybe some back order or shipping error) I finally received two of the UEF Enhancers. As noted above, I dont generally stream my audio, but my streamer is connected to the network.

First, yes these do change the sound. I found that they increase the space/soundstage and bring out little details like echos and reverb and increase separation. I didn't notice much increase in bass, and I'm guessing that is system dependent.

I tried one at my Etherregen, and the another at my wifi router and then switched it to the etherregen. They had a greater impact at the Etherregen, than the router, but cumulative impact was very similar. 

I actually found that while one was good, two of them start to bring out details to the point or making things a bit analytical and imstruments/voices two dimensional. I'm leaving them both in for a while on the chance that it mellows with time. But so far, with two UEF Enhancers it really robs my system of warmth and some body and gives that to air and soundstage. In all likihood, one is all I need.

Now, when I switched to Qobuz (instead of stored files) I noticed a different and more euphonic effect. Streaming still has some grit and noise that i don't like, but somehow there is a sweetness and 3D quality added that I am hearing. So, definitely improves streaming more than stored files, and in this case two of them are quite appropriate. I still prefer stored uncompressed files, however.

So yeah, they do some kind of ferrite-like thing that strongly favors network streaming, but also changes the sound even without streaming, and can be a bit much if you use too many of them (soundstage vs warmth/body).

I have some Furutech NCF boosters that I generally don't like near my audio stuff, but have been using the ferrite effect to good effect on the router and modem near the wall. Maybe removing one of them will balance the UEF Enhancers. And maybe they will change a little over time, but I think there probably isn't anything in there to burn in.

Ok, so after a day or two I originally removed both UEF Enhancers and had a mind to send them back, because what I was hearing was a bit analytical and lacking body.

Anyway, the sales rep talked me I to letting them burn in for another 150 hours. I honestly don’t know if they changed, my hearing changed, or of other small tweaks to my system contributed to it, but now things sound really good with both of them in there. Compared to my first impression the sound is smoother and more coherent, and there may be a little more bass weight and impact. Overall, I feel like my system is more transparent with them in, and the weight that might have been lost actually seems more like bloat now. I’m getting a very accurate frequency response, bigger soundstage, more detail, and more articulate bass.

Looks like they will stay after all. Pretty wild how something like this can make such a difference. It must be effecting the electrical field of the whole system. Similar to the SR fuses, but without the big improvements in bass and immediacy.

I will state this for I have heard most everythung via our north est get together-club 

the synergistic Ethernet hub does everything ,comes with a $500 power cord $200purple fuse with discounts around $1700 when you think about it I spent $1100 for my Linear tube audio LPS ,then the fuse and a Pangea powercord 

uptone $630 almost the same and the Synergistic is the 👑 king at in the$under $2k mark and your streaming sounds much more realistic and detailed ,even lesser recordings , just save and buy one . All these other hubs you need a Good LPS 

not these crappy $299 specials the Linear tube I have was as good if not better then the $1300 Paul Hines , which was excellent sadly went out of business. 
I may be selling my LPS  to fund $$ digital like the T+A 200 dac I have my 👁️ 👁️ S on and is galvanically isolsted but $7k  is a investment but great dac .

Audioman 58,

Please don't use the word "then" instead of than. These grammar mistakes lessens the credibility of the post.

With that said, what was the result of trying the Synergistic UEF ethernet plug ?

was it tried at the Audiophile club ?

@audioman58

Your enthusiasm is uplifting. The T+A200 has many very positive reviews.

@ozzy 

Thanks for sharing.  Looking forward to your conclusions.  

My brother has the T+A200 dac and innuos streamer 

I had the Denafrips terminator 2 , I hav3 had the T+A ,Innuos in my setup 

it’s on another level ,we have done head to head with the chord Dave 

Mola Mola, and $ 18k DCS  the T+A 200 just is more dynamic and natural sounding , and it has many adjustments and HQ player built into the design with 4 dither settings , giving you tons of extra versatility , I am just starting to under stand .HQ player takes up some compression processing power , if you have enough extra HD, Preferred SS and 16 megs of memory preferred you can literally 

tune your dac to your personal taste,Thst being said just on its own it’s there is No peer at its $7k price point, at 2x then it may be more personal taste .The chord Dave a bit more leading edge detail for example but less engaging ,with the Dave upsampler then that's another story and a lot of $$ !!

Amazing how people think they are experts and claim things cant possibly have any effect. Talk of ethernet protocalls, snake oil, and rants about people imagining things are clear signs of typical lack of college level electrical engineering from “experts” who know just enough to be dangerous.
Ethernet is a tightly specified interface with a strict characteristic impedance. This is fundamental in transmission line theory.
The UEF units are what is called a “stub” in high speed electrical transmission line designs and iIremember learning about them 45 years ago when I was active in amateur radio . They are really nothing novel even for ethernet except for whatever electrostatic effects their UEF compound may have.

There were Japanese sites discussing stubs cut from a sacrificed ethernet cable and numerous threads are around discussing the implementation and tuning as well.

I have tuned stubs in all my unused ports except 1 and recently purchased one of the Synergistic units to see what it brought to the table. Like others results it gave the impression of greater bass and a micro textural enhancement. Not sure i like the bass actually. To me it seems plump or wooly. I did not remove all of my stubs from my ports and test just the UEF device though and maybe thats next.