I have perfected my network for the nth time

@fredrik222

Your diagram did not load. I am most curious to look at it. Maybe you can answer my question: in an ethernet cable are the same wires always assigned to output and input, or are the duties randomly applied by equipment designers?

Thanks

Let me add my WOW to all the other Wow's. I did not realize the I was dropping a neutrino-bomb on the forum. I think the dust has settled sufficiently for me to respond.

First of all I am making no claims that necessitate belief. This is just my journey that I took, not by plan, but with open minded curiosity. Many times along the way I would question a tweak but always went ahead because “ you never know until you try.”

My original post is very long and contains much information. I spent many hours collating these experiences  and writing them into a literate article. Much time was spent in making the best word and grammar choices. However I am sure a professional editor could suggest many improvements to my writing.

In writing my first and last two paragraphs I tried to proceed with all humility. I do not expect anyone to believe me about any of the points discussed. As a matter of fact I would be chagrined if anyone did. The topics discussed are meant to be a stepping off point for your own experiments in your own system, when and if you feel the need and have the time and inclination to experiment. If not, I am sure you are happy where you are at, which is nothing I would ever judge. As stated, I only proceeded when I heard a potential problem that I thought had a solution. I was rewarded many times and learned a lot. I am still going to stick with the $15 ethernet switch, as I have not yet heard a reason to replace it.

Here is an informal outline of the topics discussed in my original post. I spent more time discussing some because they are still new ideas to the community. Many may find it helpful to print out my OP and reread it at your leisure because of the density of ideas. That will allow you to use it as a guide over time and to make notes as you experiment:

Power supplies

Power cords brands and models

Optical conversion

Cable directionality

Ethernet cable brands and models

USB cable brands and models

Ethernet switches

Wifi/router and wifi access point

Passive filtration

Mechanical isolation

Cable elevation

Surge protection

If any of those topics are not in your “belief system” I am not going to psychoanalyze you. I do not find any of these tweaks to be fringe or controversial because I have done the work. It is up to you to investigate when you are ready. Please do your own due diligence.

Let us take one example. Every network has at least one ethernet cable. How hard is it to unclick both ends and reverse it while listening critically and while sober? Do it a couple of times. If you hear some difference then you learned something, if not, then be happy where you are! For heavens sake, don’t be too lazy to try!!  

Here is tweaking story. Around 2000 I learned about the “fanatical” art of tweaking through Jonathan Scull’s excellent column in Stereophile  Fine Tunes. I read that first when a new issue arrive and tried all of the suggestions. It was suggested that an audio grade outlet mattered. Well I found the $50 at the time, swallowed and placed the order. Still highly skeptical, I installed it, and since I was just beginning to seriously tweak my very good system, I heard just the most minor improvement that can be heard. I shrugged and kept it in my system. A couple of years later I was investigating plugging various amps and other components directly into the wall. I needed more outlets, so I had to remove the audio outlet and temporarily hard wired a star wired outlet box to complete my experiments. When I completed the study, along with many other enhancing tweaks, I realized I could go back to the audio outlet. This time there was a jaw dropping day-and-night difference because all my improvements had lifted so many veils. The difference was the same both times but much more discernible the second. Live and learn!

One last point. My hopefully completely tweaked streaming network is incorporated into my equally fully tweaked amplification system in my fully tweaked room. (yes that took a lot of meds and a couple of bottles of single malt, chuckle) The synergy has made my system sound like a million bucks. I/me/myself are happy where we am!

 I don’t want to go back to 1968 when one plugged the captive generic PC of the receiver into the most convenient ungrounded outlet, used the red and white tin plated IC supplied with the turntable and tape deck, and using the zip-cord wire to the speakers that the dealer threw into the package @ 5 cents/foot ( How many feet do you need? No charge!) Oh, those were the days, not like the civilized times we now live in. My current system now sounds a little more refined, I think.

Let me reiterate : You either do or you don’t, or you are too lazy to try. I will not be further baited on the subject. Have a nice day.

Time to catch up. Let’s address a few points as best as we can.

1. The subject that has everyone’s knickers in a bunch is ethernet cable direction. Since I stumbled onto the topic and confirmed it for myself I have continued to think about it. Of course the bottom line is I don’t need to understand what I perceive with my hearing, but we all are ultimately unsatisfied with an unanswered WHY .

Yes, tipping my hat to all IT professionals, ethernet cables are bi-directional by design. Here is where I will get into my theory and it is only a theory because I DO NOT KNOW. When streaming music, do we listen to both transmissions to and fro? I think not. I reported I found the most significant sonic change reversing the ethernet cable going into my i5 Transporter server which is sending requests out to the web for files and directing them to my renderer. I further postulate that excellent cable manufacturers are fully aware of the surface anomalies that occur in drawing metal through dies to make wire, which creates directionality. I speculate in designing a bi-directional cable they will run the wires two different directions for incoming and outgoing signals. This may be incorrect as the wires may be assigned duty randomly by the equipment designers. I defer to someone that knows that answer. Never-the-less, we only LISTEN to the INCOMING FILES and when we get that wire positioned correctly there will be sonic benefits. That is my theory and I open it to civil discussion for all to learn.

2. Several suggested that I buy some really expensive equipment and save time and trouble because throwing money at a problem is the solution to the problem. I have generally, with a couple of exceptions (front ends and speakers which I bought for the long haul), spent only what I needed to get me where I wanted to exist. I assure you that Small Green Computer, Pangea cables, Supra cables, and my beloved $15 switch with the $110 PS (don’t you just love it?) are doing the job to the highest standards and have taken me THERE (see 3 below). Small Green Computer has had the philosophy of separating the server from the render as the easiest solution to myriad problems. I bought into that, and since I am heavily divested in my tweaked network, I shall keep it in my end-game system. As to clutter, this separating of duties only requires me to buy one extra power supply, another PC, and another ethernet cable. Everything is now as tidy as can be on my 10 equipment shelves with my amplification and other front ends. The biggest challenge was routing the cables for best performance.

3. Where is THERE?

No one seems to have gotten the reason I posted this thread at this time. I apologize for its necessary complexity and leaving the conclusion to the end (where else do you put it?). It takes a couple of readings to digest and comprehend what the article is ultimately about. It is not about being an obsessive OCD gear-head. It is about a journey into the unknown towards a specific goal: PARITY. I think I achieved that, and publishing and breaking out the champagne is my way of celebrating.

Let me put this in some perspective.

With the advent of silver discs the debates began and still rage. Which format sounds better, LPs or CDs? Phonographs had the head start and the technology was very mature, so LPs definitely held the advantage. CD players had a lot of research and tweaking to do to reach parity. When we bring these competing technologies into our rooms and systems we have further tweaking to do to achieve absolute parity, bordering on the obsessive. Someone who has done it knows the rewards. The formats will never sound the same, but they can be equally satisfying.

With streaming we have a third format competing for sonic dominance. It has the ultimate advantage of HI-RES files to take the lead. However, I will never abandon my physical mediums of 6000 LPs and 4000 silver discs. I own them and if all else fails I will have something to listen to. They serve as a reference as to where I stand in getting the new technology to compete with the established formats, and they still just sound wonderful. How do you know when you are THERE? We are very fortunate this time around to have an “apples to apples” direct comparison of CD playback verses 16/44.1 files into the same DAC. As streaming is a fledgling technology, it again takes seemingly obsessive tweaking to achieve that end, but probably just as equally obsessive as the beloved and finicky vinyl playback.

As I poke my head back out the rabbit hole, glass of champagne in hand, I salute all with a hearty “CHEERS.” I accomplished my goal for now, but I will keep my ears out for an unturned stone that may need to be pursued.

@cleeds

08-09-2023 at 04:08pm

08-09-2023 at 05:24pm

This is not something that I take personally, but I address it all the same because it is a continuing audiophile debate in which I take a stance.

@audphile1  No foul. However if my 16/44.1 streaming matches the sound quality of my silver disc player, I'll see you at the dragstrip. Best of 3?

@audphile1  

 I have no doubt that was the case. My silver disc player is an Esoteric, which I highly recommend.

Many thanks to @fredrik222. Your input was most welcome and informative!

In an ethernet cable the wires and pins have an assigned duty. If you are designing an audiophile cable that will sound better, you have to take wire directionality into account in the layout. I postulate that is why in my testing the ethernet cables with audiophile credentials outperformed generic cables. It is easy to imagine how this could impact sound quality, especially on the receive wires! +1 for ethernet directionality!

@audphile1 Let me tell you a story. When I was nearing the end of tweaking my network for parity there was a moment when streaming surpassed CD sound ever so subtly. I immediately stopped and squinted at my system. Should this be? What needs to change? I decided to reverse the coaxial cable from my disc player to my DAC and CD again regained supremacy by a little. From there I went on to achieve parity. In the process I elevated both formats. This is one of benefits of serious tweaking. When you found you had difficulty getting CD to match streaming, I think you missed an opportunity to learn some interesting things about your system and music. Parity is a real standard and hard to achieve.

@lalitk

“I will keep my ears out for an unturned stone that may need to be pursued.”
Thought you’re open to learning and improving….maybe not!

I am sorry my writing was too poetic for your comprehension. Stated more literally: Not all hypothesis lead to scientific discovery.

Daily Gibberish from singingg

@fynnegan Hello sir. Yes the Bridge recording of the Eliott Carter Horn Concerto is a masterpiece. When doing the cable testing I got to listen to it many times and often let it play through because it is so good. I have been a Carter fan since the early 70s when I was in music school, the same time I discovered Varese. I soon branched out into a complete exploration of all the composers who were themselves exploring advanced personal musical languages. I regularly pull out those LPs for a trip down memory lane.

@tonywinga Hello sir. I am so glad you are posting on this thread because I know you to to have an open mind and have been willing to test tweaks. Thanks for "covering my back " several times so far. Much appreciated. You were recently unkindly attacked and I condemn that. What I found interesting in your last post is that you removed the optical filter and achieved a similar result I reported in 9) of my OP. When you are hearing well I suggest you try the Parity Test with 16/44.1 material that you trust. It may tell you that you are finished or suggest further pathways. LOL

The last tweak that I installed in my system was the three iFi passive filters. Last night I removed them for a listen and after a short time they were quickly reinstalled. They are keepers. It would be interesting to compare the strategic placement of these filters at various network points vs. one uber-expensive filter at one point vs filtering inside the switch vs optical filtering. Maybe someone has the curiosity and opportunity to test some of these and report back. That would take some time and effort.

I find it ironic that the posters that stand behind their scientific educations are unwilling to practice science: hypothesize, test, and draw and report conclusions. It is very tiring to endure their opinions when it would be most helpful if they could verify others experiments and conclusions.

I spent the morning listening to Havergal Brian Symphony No. 1 "Gothic", Lenard conducting massive forces that greatly exceed Mahler "Symphony of a Thousand." Marco Polo captured the space of Czechoslovak Radio (Bratislava) in stunning detail with sound-stage depth, pinpoint spatial cues and clarity, and massive dynamics. I recommend this as a system test with the benefit of the glorious music that is better than Mahler’s worst symphony. It even sounded good on my system with (according to some) cheap gear.

Cheers!

@mahgister

As usual, you have a way of bringing a larger perspective with its concomitant breath of fresh air! Thank you, sir.

I was not clear. IMHO the worst Mahler symphony is no.2. That does not mean you are not allowed to love it.

Daily Gibberish of singingg

Today there are a couple of topics I want to address, and unfortunately, a couple that I do not. Onward.

1. The recording that I used in the ethernet cable tests (yes, I actually did testing on my own time, 10 and 11 in the OP) was Eliott Carter “Horn Concerto” on Bridge, Qobuz 16/44.1. Its great drama and busy polyphony was instrumental, pun intended, in helping me to draw conclusions. Since the testing took weeks I listened to it many times and became totally familiar with its sound, and gave me certainty when drawing conclusions.

Last night I thought I would revisit that old friend for pleasure. I hit play and was astounded at the improvement in the SQ of my system. The solo horn was in my room, seemingly THERE. The layering of the orchestra was vastly clearer revealing a myriad of subtle previously hidden details which abound in Carter’s art, and the timbre of the Gestalt was a joy. What had changed? Simply steps 12,13,14 in the OP, all which are easy to implement. This was more confirmation of the correctness of my journey than I could have expected. Today I am still emotionally vibrating from the experience.  

2. Analogue and Digital Parity

Recently I wanted to revisit my recordings of Bruckner symphonies on LP. Symphony No. 2, Haitink, Concertgebouw on Philips caught my attention. I did not remember when I purchased it, but putting it on my stereo table I was enthralled with the beauty of the  performance and at the accomplishments of the recording and mastering and pressing engineers. I have heard this symphony live twice in Cleveland’s magnificent hall conducted by Dohnanyi and by Welser-Most. I simply heard details that I could not hear live nor on the half-dozen or so CD versions I own and cherish. This is a truly reference recording. Let’s do some comparisons.

Haitink recorded the Bruckner symphonies in their entirety for the first time in the 70’s on analog tape. On LP I own 0,1,2,7 & 8. On CD I own 4 which I abandoned to my shelves as bad CD sound affording no joy. I checked Qobuz and they have the complete set lovingly transferred to 24/96. The sound of 4 was the worst of the set, both on CD and streaming. It was probably an early recording or a different engineering team. Just a sonic flop. However, comparing the stream of 2 to the LP, the sound was a joyous match, PARITY. This is as close to an “apples to apples” comparison as one is as likely to find. I am now satisfied.

3. More on the Journey to Parity

When I started to set up my end-game system five or six years ago, I knew some of my excellent-in-the-day components were tired and technology had marched on. My plan has always been to set up a very satisfying system and use it for 20-30 years and update it as time and circumstances dictate and allow. This time I had two additional objectives: keep as many of the costly front ends as possible and only replace them if there is catastrophic failure; and to set up a streaming network for the first time. As I worked my way week by week I came to realize I was going to tweak-until-I-dropped trying to achieve PARITY.

At the start of the journey my silver disc player was my standard for the best sound, second were LPs, and third was streaming of which I knew next to nothing except what my ears told me.

I will not regale you or anyone with my journey through 5 preamps, 2 amps, 4 DACs, ALL THINGS POWER, mechanical isolation, and cables. I was doing that while tweaking my streaming, the recounting of which brought most to teary-eyed distress. Ah, but life is a journey. I’ll let you know how merciful I am because I did not regale you with all the dead-ends that did not bear a conclusion in my OP!

It may interest some how I tweaked my analogue setup. I have two excellent tables that have been on Stereophile’s class B list and gushed about by TAS in their way. I set one up for mono and the other table for stereo. Both got new cartridges, new phono-stages, motor controllers with LPS and PC, and serious mechanical isolation. In addition the mono had to have the motor replaced. All this resulted in sweet analog bliss.

Replacing and tweaking all these not only brought my system to parity, but I was able to raise the standard of performance of my of the silver disc player and all other components in my system. A rising tide floats all boats. Through all these experiences I certainly gained knowledge, some further understanding, and maybe a thimble-full of wisdom.

4. This thread has now become infected by the lazy, close-minded, and dogmatic shouting others down with a shrill sound akin to a chastised and whipped puppy. Those who do not want to learn simply will not ( I was a teacher for 45 years). Further psycho-analysis is futile. Please reread my post:

08-09-2023 at 11:29am

CHEERS!

Daily Gibberish from singinng

1. Last night I was working my way through Haitink / Bruckner Symphony 6 / 24-96 files from analogue tape on Qobuz. As I concluding the symphony I thought that that sounded familiar. I went to my LP racks and sure enough the spine had receded form view. I immediately put it on my stereo turntable for comparison and was greeted with the most lovely analogue sound possible. But, and it is a very big BUT, a few phrases into the performance it was clear the mastering engineers had severely constricted the dynamic range to fit the music comfortably into the groove to match the technology of 1970’s turntables. The result was a constriction of the palpable excitement of the performance. Lovely though it sounds I will probably never listen to it again. This is one reason among many that caused classical music lovers to abandon the LP medium as quickly as possible and permanently. I have many wonderful LPs form the 60’s and 70’s but a very large portion have a reason to prefer a digitized version. Ironically, in the early 1980’s LP pressing quality was achieving master tape quality and I bought as many LP remainders as I could find that fit into my collection as the new CD format pulled the rug from under analogue. Jazz and pop remain the preferred candidates for analog reissue.

2.Small Green Computer has issued a new OS version 2.9 for their Rendu players. Mine arrived on Mon, for free for sharing these posts with you. The instructions were simple, but ultimately too simple, for removing the elderly scan disc and replacing it with the new version. Now I love computers when they do what I want them to do and when I want them to do it. An hour and a half after installing the new OS I still could not get any music to play. I found I had to upload and install Squeezebox Lite into the software. I tried all sorts of rebooting etc. All to no avail. So I tried to but the old disc back in and it would not work. I shut it down, inserted the new OS, and said that tomorrow’s another day. The next day I turned the system on, pressed play and was greeted with music. It worked! What can I say? I had planned to go back and forth to listen critically for differences, but since I got the new version working I am not touching it.

I started playing from my favorites and things were different. In these posts I have run the gamut of audiophile descriptors to death. I do not know how professional reviewers keep going. The newness was subtle but definite and I am going to use a new word for me: INTELLIGIBILITY. Both vocal lyrics and instrumental timbres have new vividness and MEANING. Also the sound-stage is much more removed from the speakers with a feeling of completeness. Good work SGC!

3.Paul McGowan has a new video on PARITY. I’ll let him share his experience to broaden this post.

https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/ask-paul/cd-vs-streaming-quality

CHEERS!

@kennyc  Thanks for your comments. I spent another evening with the upgrade and sat there completely slack-jawed at the fundamental beauty of the musical presentation. For me to listen to Sgt Peppers for the zillionth time and get new understanding of the lyrics is just a joy. It arrived at the most serendipitous time: when I had just finished tweaking my system to reveal everything. If anyone who gets the OS upgrade does not hear its real sonic benefits, you have some tweaking to do.

Daily Gibberish from singingg

While the battles raged last evening I decided to visit the “Fool on the Hill.”

Day after day, alone on a hill
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him, they can see that he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer

But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning around

Well on the way, head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice

But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning 'round

And nobody seems to like him, they can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings

But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning 'round (oh oh oh)
'Round and 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round

And he never listens to them, he knows that they're the fools
They don't like him

The fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning 'round

Oh ('round and 'round and 'round and 'round)
Oh

We decided to listen on his well tweaked system to Copland “Billy the Kid.” It is a  story about how the bad guy gets killed in the end and everyone lives happily ever after. What could be better than that? Well this:

My front doorbell rang and I greeted my audiophile friend who had ridden the quarter mile to my place on his bicycle. We have known each other for 40 years and have shared much as we upgraded and tweaked systems. He is also an amateur recording engineer who makes recordings of a local classical concert series. My standard review when I go to his place to hear his latest work is, “Another fantastic recording by M!” They are on a par with the best.

It had been a while since his last visit and he came over to hear all the little tweaks I had been implementing. I gave him the tour. Time to listen : Qobuz, Gomalan Brass Quintet - Gomalanshort, Tango. We finished listening and I started to talk about the music. He interrupted me and said, ”That sounded FANTASTIC!” I was flabbergasted because we are always polite and say very nice things about each others systems, but never go overboard. This was a first. We finished the enjoyable hour listening to Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole sing for us. He left into the night muttering out loud how fantastic it sounded. Maybe I have finally convinced him to dive into streaming. His eyes keep getting bigger! (chuckle)

Daily gibberish of singingg 6

Now that we have fought WW III & IV on this thread, I hope we can stop feeding the troll and refrain from further psycho-analysis, and get back to the discussion of the OP.

1. Here is another input about PARITY from Michael Lavorgna:

Review: Technics SL-G700M2 Network/SACD Player

https://twitteringmachines.com/review-technics-sl-g700m2-network-sacd-player/

It is not easily achievable but well worth pursuing for the sonic rewards and the education of the journey. You can see many have not faced the challenge head on yet.

Now folks, I as a layman, am going to jump into the weeds and try to discuss a couple of issues, both of which have become conflated, and have been plaguing everyone. I invite polite constructive discussion. I am way less than an expert and just want to learn.

2. My final statement on ethernet cables. Cable Bidirectionality by Design vs. Efficiency of Signal Propagation=Signal Directionality. Take a look at the diagram: 08-11-2023 at 12:17pm

A. Ethernet cables need a two-way communication accomplish their task. This is easily seen in the diagram. The green wires on pins 1& 2 always Transmit, and the orange wires on pins 3 & 6 always Receive. If you reverse the direction of the wire, pin 1 will always connect to pin 1. The design is for bidirectional communication.

2. Since all the wires in the cable are metal, whether copper or silver plated copper or pure silver, they have been drawn through dies creating surface anomalies and therefore exhibit better signal propagation in one direction verses the other. This is established fact. (I am sure a simple search can pull up numerous studies.)

Now say we are transmitting music from a switch to a renderer and the signal is traveling from left to right in the diagram, if the green wires direction are aligned with the signal direction, then it MAY sound better. We then test the sound of the resulting music comparing one direction to the other. I have done this and reported the results in the OP. Now it is your turn to test and report. (How to align the other wires for the ultimate design, I leave to the engineers.) In conclusion, don’t equate bidirectionaliy with directionality.

3. The topic of the sound of ethernet switches continues. I think an intellectual error has been made and continues to be propagated in conflating the sound of a simple switch (doing its switching) vs using a switch as as a device to solve the bugaboo of ethernet noise (or other issues).

It took me a long time to finally identify and quantify the destructive nature of said noise (13 in the OP). In fact, I published a post entitled “The Myth of Ethernet Noise,” which I have withdrawn. I have tried to keep the switch simple ($15, believe it or not, and my streaming is sounding A+ with this device). The only switch upgrade was a high quality PS which really enhanced its performance through giving it the energy it needed. It has been my approach to find the actual source of the signal degeneration and creatively find its solution there. This is not stated to ruffle any feathers, because I am as aware as any of the myriad design choices and solutions for setting up a network/system. Just become aware that you are asking the switch to switch and solve other issues that may be best addressed elsewhere, OR NOT, depending on YOUR SYSTEM DESIGN APPROACH and WHAT YOUR EXPERIMENTAION LEADS YOU TO CONCLUDE.

To take one example:

When people replace switch X with switch Y “that does more things,” and then conflate, they say that switch Y sounds better than switch X. However, with pinpointing, the actual issue might be with the router spilling noise. Is it better to address the noise at the router with passive or optical filtration, or let the switch at the next junction down the road deal with it in its way? Are both points equally successful at addressing the issue, or is one better than the other? You have to experiment and make these design choices for your system. So does switch Y sound better than switch X when it is switching?

I have not yet found that switches sound different if well powered. However, that could change at any time if I HEAR something that jolts me awake.

CHEERS!

Daily Gibberish from singingg

Well folks, I have had my say (I thought he would never shut up!). I wish to thank all who contributed thoughtfully and positively to the discussion. I also wish to thank the moderators who protected me from the stone throwers. I hope you get better at identifying trolls as they had a very negative impact on the civility of this thread.

I am going to list my pertinent contributions throughout this thread so someone can jump over all the negativity and get the substance. In doing this I want to reiterate that I do not want anyone to believe me concerning anything discussed. I am not looking for disciples. Think about your network/system and use my experience for your own testing. Continue to train your listening skills. It is a lifetime journey with much to learn.

Original Post at the top of every page (print out a copy for reference)

08-09-2023 at 11:29

08-10-2023 at 11:31am

08-13-2023 at 11:31am

08-14-2023 at 11:29am

08-17-2023 at 11:09am

08-19-2023 at 10:45am

08-21-2023 at 12:24pm

Since there are valuable contributions from others, it is worth reading the whole post.

CHEERS!

Ahh, I feel so much better now that I have made myself comfortable, a placebo here, a placebo there.

Notice the One Trick Pony will not listen to some music of his choosing (30 seconds) walk across his room (1 second to stand up and 3-5 sec to walk) grab an ethernet cable and reverse it (2 seconds from his life) reseat himself and pickup his remote (5-7 sec) and replay the track (30 sec) and think what he has heard, and if nothing, redo the experiment several times ( 1min 12 sec a pop) to make sure of his perceptions. Screaming and shouting is so much easier on everyone.

Daily Gibberish from singing

Placebo Effect, Expectation Bias, Faulty Science, and other Human Failings

This was discussed in the OP and in subsequent posts.

I have guarded against these issues with a simple follow-up test. After implementing a tweak and having deemed it to have a positive effect, sometime down the road I will reverse the implemented change. It is most illuminating to almost forget about it for a while, and then one day remember that that was something I needed to do. Your mind is clearest at that moment.

The only things I ever took out were:

1. The optical filter that I initially "aped" because I had zero experience at the time with anything network.. When I found it to constrict dynamics and color the upper harmonics out it went.

2. My favorite mechanical isolation utilizes hockey pucks, initially one between component and shelf, and then stacks of two HP was discovered by accident. When I was starting to accumulate a fair number of small boxes I tried folded rugs and they sounded better than sitting directly on the shelf. I however tried a small phono preamp on two hockey pucks and was surprised how much it out performed the rug. In the OP when I got to 13) all the devices around my router were small so I purchased another rug and cut it to fit the devices. It sounded better and I was happy. The next day I noticed I had a bag of HP sitting unused and replaced the rugs with them. I was astounded on how much the HP outperformed the rugs. I then went back to my system and and replaced the remaining folded rugs with HP for a definite improvement. I still have two rugs in my system that I can find no way around. They are doing good and certainly no harm.

Everything else passed the second scrutiny and were keepers.

Ah, now I have cornered the "(*&%scientist%&*)" with the tin foil hat. This is his scientific reporting: 

"I have done this, and I certainly hear no difference. I have also tried various Ethernet switches. Second, not screaming and shouting, I leave that to the fanatics who don’t understand the technology."

End of quote.

Well sir, what have you done and tried? What were your methods? What devices and models were used in your experiments? What music did you LISTEN to? Did you proceed with an open mind exploring a hypothesis, or just to confirm what you already "knew?" How much time have you spent on reviewing your conclusions and how much effort have you expended in communicating your findings?

Sincerity is a necessary element in science and communication. Insincerity is always exposed in the end.

Another point: In posting my experiments, I am just communicating my experiences, however truthful or flawed they may be. They were conducted for me, in my room, and on my system, because I love music that is well produced. I humbly state that I never would have dreamed of achieving the quality of music reproduction that I am now experiencing. I have stated over and over not to believe me on any point. Use what I have SINCERELY communicated as a stepping stone for your own PERSONAL JOURNEY. So, what ever errors I have committed are mine to discover as time goes on (and with the help of others). If I can keep an open mind I will find them.

I posted it on this site because, among all the weeds, there is a rich community of fellow music lovers and hobbyists hungry for information.

@mahgister 

Thank you sir!

Daily Gibberish from singingg

1) I have had issues with my Small Green Computer ultraRendu disconnecting while playing music. I contacted Andrew at SMG and he had me send it in for inspection.

Fortunately nothing was wrong with the renderer and the conversation came around to power supplies. They have a new model for their renders that is a 25W LPS vs. the old 15W LPS. Since I know that ALL THINGS POWER is the rule, I ordered one, installed it, and A/B the two. The new one gives a nice step-up in intelligibility! If you have the old one give this upgrade some serious consideration. It has increased my streaming joy.

2) In my OP #10) I took a deep dive into ethernet cables and I discovered and wrote:

"Third, I reversed Pangea (ethernet cable) between switch and Transporter i5 resulting in severe sonic degradation. Back to the way it was originally."

The nagging question I have been living with is, why did this cable interface sound twice as bad when reversed compared to all the others?

I realized that I had no way of knowing the path of the music from Qobuz to my DAC:

Diagram 1: Switch > ethernet cable > Transporter i5.

same Switch > ultraRendu > DAC.

Was the music going Path A: Qobuz > i5 > uR > DAC or,

Path B: Qobuz > uR > DAC?

Andrew from SMG told me that the path depends on the software being used. I am using Squeezebox. He said then it is path A, which means that the highlighted cable in diagram 1 is the only ethernet cable in my network that carries the listened-to stream in both directions! Therefore, my conclusion in this instance is that in a properly designed cable that takes directionality into account, sonic degradation would double when installed backwards.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: ETHERNET CABLE DIRECTIONALITY IS REAL IN MY WORLD: THE HORNETS NEST HAS BEEN STIRRED!

@mtbiker29  Sounds like you are ready to take the deep dive into the sound of your network. I hope your listening skills are up to the task. Best of luck, fantastic sound awaits!