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If you stream music from the internet, I can't recommend this more highly

I had been using a Roon Nucleus to stream Qobuz, with my Chord Qutest directly connected to the Nucleus. I thought I was getting pretty decent sound quality. And then I got a marketing email from Small Green Computer touting some of their optical gear. The basic idea is that normal cables and connections used to stream from the internet pick up noise of one kind or another (radio frequencies and electromagnetic something or other). But fiber optic cables and their connections/interfaces do not. I don’t know anything about anything, but it made theoretical sense to me, it wasn’t a huge amount of money ($1,400), and with a 30 day return policy I figured I could always return it if I didn’t hear any improvement. Well, I didn’t just hear a slight improvement; it was like turning on the lights in a dark room. Much greater clarity and detail, much better micro and macro dynamics, better timbre to acoustic instruments -- overall just more lifelike. Two quick examples: I’ve listened to some of Steely Dan’s top songs 100s of times over the course of my life, and this is the first time I’d ever noticed a particular and very subtle sound characteristic of Fagen’s keyboard in Babylon Sister. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like there’s a slight sound of air being exhaled by it. The other example: the specific timbre of whatever percussive instrument is used at the beginning of Copeland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man" (a recording by the Minnesota Orchestra). There’s more of a metallic sound than a drum skin sound to it that I didn’t know was there before. The metallic sound starts in the center and then projects out and to the sides, like a wave washing over you. Anyway, I’m just thrilled about having stumbled upon the whole "optical" thing and felt obligated to let others know about it. If you stream music over the internet, I highly recommend giving it a try. (The product I got was the opticalRendu, with the linear power supply option, and the Fiber Ethernet Converter Bundle option.)
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Showing 5 responses by mitch2

mitch2
3,694 posts
 
Treat the power.
Agree.  Ditch the wall warts and use LPS on anything sharing the circuit with your audio system.
mitch2
3,694 posts
 
A couple of years ago I read an article by Michael Lavorgna at AudioStream that presented a method of optical isolation involving two TP Link Ethernet/Optical converters and a short optical cable.  Total parts are less than $100.  I run the Ethernet from my router into a Bonn switch and then into the above optical isolation set-up and then a very short Ethernet cable from the second optical converter into my server.   I believe this provides a subtly smoother presentation.   
mitch2
3,694 posts
 
That is how I see it too.
mitch2
3,694 posts
 
It is my understanding optical/fiber decoupling is best positioned as close to the endpoint as possible.  I am currently using two  TP-Link Gigabit SFP to RJ45 Fiber Media Converters and a 1M run of Multimode Duplex Fiber Optic Cable.  These are positioned after a Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet network switch and just in front of my Antipodes server to eliminate EMI/RFI that may potentially be contaminating the approximately 30 feet run of Ethernet from my router to my server.  
One question I have considered is whether I would be better off placing one of my TP Link fibre/Ethernet converters at my router, and then the second just in front of my server so I could run 30 feet of  duplex fiber optic cable in place of the current Ethernet cable?  BTW, 10M of fiber optic cable only costs about $12.
Another question I have is why does it cost thousands of dollars to implement these options (i.e., the Sonore products)?  TP-Link Gigabit SFP to RJ45 Fiber Media Converters cost about $20 bucks, the fiber duplex cables are inexpensive, and you can purchase a 1 foot Cat 8 cable for $6 bucks that you can use to make final connections to your router, switch, server, and/or endpoint.  I get that having that optical connection inside the device may be a slightly superior solution, but is the trade-off of not needing a 1 to 3-foot Ethernet cable at the end of your signal chain really worth thousands?
For $12, I think I will try running fiber optic cable instead of Ethernet for my longest connection.
mitch2
3,694 posts
 
@audio2design 
What part of "empirical" evidence, from a scientific standpoint, requires controlled listening tests, not ad-hoc listening tests hence anecdotal evidence is hard for the kids in the back to understand??
The answer is "none."  Empirical simply means "verifiable by observation or experience."  Whether the observation or experience results from an orderly, documented, scientific, study, or simply a few dudes sitting around smoking a doob and listening to their favorite tunes....the difference is simply methodology - both are examples of obtaining "empirical evidence."  An empirical study can be performed to verify a theory, and empirical evidence can also be obtained to verify a correlation with measurements, but you can have measurements and/or a theory without empirical evidence.  Empirical evidence is obtained every time you listen to your system.  I think you are all sort of making the same point. 
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