Is optical mostly a waste of time versus Ethernet?

Sns, you wrote about in one of your other posts about using a server with a incoming Port and an outgoing port versus the traditional Single ethernet cable that involves a 2 directional flow. I hope I’m getting that correctly.

I’m trying to understand the flow of your optical versus Ethernet Signal path and all the streaming gear that you have. I also took a look at your system and found it a Little scary because i had trouble following all that’s going on.

But focusing back on the traditional server set up using a single Ethernet Cable it does present an interesting question as to whether there is a better way to do this.

The music data flows into a nucleus and then flows back to the switch and then to the streamer/dac. Not sure if I understand the originating flow of Sonic data as it finds its way into the streamer/dac. It would seem to be a very turbulent journey for all those packets before getting to the comfort offered by a streamer.

The fact that all the data packets arrive in the proper order and number isn't the key thing here. Right?

Isn't the real issue the quality and speed of the clocking that occurs within a switch?  The noise is certainly an issue and also is worthy of attention.

And another key issue is the bit rate through the ports. Audiophile Grade switches I believe better control the ports. Basic switches leave the ports wide open Vs. Higher grade switches for sound are scaled down to a much lower Data rate and by doing so it reduces noise. Not sure why but it sort of makes sense.

But key Is the clocking which when done well favorably impacts jitter and improve sound obviously. Basic stuff I guess.