Network Switches


Another digital question from an analogue guy.

I am currently running an Electrocompanient EDM MKII ( Streamer DAC) and a Small Green Computer Sonic transporter.  Both run off of a Trendnet                         ( unmanaged)  basic switch.

Would an upgraded switch have any sonic impact?

If so what switches in the 500 dollar range would be recommended?

 

rivinyl

My issue with switches for anything other than convenience is its simply not accomplishing much. So you have this noisy modem and router upstream of switch, the audiophile switch there to isolate downstream components from that noise. Ok, I get that, the issue is the streaming chain has already been contaminated from the noisy modem and router, you're only treating the symptoms vs the disease with the switch. A much better route is to treat noise at the source, Broadcom chipset vs Intel chipset in modem, disable wifi on router, emi-rfi contamination, power both via lps. Beyond this get rid of router altogether vs something like Dejitter Switch X, this a switch with capability to assign IP address so wifi can be offloaded to second router with wifi enabled to service rest of house. So now you have a 'clean' or audio only network in house, simple and clean setup. And for those who don't believe networks have any sonic impact, you're welcome to your viewpoint, but this not the case.

 

In any case, the above optimizations come only after first addressing streamer and dac, this for very mature, high resolution streaming chains and audio systems. Many other more important things to address before adding some fancy switch. 

If there is more than 1 source/streaming device in the same room requiring an ethernet input, the case for the switch is even there.

Otherwise, I assume most everyone here does some optical decoupling (pair of FMCs or executed in similar fashion). 

For a single streamer in a room (which is all that most guys have)

Ethernet port on wall ----> [FMC---->optical cable --->FMC with lps]---->’good’ ethernet cable--->ifi silencer inserted into streamers port

No unnecessary switch needed in the chain

 

my personal opinion based on my personal systems.

Others may have different results .

I have four audio systems in my home ranging from

Let me start by saying that I don't have the strongest understanding of digital audio transmission works and how the information is encoded and decoded at both ends. However, I am in IT and I do have something of it an understanding of how TCP/IP transmission works. Built into the protocol is constant error checking to make sure the data arrives exactly how it was sent. Each packet is verified four times. I don't understand how the quality of the switch will impact the quality of encoded audio being streamed through it any more than it would affect a Microsoft word document that you are transferring from one PC to another. 

 

There are definitely some gaps in my knowledge, so I'm not going to say "snake oil" with 100% certainty, I'm just going to say that I don't understand how a switch would affect the audio quality of a stream.

I connect my Internet to my Etherregen with a quality Blue Jeans Ethernet Cable. Then I connect the Etherregen to my Aurender N20 Streamer with a DH Labs Ethernet Cable. No need for additional switch. The sound is excellent. I have most of my ripped FLAC CD library stored on an internal drive on the Aurender and I can’t tell the difference between my ripped files and the same streamed from Qobuz. In my experience adding any additional switch or filters between the Etherregen and the streamer took the air out of the sound as if it some way over filtered the highs. The sound without the Etherregen is noticeably inferior. 

English Electric 8 (EE8) network switch 

A very pretty switch with really cool lights.  Highly recommend.

Comes with a nice Ethernet cable, which is on the short side disappointingly