Network Switches

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

The English Electric 8 seems (to me at least) to an overpriced, and mediocre, piece of equipment. The primary selling point appears to be the crystal quartz oscillator that keeps time. This is a two dollar component that appears in a far range of electronics. For a 8 port, gigabit switch, 700 dollars is extraordinarily expensive. If you want to spend good money on a good switch, a rack mounted layer 3 would be a good bet.