Network Switches

I agree with the above comment, the EE8 is an overpriced piece of shite, and would struggle to be vfm at 20% of rrp. I had one here and ran it for 14 days and couldn’t wait to return it for a refund. It’s effect on my streaming rig at best could be described as a very mild polishing of the sound.

I achieved far better results for <£40 with the purchase of 2 used metal bodied commercial office switches (Zyxel 8 port & Cisco 5 port) which I mildly modded by disabling the LEDs, using gardeners copper slug tape over 100% of the internal of the casework, + some 3M RF/EMI patches and leaving only 2 ports open [1 in & 1 out].

Last week I added a Stack Audio Smooth-LAN passive filter directly behind my ZeniTH mk3  and this gave a pretty significant uplift to the sound. This little unit so impressed me that I’ve gone ahead and ordered their Smooth-LAN Regenerator  to see if this will up the ante.

Current Network = Full Fibre to property > 1.5m as supplied lan cable >

Router > 2m cat 5e > Zyxel 8 port > 0.75m cat 5e > Cisco 5 port > 0.75m cat5e > Smooth-LAN > 0.25m cat 8 > ZENith mk3.

Why anybody would convert Ethernet to usb into a dac/streamer is nuts, going backwards in sound quality. Ethernet into the dac will always sound better than usb, anything sounds better than usb!

I wouldn’t use any switch with a wall wart power source going to my dac or streamer. I go out of my mesh router into a switch that has the power source built in, use an Soundstring power cable into the switch, and then into the streamer using a cat 7 Audioquest Vodka cable, then using a Revelation Audio $700 i2s cable from the streamer into the dac. 

Check out some reviews on going thru 2 switches that clean up the sound that sounds better than going thru 1 audiophile  switch, and they liked the sound better  going thru 2 cheap switches. I’m doing this but using a better switch that doesn’t use a wall wart power supply.

At an audio show, a dealer was doing a a/b comparison between an expensive $2000 audiophile switch and a typical switch and I thought the system sounded better with the cheap switch.

I just saw a video of someone going over an audiophile switch which was a rebranded d-link (the case had d-link pressed on it) switch with a couple caps installed for $700 more. If you want to eliminate any noise into your streamer or dac, convert the Ethernet to fiber then back to Ethernet at the streamer/dac.

“If you want to eliminate any noise into your streamer or dac, convert the Ethernet to fiber then back to Ethernet at the streamer/dac.”

@rbstehno , @deep_333 and anybody else who knows,  I’ve been thinking about trying this, as an empirical experiment. In my case, I’ve got a cable modem capable of 2.5Gb speed, but my ISP tops out at 1.3Gb, going into an eero 7 which then connects to a standard unmanaged ZYXEL switch, which itself is connected only to a Roon Nucleus One and my streamer/dac (all integrated into my NAD M33), which has an iFi silencer in its port.

So, as i don't have or need 10Gb capability, do i need anything beyond 2 media converters and a length of 1000 BASE-LX or SX fiber cable?  And is LX (single mode) necessary —or better - when the run will be less than 1 meter?   Assuming SX is fine, do these converters fit the bill?

https://www.cablesandkits.com/cabling/fiber/media-converters/mcmmsc-1gb/pro-4528/

Anybody have recommendations for fiber?

will this do the trick?

https://www.cablesandkits.com/mc/om3-lc-lc/fam-531/fp-3818/

thanks!

Following discussions like this is the reason I have stuck with my CD transport and not gone into streaming yet. Just don't have it in me to tackle another audio project after having gone through all the somewhat simpler considerations that were bought to bear on setting up the system I have arrived at after years of fiddling.

I agree with antigrunge2 about the etherRegen (eR) between a standard switch and the streamer. After doing this, I added another eR in series. Now my network: standard switch thru cat6 to eR thru fiber optic to another eR through my best cat6 cable into streamer (an HQPlayer NAA in my case). The SMPS that comes with eR is good. A linear PS can make an additional, subtle, improvement.

Without the eR in the chain, a linear power supply on the std switch made a big difference. With the eR in place this improvement is subtle.