Network Switches

Starting 4 years ago I built up a switch adding things that improved the sound of streaming. EtherRegen +Afterdark clock to re-time the ER, then two Farad linear power supplies then all the afterdark cables. Each added something better at the time. It was almost 4K of switch components. I lent the entire rig to my friend who said it deadened the sound. I did a full switch system to no extra switch gear and found I had gone too far as well. I sold it all off.

Last year when After Dark came out with their Netone switch which I bought. The Netone includes fiber or ethernet in, a fiber bridge if you can't feed it fiber. I ordered mine with the built in linear power supply (LPS), and of course it has a clock built in at well. The Afterdark Netone made a vey nice, but not huge sonic improvement with no sonic downside I could hear. My streamer used to drop out overnight before I had the Netone. Now it never drops Qobuz. So you get a switch, fiber bridge, LPS and a clock in one box on sale for 600 bucks from time to time. I recommend you try it.

 

wokeuptobose

144 posts

06-05-2025 at 01:53pm 

Starting 4 years ago I built up a switch adding things that improved the sound of streaming. EtherRegen +Afterdark clock to re-time the ER, then two Farad linear power supplies then all the afterdark cables. Each added something better at the time. It was almost 4K of switch components. I lent the entire rig to my friend who said it deadened the sound. I did a full switch system to no extra switch gear and found I had gone too far as well. I sold it all off.
 

yep. None of this is necessary. I tried a few tweaks and removed them all. Good Ethernet cable going into high quality streamer feeding a high quality dac is all you need. Dumping $ into Ethernet tweaks (except a good cable) is a waste of money that could be directed to real improvements such as component upgrades stepping up to a better DAC. Or a better streamer, amplifier, speakers, etc

I do wonder if the incremental improvements would keep up with the exponential cost increases.  On the lower end of the cost spectrum the LAN silencers might be worth a try ( as long as they can be returned ).

Has anyone compared the IFI Lan Silencer to the Stack Audio or even the Pink Faun Lan Silencer.  None of these options would break the bank.

The iFi does no harm in my system. I can’t hear any difference with it in. It provides electrical isolation and protection against transient voltage surges. I am totally cool with the fact that I don’t hear any difference with it. As opposed to Network Acoustics Eno Streaming System that I used to own and that killed the dynamics, to me this ifi gadget is a winner. Others reported improvements in sound with the ifi and that is possible but highly dependent on streamer and environment your system lives in - rfi, emi, etc.

People love playing with network tweaks. It’s a low hanging fruit. Address room acoustics, component quality and power distribution that all make a much bigger impact than adding crap to remediate non-existent issues in network. That’s my $0.05

I use fiber conversion but only to air-gap my cable modem from my router.  This is mostly to deny lightning this path to all my expensive electronics in the house.  It comes at a cost however in that I now have 2 additional power supplies to deal with.  In the data closet that’s fine, but I would only use this at the audio side if my streamer took fiber directly.  Otherwise I’m just creating more problems than necessary. 

For Ethernet isolation, again, my biggest concern is lightning. The twisted pair strands in the Ethernet cable are inherently galvanically isolated.  They have to be or you’d have high currents running from switch to switch in some buildings.  However at the end of long runs (30' or so) I use medical grade Ethernet isolators (UL 60-601) instead of audio grade.  The reason is medical-grade isolators are tested for 4kV isolation and can deny a voltage surge another path.   Avoid any network surge protector with a ground wire.