Relationship between Ethernet Switch and SQ

@tonywinga 

Thanks for posting your listening impressions. I agree with @ghdprentice recommendation to audition a top flight streamer in your system. Between the two brands, any dealer should be able to afford you a in-home audition without any obligation. Keep in mind, Aurender is not ROON compatible yet so there would be a bit of learning curve. 

I prefer Aurender’s Conductor App by a mile over ROON in my system. My emphasis is always on SQ (do no harm to digital bits) over a fancy UI. Congrats again on such a beautiful system. 

You didn’t say what kind of router you’re using, in any case; Routers are known to emit noise. Even though you’re using a very high quality filter from ENO, a combination of ENO + LHY may yield to a better listening experience. You loose nothing by trying… I would insert LHY between your router and ENO with a high quality Link Up Cat 8 LAN cable from Amazon. 

Please report back your findings. 
 

@mathiasmingus

Thanks for providing more info on your router. By eliminating cheap stock wall warts, you have already improved performance of your router and modem. For now, just hold off to upgrading the router and streamer and work with what you’ve got on hand. I like the idea of choosing a CAT 8 cable for serious listening. Link Up Cat 8 cable is a very nice high quality cable with an option to return if you don’t hear an improvement. I’m currently using an 22AWG version which is bit stiff ahead of a $5K switch from my modem. The 26AWG version (blue) is lot more flexible.

Try it with LHY, let it settle down in your system before forming any opinion. If you feel there is no net gain then trying a better streamer from Aurender or Innuous would be the next step. They have many offerings, pick one up based on your budget.

@audphile1 

FYI - Aurender’s operating system is stored and loaded from an SSD, that is also used for the system cache.

@mathiasmingus 

Congratulations on upgrading to BDP 3. At the end of the day, your comfortability and enjoyment is all that matters. 

Fiber optics implementation is quite the opposite of a clutter free setup. Unless your router/modem and streamer offers fiber optic connectivity, you are simply creating clutter for minimal gains. IMHO, The Network Acoustics ENO and ENO Pro are the best passive Ethernet noise filters currently available. 

“I do not think this is generally agreed upon”
@fastfreight

If one thing we can agreed upon is our collective experiences. There are so many variables in concluding to a viewpoint on the effectiveness of a certain gear in our system. Speaking of @audphile1, maybe he has yet to experience a high end switch like Telegartner or he feels that kind of money best spent on attaining a better gear. We all have our priorities. IMO, tweaking your streaming with a switch should be last priority once you have sorted your DAC and Streamer. I didn’t start playing with switches until I have the base line established. Now that I’ve experienced how a switch like Telegartner elevates SQ in a highly resolve system, I simply cannot live without it. The bar is set so high by this switch that it leaves no desire to tinker with multiple tweaks.

@mathiasmingus

Thanks for the update. IME, ROON implementation is one of the main reason why end user would experience inconsistency in SQ. Every manufacturer or designer doing their best to integrate ROON and tweak their hardware for best possible outcome. As @audphile1 pointed out, ROON SQ greatly varies due to the approach in the implementation by each manufacturer. Some manufacturers excelling and others couldn’t care less as long as they are meeting the ‘ROON endpoint’ specifications. 

Coming back to your system, If I may make a suggestion to strategically introduce each change one at a time. Starting with LinkUp cable, let it break-in for atleast 250 hours before you introduce next upgrade, i.e. LHY switch. Once all the components are fully broken-in, then reverse the process for A/B comparison. Listen for extended periods, especially LAN cable. Streamers typically buffers or cache incoming bitstream so swapping LAN cables on short intervals may not allow you to discern any differences.

Good luck and have fun!

@mathiasmingus 

Apologies, I did not intend to doubt your capabilities, methodology or focus. It was more like a cautionary advice drawn from my own mistakes and experiences 😊

“I found, with several streamers, swapping Ethernet cables while the unit is on results in sound degradation.”
@audphile1

That’s interesting, certainly not my experience with LAN cables swapping. I should attribute this to the fabulous cache feature in my Aurender. I know not to attempt swapping IC, speaker or USB while equipment is ON 🤣

My two step guiding principles to squash trolls,

1. Simply ignore them.
2. Think twice before replying.

@jji666 

We are here to share our experiences and simply suggesting to learn or form your opinion by experimenting. The idea is simply to try, you may or may not like result, and that's perfectly fine. This is a hobby not some scientific project where folks open to experimenting are under any obligation to provide evidence/proof for what we hear in our environment. 

You said, you are not here to troll but with a mindset of packets are packets and all else is audio bling, you fit the mold of someone who’s close-minded. 

@tonywinga 

The Conductor app is well laid out and easy to navigate. No worries on music library, Conductor app curates your library off ‘network’ or directly connected via USB to any of the Aurender streamers. One thing, I really appreciate about Conductor app is, it keeps your rips in a separate folder (you can also create multiple folders based on your personal preferences). I prefer browsing my rips vs Qobuz stream separately vs all jumbled together as in ROON. 

@mathiasmingus 

Hope you enjoyed the holidays. Did you get your BDP3 yet, any further updates on LinkUp CAT 8 cable and LHY switch.