Relationship between Ethernet Switch and SQ

@lalitk I appreciate your guidance and agree with your methodology....but you have unrealistic assumptions about my capacity for discipline and focus. 😂  I'm also getting closer to understanding why streamers can be $20K or why people could spend $4k on a switch or $2k on a filter.  Dorothy, we're a long way from "bits is bits"!

I want to double-click on what @tonywinga said, which countered my intuition, which is that adding another audiophile switch improved SQ.  How can that be?  I was assuming that any additional component that has a power cord can only be a net negative (even if miniscule, in the case of $4k switches).  Unless good switches also ....filter ...or "regenerate" the signal, or have some property similar to impedence matching.  I'm not arguing that something heard was not real, just trying to understand the theoretical basis. 

@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 😊

@lalitk I think my joke missed - what I meant is that you implicitly expressed confidence in my capabilities and focus...which may not be grounded in reality. 😂 

go with fiber optics

“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 🤣