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The indisputable benefit of fiber for music

I've read a lot about fiber's audible superiority to Ethernet, and most of it I have taken with a grain of salt.  1GigE is plenty fast for just about anything, and it is balanced and galvanically isolated. The one area where fiber is clearly a better choice for music systems is lightning protection.

It is not uncommon for lightning to enter a home via the cable TV's coaxial cable. This can easily jump the millimeters from coax to Ethernet to Ethernet. So if you are like me, and rely on Ethernet cabling to stream to avoid any Wifi issues you are also creating a possible lightning path from the external Internet provider's connection all the way to your fancy audio gear.

In this one situation I have to say, the use of a 1m or longer fiber cable is the superior solution. I'm considering using this at the junction between the cable TV modem and my router, therefore isolating all of my streaming devices at once.

Best,

Erik
erik_squires

Showing 2 responses by yyzsantabarbara

yyzsantabarbara
5,065 posts
 
Fibre is a game changer. Glad I did not spend too much in the past on streamers or music servers. My cheap DELL computer with Fibre to my OpticalRendu is phenomenal. So good that I bought 2 OpiticalRendu's, I for each DAC that I have in the office system.

1) https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-US-8-150W-UNIFI-Switch/dp/B01DKXT4CI/ref=sr_1_4?crid=6O42IY...

2)  OpticalRendu - mode 5 with RoonReady output only
https://www.sonore.us/opticalRendu.html

3) SPF cages and Fibre wire from the same link as #2.

4) USB from the OpticalRendu to the DAC. Spent $26 here.

5) Linear Power Supply for each OpticalRendu.
https://www.sonore.us/power.html

All of these are ROON READY and work flawlessly with my ROON CORE. They sound much better than my previous Sonore microRendu.
yyzsantabarbara
5,065 posts
 
I am duplicating my home office fibre setup for someone's office. Everything is the same except 100 feet of fibre and 40 feet of fibre for 2 DACs in 2 different rooms.

I was told that short fibre wire is not ideal, less than 10 feet.
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