Why do I need a switch?

@fredrik222

oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,

my ears are my measurements, that's what I go on. I don't buy anything until proven so. You obviously interpret your biases by listening to your measurements 😂 good luck with that!

Hi Jim (fellow Ref 5 owner)

This Pre-Streaming madness blows my mind!

I have a DCS Bartok, when connected to my router with a cheap ethernet cable it sounded good. I swapped the cheap cable for an affordable 10m AudioQuest Cinnamon, this gave a slight improvement. I was sceptical about buying a switch so my audiophile mate bought me a cheap Netgear switch to try. It made quite a difference, I was not expecting that. I then bought a English Electric 8 switch which gave an even bigger improvement, (this came with a short cable by Chord). My mate then demonstrated to me that a 'high end' ethernet cable from switch to streamer was necessary. He used a David Laboga Ruby, top of the range and bloody expensive. This did show another level of improvement though. Following this demo, I bought a Sablon Cable (rest of my loom is from Sablon Audio) and although not as good as the Ruby I was happy with it.

This is the Crazy part for me and I just don't understand what is happening - someone please explain ....

If I add back into my system the cheap Netgear switch as well as the EE8 switch it sounds better!?

to summarise this is now my set up ....

ROUTER -Chord cable - NETGEAR SWITCH - Audioquest cable - EE8 SWITCH - Sablon cable - STREAMER

If I remove any part of this signal path it has a detrimental effect on sound.

My mate btw, has a very expensive Innuos Phoenix Net switch connected via his Laboga Ruby cable into a DCS Rossini .... AND, he also has a cheap Netgear switch daisy chained as well - NUTS!

@curiousjim 

that's interesting, the short ports work down to 35Hz and the long ports work down to 32Hz suggesting that the short ports would offer you less bass. If you look at my pics you will see I have similar positioning to you. I am about 12' away with a similar gap between speakers. I use 1 long at the bottom and 1 short at the top although I must admit I haven't tried 2 shorts. 2 long ports seem to muddy the bass a bit. My room is constructed completely different to yours, I have no hard surfaces, behind and to the sides of my speakers is carpet on chipboard with insulation behind, any a void behind that. I have almost no reflections in my room. It basically means the system comes 'alive' when you really push it. The manual suggests 2 shorts work better away from the walls. I personally don't use a sub and don't think I need to either. Enjoy!