otoh, some of us aren’t really into the journey, don’t want to expend the effort, come here ask a question, just want the simple answer, then they get much input that is contradictory, vocal naysayers abound, and then frustration ensues ...
No, this isn’t it. There’s no journey to be had on this road because it makes absolutely no sense that an Ethernet switch would affect the sound of a digital audio file. None. If it did, then your local network and the internet in general wouldn’t work.
There’s a reason why audiophiles are laughed at when they claim products like ’audiophile’ switches make a difference. Network equipment and protocols are all about reliable transmission of data. If you claim to hear a difference when you insert a new switch in your streaming setup, it’s not the switch that’s the source of the difference.
The only way sound is materially affected in a digital system is if the bits are changed. There’s an easy way to test this - use a cryptographic hashing algorithm such as SHA-512 to generate a signature of an audio file. Copy that audio file as many times as you want over your network. Then when you’re satisfied, take a copy and create a new signature using the same algorithm. See if the old and new signatures match - I can pretty much guarantee you that they will.
These types of operations are fundamental to network security and it simply wouldn’t be possible to secure everyday occurrences like paying for something on Amazon or logging into your bank’s website if network equipment affected the data.
Let me add that audiophiles really need to wake up and exercise their critical thinking skills. I know that some of these technologies appear to be mystical, magical boxes - they just work. It’s seductive to think that audiophiles somehow have some kind of insider information to improve on this technology. Consider this - teams of engineers and experts across many companies over many decades have thought through how the protocols should function, what kind of specifications the network interfaces should have and how they should interoperate. What you are using right now is the sum total of all their knowledge and experience. I don’t think a small specialty audiophile company can bring anything of value to the table in this scenario.
