Why do I need a switch?

@8th-note  Very well stated.

If you want to start small install fiber media converters. They not only eliminate the noise that cat6 will pick up but they also isolate for surge protection. You can be all in for $60. New Egg has great options search fmc.

I’ll have another shot of that Snake Oil please!!!!

Always the naysayers.  Too funny.  I got me an expensive network switch, put it after my fiber media convertor and got an improvement in sound on the stereo.  Mostly, the bass improved.  So then as an experiment I bought a 100ft Cat7 ethernet cable and patched it from my new network switch to the TV in the family room.  Wow!  Quite the improvement in picture quality.  If hearing isn't believing, seeing must be believing.  Then, since my TV was previously streaming via wifi and an Apple TV box, I plugged that Cat7 ethernet cable into the mesh repeater near the TV. The TV picture quality improved almost as much as when I plugged the Cat7 cable into it directly.  Spent a good half a day running ethernet cables from my stereo Network Switch through the walls, under the house and to both my TV and the mesh extender.  Well worth the trouble, I found.

@8th-note 

Thanks for the reply.

yes I have a CD transport, An Audiolab 6000cdt, and yes sometimes I can hear differences between the CDT and the streamer, but sometimes the disk is better than the streamer.  I have also noticed that the sound is sometimes different in the evening than the morning. Oh and I was planning on getting a couple of the ifi power warts to replace the ones that come with the converters.