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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
erik_squires OP
15,861 posts
 
I see that the primary purpose of fiber is to extend data transmidsion.

Yep.

Hard to believe that double conversion could improve 1/2 meter.

That's what I'm thinking, unless there's something about the noise Ethernet picks up making the jump across the balanced and isolated receivers.
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amg56's avatar
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amg56
887 posts
 
Eric, great subject, thanks. I’ve been thinking along the optic fibre solution, but without the clumsy add on converters. I’ll keep investigating and feed back. 🇦🇺
p05129
483 posts
 
Just get an internet provider that uses fiber. I’ve been using 1G ATT fiber for years. So may benefits: 950Mb up and down speeds, quiet, low latency, cheap, and again, no noise. 
erik_squires OP
15,861 posts
 
Just get an internet provider that uses fiber.


In my case this would require a move. No can do. I’m lucky to get reasonable Internet speeds.

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