Nate - a switch, apart from being a convenient device to increase the number of ports you have available for attaching things to your router, will often improve the sound. To do this it needs to be a good quality switch. It does this by reclocking the data and removing ‘noise’ (rfi/emi noise) which your router may inject into the digital path through its poor shielding and power supply.
My experience tells me you need a good quality switch but not necessarily an expensive audiophile one. For example a second hand Cisco 2960 to my ears sounds as good as audiophile ones I have tried. Cisco make high quality business switches in vast quantities hence prices are low (especially second hand prices which are next-to-nothing) for arguably a better quality piece of hardware than a small production run audiophile switch.
Ethernet Switch- what's the point?
I run an Ethernet cable between my router (standard issue from Verizon) and my streaming transport. I note that some use an ethernet switch between between the router and streamer. Assuming I got that right, what is the point- what does a good switch do? I've been into audio since the 70's but when its comes to streaming, I'm definitely a newbie-
Thanks all!
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@jon2020 sorry for the confusion, you do need a switch. You do not need a $1200.00 or even $800.00 switch as you are converting from the dirty Ethernet side to clean noiseless fiber. Look at the converters on Amazon and you can do finder (short runs) for unsolder $200.00. |
@bkeske Thank you for a voice of reason. OP this is a great and simple summary of what bkeske uses. I have decided to go this route as I have been streaming wirelessly from my router with no noticeable issues but want to see if I can hear any differences. In a system well north of $50k this seems like a small investment worth trying.
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I was also using my streamer wirelessly too, but wasn't happy with the sound quality vs. CD play, or playing directly from my HD 'server' connected to the streamer directly. As I had a router/extender being used elsewhere, but not critical, I moved that extender down to my Audio rig location and utilized it to hardwire to my streamer direct. This alone helped, but adding the converters between the router/extender and the streamer, made a another nicer improvement in SQ. |
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