Network Switches

Steve, the guy that designed the etherRegen has designed many of the chips used in standard switches, so I think his credentials and experience far outweigh any here or the doubters who claim these things don’t matter.

Also ethernet is not just for streaming audio. All my music is on local drives.

Another crazy thing that illustrates how counterintuitive audio quality can be is that UpTone has found that the etherRegen seems to benefit from breakin. (When comparing a prototype to a newly assembled one)

This seems to make no sense (at least to me as a non engineer), but yet it is.

Perhaps there is something else about the prototype vs assembled version that can explain the difference.

Also the level of system does make a difference in whether or not someone may receive a difference. There is so many opportunities for coloration and loss of resolution in a system (especially the analog volume control and digital volume control)

From a video perspective there are details not readily visible on a 55” monitor that are visible on a huge projection screen, and I would liken a highly resolving stereo to the large screen when details are exploded and now audible.

Just last night I was listening to Springsteen’s Seeger sessions (a well recorded acoustic album) and was comparing a 16 bit WAV file with the 24 bit flac. (All 44.1). The WAV sounded better. Once I unpacked the 24 bit flac to WAV, it now had more detail and was more intimate than the 16bit WAV. This is using a Mac Pro tower with 64 gigs ram and 6 cores so the computer isn’t using much of its horsepower decoding the flac.

Much of audio is counterintuitive, and with no (or lacking) explanation and yet these differences exist for people with the systems and the aural experience to hear the nuances.

From what I can gather from the links to the 3 switches mentioned in the OP the sotm switch is not a managed switch but a basic level 2 switch so I can’t see anyone being able to manage changing packet rates. I haven’t found as much on the other 2 but they look to be basic level 2 switches as well, perhaps someone has more info on them.

Mitch2 10-31-2019

I would like to know why I would need a switch as discussed here, where I would use it, and what it would do for me. My knowledge of switches is basically non-existent, hence the dumb question.

@mitch2, in simple terms I would put it that a network switch that is typically used on an Ethernet network in a home environment can be thought of as a port expander. The Ethernet ports of multiple devices can be connected to it, and it would provide a path for communications between any two of them. Typically it would determine the device to which to send data “packets” it receives from one of the devices based on local IP addresses that are assigned to each device by a router. The router being one of the devices connected to the switch. Although routers commonly include switch provisions themselves, supporting several ports.

Obviously you don’t need that port expansion functionality in the application you’ve described. But as you’ve seen I and Atdavid have proposed explanations for why some audiophiles have reported finding that inserting a network switch into the path between their router and their audio system’s Ethernet port has been sonically beneficial.

In your case my guess, and it’s just a guess, is that since your DAC communicates with the upstream device it is connected to via I2S chances are that inserting a network switch further upstream won’t be worthwhile. But as a very inexpensive experiment you might consider purchasing a metal-enclosed network switch, such as the Netgear GS305, and inserting it into either of the two upstream Ethernet connection paths you described. A similar predecessor of that model was reported by two members in the thread I linked to in my initial post in this thread to have provided significant sonic benefit when inserted between their router and their Bricasti DAC.

Best regards,

--Al

I would like to know why I would need a switch as discussed here, where I would use it, and what it would do for me.

@mitch2 
Buy a cheap second hand Cisco 8 port switch from eBay and connect it via Ethernet to your router. Connect your streamer etc to your network switch rather than directly to the router.   The result may surprise you. 

Thanks guys. 
There are indeed other devices connected to my router by Ethernet cables, such as a smart TV and an Apple TV box so what I believe you are implying is that a separate switch will perform the switching duties better than my Orbi router.
To make sure I am clear, should I run a single short Ethernet cable from my router to the switch and then connect the various TV devices, plus my Antipodes DX server, to the switch....is it that simple?
If I have it correct, then I will give it a try and report back.
Assuming it sounds better, am I to understand the next step that would further the sonic improvement would be to purchase an "audiophile" switch - isn't that the topic of this thread?