If you stream music from the internet, I can't recommend this more highly


I had been using a Roon Nucleus to stream Qobuz, with my Chord Qutest directly connected to the Nucleus. I thought I was getting pretty decent sound quality. And then I got a marketing email from Small Green Computer touting some of their optical gear. The basic idea is that normal cables and connections used to stream from the internet pick up noise of one kind or another (radio frequencies and electromagnetic something or other). But fiber optic cables and their connections/interfaces do not. I don’t know anything about anything, but it made theoretical sense to me, it wasn’t a huge amount of money ($1,400), and with a 30 day return policy I figured I could always return it if I didn’t hear any improvement. Well, I didn’t just hear a slight improvement; it was like turning on the lights in a dark room. Much greater clarity and detail, much better micro and macro dynamics, better timbre to acoustic instruments -- overall just more lifelike. Two quick examples: I’ve listened to some of Steely Dan’s top songs 100s of times over the course of my life, and this is the first time I’d ever noticed a particular and very subtle sound characteristic of Fagen’s keyboard in Babylon Sister. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like there’s a slight sound of air being exhaled by it. The other example: the specific timbre of whatever percussive instrument is used at the beginning of Copeland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man" (a recording by the Minnesota Orchestra). There’s more of a metallic sound than a drum skin sound to it that I didn’t know was there before. The metallic sound starts in the center and then projects out and to the sides, like a wave washing over you. Anyway, I’m just thrilled about having stumbled upon the whole "optical" thing and felt obligated to let others know about it. If you stream music over the internet, I highly recommend giving it a try. (The product I got was the opticalRendu, with the linear power supply option, and the Fiber Ethernet Converter Bundle option.)
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Electrical interference or noise makes no changes to the data packets themselves. It could cause a packet not to be received, or fragmented.
Could you please re-write this in CAPS, so that everyone can read it :-) Some people believe that expensive shielding and "directional" data cables would somehow improve audio quality. But it's a futile effort to fight a enormous industry and their believers. Only a small amount of education would remedy this. 

Again, I am not saying that microRendu is a flawed product, but I am saying that the value is inflated by misleading marketing and phony claims. 

In extreme cases, some boutique hi-end audio manufacturers will sell you a $30,000 music streamer (network -> USB or SPDIF bridge, or DAC) and make you believe it's a worthy investment. Some people on this thread here can build a better performing streamer for $300 and with expectations of similar results. 
With a very good 75 ohm spdif cable and OTG USB, this allows me to use my Android to my DAC for Tidal MQA-https://www.nobsound.ltd/usb-to-spdif-converter-xmos-xu208-coaxial-optical-toslink-support-source-ou...
Sound pretty good in my system. Not bad for 40 or so bucks.
For my first ever post here -- saw this thread last week and thought might be interesting to try the SoTM solution. After 3 days across many music types, I can hear discernable improvement in my set-up (maybe 5-10% clarity, smoothness). No measurable data just perception.

My set-up: about 40ft ethernet to PS Audio DAC from computer using JRiver as my "server". Lot of electrical noise in my environment that I have spent these Covid days at home cleaning-up (separating power on front end with Adept Response & amps with isolation transformer, etc..). Went ahead and got the SGC "kit" with optical module, linear power supply and fiber ethernet converter. Not cheap (about $500) but also not the $1200+ set of boxes Since my version of PS DAC already has ethernet input, I did not any other product for USB. Kit came with no instructions so just followed the YouTube video from SGC. About 10min of connecting and the PSAudio was recognized on JRiver without any config updates. Thought I would share given some of the confusion on these responses. Not affiliated with any vendor. Just someone working from home.
I have single mode fiber between an ER and sNH G10.  I recently added a master clock to the ER.  The noise level dropped a ton and the details and reverberation are amazing.  However I now recognize a bit of edginess in the upper frequencies that I suspect were unmasked.
My SFP's are Startech and are rated for 80 KM.  I wonder if the powerful SFP's are making noise.  I ordered some attenuators to try and also ordered some short range multimode SFP's and fiber from Sonore.

I'm not sure if adding a Master clock is reclocking but it can have a profound effect.
@anzaanimalclinic please report back with your findings.

I use a cisco 2960 8 port fanless switch in front of an Etherregen feeding my DAC and I noticed an improvement in SQ  by making this link optical where I previously had copper I put this down to improved electrical isolation. I went for second hand low range really cheap multi mode SFP modules as i figured that more powerful = more emi/fri think I pai £10 for the pair on an online auction £5 for the patch cable, the cisco was less than £40 its nice to recycle this old network gear :)

I do have a short AQ vodka from the etherregen to my DAC which I picked up second hand, I can’t hear any significant difference between this and a chord C stream cable that cost about 1/6th the price of the Vodka new FWIW.