Questions about Ethernet Cabling

This is what I'd consider state of art streaming. Fiber network provider >fiber capable router or switch> fiber capable server> fiber capable streaming dac.

Fiber op. conversion was easily one of the best upgrades to my network, audiophile switch prior to server not nearly as effective as FMC's after. In my case, audiophile switch gone, prefer router. Now, I would still like to upgrade network prior to server, issue is I would need two optical outputs, one to server, one to NAS. This would entail four more FMC, four more LPS to power those FMC. If I only needed one out, I'd have already done the fiber prior to server.

I do hope fiber capable routers/switches, servers  and streaming dacs become common in future. Sure be nice to rid myself of usb decrapifiers,  FMC and all their attendant lps. I doubt fiber internet provider coming any time soon to me. suburban areas not first in line for this.

Upgrade the last mile, use plenum rated and outdoor rated cat 7e or better. run through ductwork. done this in houses, office buildings and factories.

@sns -- totally agree with you. Both @yyzsantabarbara and I have tried the opticalRendu and can attest to the benefits that fiber brings to the table. Just like @yyzsantabarbara I too am stumped as to why there are so few companies offering fiber optic-based solutions in the market. I mean if Sonore can do it in a reasonably priced package, why can't other companies do the same.

@arafiq Most people are not ready for fibre yet. This stuff is pretty complicated for a lot of people. I helped someone setup a streaming system for an audio show recently and they had no idea about all the parts needed. Nor should they have to as a consumer. 

I think Sonore products are a stop gap for me. The Sonore stuff we have is doing a conversion to USB and also has the LPS in close proximity to the DAC. What I want is the SFP in the DAC itself like the Lumin X1 (so no USB). I just am not willing to spend Lumin X1 money on a DAC. I want the $1500 - $3000 DACs to have SFP just like they currently have Ethernet and USB. Some smart guy or gal will build such a module that the future DACs will incorporate.

Career networking dude here (Skywalker sound, Lucas Labs, Pixxar, ILM, etc.)   Beware of techno nonsense, which among audiophiles seems to be a primary strategy for separating customers from their money. 

Noise on Ethernet cables.  I agree with the CCNP guy who commented earlier.  Unless, you are designing Ethernet signal processing/encoding silicon, you don't need to worry about it.  It's not an analog signal, so what you're worried about doesn't work that way.  The asterisk to this is a residential technology called PowerLine, and that's a hard no for audiophiles.   

Cable type.  Do you run 40GigE in your house?  Neither do I.  Decisions about cabling are based on the speed of Ethernet you want to support as well as distance.  You can google a chart on it, but cat6 will generally support 1GigE, cat6a will support 10GigE and cat8 can do up to 40GigE.  Please do make sure when running cables to make sure you are not violating fire codes when running through, for example, plenum spaces.  

As far as 'audiophile switch', hang onto your wallet.  Residential audio applications are low bandwidth applications that do not require a commercial grade router or switch. What you probably want is something that doesn't use up a lot of power (look for max power load/draw in the specs) or doesn't have fans to make noise.  I like the new cisco catalyst 1000 series 8 port switch because its fanless, doesn't draw much power and can even do some simple layer 3 routing.  There are other Ethernet switches starting at about the $50 price point which may be fine for non engineering users.

Latency.  Your intra-switch latency will be on the other of 3-6usec (microseconds) for a store and forward.  Humans, starting with elite drummers, start being able to detect viariations in the timeframe of a few miliseconds.  So you're fine.  

Wireless.  Packetization delay and its associated variability in delay (jitter) can be avoided altogether because you have existing wiring in place. 

As far as the decision to put in another switch:  Your driving design decision would be to control the length of cable runs (a moot point in a residential home) and avoid needless complexity and hassles in cable runs. 

If you've got money to burn, I wouldn't buy fancy cables and routers.  I would however consider getting a firewall and put in policies to isolate my IoT/security vlan from my engineering, music, guest and production (kids, wife, TV, etc.) vlans.