Questions about Ethernet Cabling

I owned the Innuos Phoenix reclocker and found it did not improve sound quality when paired with my Mojo Audio Evo dac. It changed the sound a tad, but not any better. The Ideon Master Time reclocker was better, but not as impactful as the ENO stuff in my system.

I was also told an LPS was not needed for the EE Switch 8 and that the switching wall wart supply was as good or better. My listening tests proved otherwise in my system. Again,  no absolutes in this space and each of us will have to try for ourselves. I think the quality level of the LPS used is at play here.

"Audiophile switch with lps diminished sq in my setup"

It would be helpful to know which switch you have tried? The impact of above largely depends on what’s ahead in the chain. If you’re using a device that is not designed or optimized for audio application, you will not achieve desired results. It’s like putting a lipstick on a pig! You need to address noise filteration on both input and output data stream. Even then, you won’t eliminate 100% of the noise. General purpose laptops and Mac mini’s have no place in audio streaming if you’re remotely serious about streaming. I see folks goes to great lengths in eliminating noise on these type of devices and often come away disappointed.

@ttippie

What kind of firewall might you advise, please?

Three thoughts.,..ok four.

1.) You know what you’re writing about as you live in that world. But please see #3. 

2.) Many here want the benefits from good or great wiring. This thinking extends into ethernet wiring as well. No plastic clips for me.

3.) Noise is the enemy. I’m certain that despite my skewed wanting to believe in my gear bias that the EtherREGEN made for better sound.

4.) Many here like getting and trying out different stuff. File this under who doesn’t like more horsepower.

@yyzsantabarbara,

not everybody likes the Lumin sound and operating system and the choice of fiber-only servers/dacs at the moment is still limited. Also, not all networks are fiber-optics and for those still coming off copper the optical converters and their PSUs open another can of worms. On short cable runs, the superiority of fibre is also more debatable, but in the long run the market will turn your way

I've also thought about  tradeoffs of coax vs ethernet in front of modem. I'm using an extra  20' more coax than what I could minimally use. Its that or using 20' ethernet for that run. With cost of ethernet I presently run coax is no brainer, figure the 50' or so of coax already coming from provider box to indoor placement will dominate either way.

I mentioned this in another thread, but the switch I tried was RenoLabs Ultimate. I dismantled switch and circuit board, not the Buffalo board used in many lower priced so called audiophile switches. This one probably on similar quality plane, built in LPS using quality parts, clock built on proprietary board. This not some crap pile of parts. Based on what I heard, switch was doing it's job exactly as intended. I simply didn't like the extreme precision of sound stage, images too well defined in space.

IME, network optimization post server has been more effective. The very minor lowered noise floor of switch wasn't worth the tradeoff of poorer sound stage, imaging. I know I'm not alone in finding various audiophile and non-audiophile switches being detrimental to sound qualilty. Having said that, I do use all AQ Vodka prior to server and NAS, router powered by over spec'd (more than minimal amperage supply) LPS.