Do I really need an " Audio Grade Network Switch "?

I have been in IT services for 20 years; my understanding is that data arrives intact or doesn't. If you hear a difference, you have a bad power supply in your switch that adds noise, affecting the DAC's Analog out. Wall warts = noise, but a good power conditioner should make all that moot. Confirmation bias is real. 

I liked reading those EE's or just being well informed of us list out the inner spec on 802.x etc. Thank you.

We regularly swap out ethernet cables with systems that start to get buggy random packet loss or slowness in a database, and It's cheaper to do that than buy a Fluke networks qualification tester. (Though we have one) CAT5/6/7/8 takes a beating over time, and getting the higher-spec cable should help in inference-based packet issues.

Yes. With an adequately resolving system an audio grade ethernet switch makes a significant SQ difference.

I now use two Uptone Audio Ether REGENs, one after my router and the second just before my Nucleus+. Both are powered by linear power supplies.

Audiophiles appear to agree, as Uptone has sold 3200 units in the first two years on the market. If you want to try one act quickly as supply chain parts availability issues are beginning to impact their availability going forward.

I have no financial or other interest in Uptone BTW.

I have listened to the Ether REGEN at length, then brought in other audiophiles to listen to my dCS Vivaldi stack and more recently to my preferred combo of a Grimm MU1 (streamer/Roon Core/storage device) and a Lampizator Pacific DAC. I/we listened to the REGEN in and out of the system.  I have also done listening tests feeding the REGEN  with fiber or Cat 6. Everyone who has listened could hear differences in all the combos. All prefer the REGEN in the system rather than a consumer grade data switch. I prefer fiber feeding the REGEN, some liked Cat 6 feeding it.  Point is they had a preference. I am currently configuring an AfterDark clock to reclock the REGEN and an Uptone dual output LPS to power both the REGEN and the clock. Streaming is how I listen to 95% of my music and I see no reason to stop exploring how developers are finding ways to improve streaming SQ. If you are on the fence about specialty switches spend the 700 bucks for a REGEN and see for yourself. If you don't like it, it will sell in a matter of hours here on AG. Might cost you 100 bucks to try it, but you won't sell it, you will keep it like the rest of us! I am not in a position to compare all the new devices coming out like the impressive and promising Synergistic Research, or new the ENO system, but I can assure you that if your system is resolving at a reasonable level you will hear a positive improvement with a REGEN in your system. I have no financial interest in Uptone, but I do have an interest in ending the misleading "scientific" nonsense I keep reading here that a digital system's sound quality is not affected by it's component parts unless they are broken. It's a lie!

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