@docknow my Macbook Pro does not have an ethernet port built in. You have to use either usb or thunderbolt port with a converter/adapter. This worked fine
Cheapest way to enhance SQ with digital streaming
@docknow my Macbook Pro does not have an ethernet port built in. You have to use either usb or thunderbolt port with a converter/adapter. This worked fine
|
+1 for me. Many thanks to both of you for suggesting this cheap but dramatic improvement to my network audio setup. It was so easy to order exactly what was recommended on Amazon. I am thrilled at the sound quality. I switched to playing my local music files from my computer directly to my dac via usb to streaming them via an ethernet lan connection through a dedicated streamer (Zen Stream) about six months ago. I added an inexpensive D-link switch a few weeks ago with excellent results for $25. Adding fibre optics for about $80 has been the icing on the cake. The sound is even more relaxed yet more detailed, dynamic, and three dimensional. If I heard the total improvement from behind a curtain, I would think it was a mega mega buck new setup with state of the art components. @sns Trying the Opticalrendu would be next, but the expense of it is a deterrent. Thanks for sharing your extensive knowledge and insight. |
@dbb I am really glad you tried and worked. Sometimes people are used to digital noise and they might not like it when using fiber optic because of “change” but at least it is least expensive way to try in expensive hobby. Once you get used to noise free digital, it’s hard to go back. |
Yes, ethernet vs optical cable cost is important variable to consider. Prior to optical I tried various classes of generic ethernet, worked up through Supra, Wireworld, and various AQ from Cinnamon on up to Vodka. Vodka substantially better from generic, cost becomes consequential when you add up all the individual runs. Optical cable cheap, and more importantly, higher resolving than any ethernet cable due to complete isolation. Per Romney80, noise free cable has a different sound, it is the absent of sound, you're only hearing pure signal.
The only thing that can alter the sound of cable is the converters and power supplies used with them, whereas ethernet cables have sound of their own. Ethernet cables have various shielding schemes and metallurgy, all effect the sound. I'd rather have the zero variable of optical cable. |
I just got a streaming system setup and would like to try optical, but streaming is new to me and despite all the specific advice in this thread there is enough jargon that I don’t understand what I need to do. I have a single Ethernet cable running to an Innuos streamer/server (I don’t even really know what those words mean), then USB to DAC. There is talk in this thread of so many different pieces of equipment, I basically have one thing, an Innuos. I do not know what I would need to incorporate optical. |