Network Acoustics Eno Streaming System vs SGC Optical Isolation System

Charles, my Technicolor model # is E31T2ul. My ISP is Spectrum, have up to 1gbps service available. Anyone can check on their modem quality via various modem rating services on web,

Getting modem and router close to system was impressive upgrade for me, makes much better cabling affordable and allows lps to be connected to power conditioning on dedicated AC. I also tried powering modem and router with lps to lithium ion battery pack, nice way to go if can't power with system power conditioner. Also, experimented with better power cords to these conditioners, smaller incremental improvements here, lps is the important thing.

While modem and router quality hasn't been a concern for audiophile streamers up to recent times, it has long been of concern to enterprise scale users, some of these users such as precision engineering and measurement devices rely on maximally jitter and noise free networks.

Installed my Netgear XR1000 today, much versatility with this router. Can monitor ping time, jitter, While doubtful I can change Spectrum server feeding my network still interesting to monitor this, may be able to play with various settings to improve, initially I'm getting A+ and A ratings for ping, this great for lowest jitter,  only B for speed, likely need 1gbps for A+ rating. Quality of service (QOS) has great configuratively, vast majority of band width being allocated to streamer and/or NAS, can leave relatively little for general service computers and other devices since upgrading service to 500mbps. With 1gb I could allocate even larger percentage and still maintain decent speed with the other devices. I'm also turning off wifi either permanently or minimally when running audio system streaming. I can either hard wire every wifi device in house off second router or use wifi capabilities of the second router. Issue here is not sure second router can be run in wifi mode when connected to primary router with wifi turned off, second router may not see wireless devices on network in this mode. I should get to bottom of this in next day or two. Running router with wifi turned off somewhat replicates a switch but with IP addressing abilitiy. One thing missing is the nice clocks the best audiophile switches have, self generated noise should be greatly diminished via lps power and wifi turned off. A switch is superfluous with my JCAT net card  with it's two ethernet ports in any case, this card provides the high quality clocking a switch would provide.

Just read through this whole thread again. Such a vault of great information!

I’m still gathering information on what route (no pun intended) I’m going to take on optimizing my network before my streamer.

I’m planning to upgrade my streamer soon...currently using an Ifi Zen Stream and likely going to invest in the new Pulse line from Innuos soon.

But first, I want to focus on the cabling to the streamer before doing that.

My options: Go cheap and get some fiber converters and some of those low priced ethernet filters from amazon...or do a step up from that with a Sonore Optical Module or...skip all that and get a N.A. Eno or something similar.

Also my initial upstream gear is basic modern and router from Spectrum on wall warts...so there is work to do there too.

I do have one question though that I can’t figure out the answer to. I’m not very well educated in ethernet networking and switches so ...my question is

Why are some of you utilizing a switch downstream right before the streamer?

For instance:

Say someone has a fiber converter at their router and then has 10 meters of optical cable going up to another fiber converter near the audio system. At that point they could run an ether cable out of the converter ...potentially employ some kind of ethernet filtering device and on into the streamer.

What purpose would a switch right there do? You go ethernet out of the converter into the switch and run the ethernet filter out from one of the ports on the switch into the streamer?

Thanks in advance

JS

JS are you saying:

Ethernet > FMC > optical (10 meters) > FMC > Ethernet > Switch (?) > streamer

Here’s what I have:

Switch > Ethernet > FMC > optical > FMC > Ethernet (0.5”) > streamer (Roon end point)

One of the ports from the switch is then:

Switch [same switch as above] > Ethernet > Roon Nucleus server

Switch is needed in my case for server and streamer, but I’ve also heard on other threads that audiophile switches clean up the signal even more before the FMCs. I’m having the FMCs [essentially last FMC with LPS] clean up the signal after my generic switch and right before my streamer. I haven’t heard of adding a switch after FMC utilization, but perhaps people are? I’ll let more experienced people chime in if such is the case.

@toro3

yes that’s what I’m saying. I think there were a few here who have said they have such an arrangement and I’m trying to figure out why. Perhaps I was reading that wrong though.  I don’t have a need for a nucleus so will likely use a scenario like you’ve described except adding a more budget Ethernet filter after the last fmc and before the streamer

I received my Muon system 3 days ago, it only has 20 hours burn in time, and I haven't put a switch yet between the router and the streamer, but wow!

Already, the sound is so much more natural. I was anxious it wouldn't do a big difference, it's counter intuitive to spend so much money on an ethernet filter. But it works, my streaming setup is no longer fatiguing, it makes all the difference. Now I can just sit back and enjoy the music, so for me it is worth every penny. I can't wait for my switch to arrive to see if there is anymore improvement on an already superb sounding setup.

Highly recommended to anyone that wants to remove the digital glare from the streaming chain.