Hey Fred, why don’t you post your stereo system. Let’s see whatcha got.
Update on good Ethernet switch
ASI mentioned before I didnot want to say the brand until I heard the Ethernet switch not only after 300 hours which was recommended having a OX over controlled clock ,
and with what myself always do the weak link on any audio component starts with the stock power cord , for minimal monies the Pangea using Cardas grade 1 copper 6-9s. Awg14 sig,Mk2 , and getting rid of the 50 cent bottle neck fuse I put in a 1.25amp 20mm L ,slow blow synergistic purple fuse these increase fidelity at least 5-7% the switch itself At least 5% if you know the name Jays audio for transports ,his other company LHY Audio the SW8 Ethernet switch for $595 nothing has all this in a nice machined aluminum case , even the uptone ether regen or Sonore deluxe using a with fiber optic which btw lessens the realism imo both were used witha Sbooster2 LPS , ,theSW8 Ethernet switch is a great buy ,and if you add a decent power cord and upgrade the fuse you will be rewarded further , 7 of us reviewed this and 6 out of 7 thought it was a noticeable improvement vs the others there were2 other brands which were more ,that were not even that good and had switch mode pS
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Here’s the thing. Generalizations do not work. I do agree that while on some stereo systems a quality network switch makes no difference in the sound but on other systems the quality network switch makes a very apparent difference. To make a blanket statement that quality network switches do nothing, ie. telling me that I do not hear what I am hearing then that is a problem. These posts are supposed to be a free exchange of ideas, experiences and opinions. We can all respect everyone’s experiences and ideas. But one persons experiences does not negate another’s. The thing to understand is that this stereo hobby is a deep, seemingly bottomless hole. What I mean is- as I upgraded my system and it became more resolving small changes become audible. What might have been imperceptible before becomes quite apparent. It’s like draining the swamp. As we make things better new problems arise. I get a preamp and now I can more plainly hear a difference in power cords or interconnects. At some point most of us rue the day we ever got caught up in this hobby. A couple of years ago I would have laughed at the idea of audio grade network switches. I’m not laughing now. I even had to buy better ethernet cables to go between the modem, router and network switch. The difference in sound was that apparent. When I started streaming music two years ago, I found the the music was clearly inferior to playing CDs. Even playing the FLAC files loaded into my music server did not quite match the sound of spinning CDs. So I upgraded the power supply and USB cable on my music server. Much better- local FLAC files now were very close to the sound of the CD. Still, streaming wasn’t close to the sound of local files. I tried a cheap network switch and found it helped a little. Then I tried putting fiber optic in and that was a big improvement. Cheap network switch had to go. It was now detrimental to the sound. So now streaming was very close to playing CDs but not quite there. So I bought an audio grade network switch and added it to the chain. Bass got better, imaging got tighter and improved clarity. I don’t think I could tell the difference now between streaming and playing the CD. I can stream all day or night long now and enjoy the music immensely. Now, will everyone have that same experience? Perhaps not. But that does not make it right or wrong. |
@tonywinga +1 and we’ll said. It’s amazing what you can learn when you trust your ears rather than just spouting dogma. The “bits are bits” crowd will never get out of their own way and certainly will never just trust their own ears, so arguing with them is pointless. Be glad you can more enjoy what you have now because you dared to have an open mind and open ears and just let the others wallow around in their ignorance. |
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