Ethernet Switch- what's the point?

Nate - a switch, apart from being a convenient device to increase the number of ports you have available for attaching things to your router, will often improve the sound. To do this it needs to be a good quality switch. It does this by reclocking the data and removing ‘noise’ (rfi/emi noise) which your router may inject into the digital path through its poor shielding and power supply. 
My experience tells me you need a good quality switch but not necessarily an expensive audiophile one. For example a second hand Cisco 2960 to my ears sounds as good as audiophile ones I have tried.   Cisco make high quality business switches in vast quantities hence prices are low (especially second hand prices which are next-to-nothing) for arguably a better quality piece of hardware than a small production run audiophile switch.

@recklesskelly 

"Fiber and be done."

Why does fibre not need a switch? I have fibre and am thinking of getting one until your post.

Thanks in advance. 

Jon

@jon2020 sorry for the confusion, you do need a switch. You do not need a $1200.00 or even $800.00 switch as you are converting from the dirty Ethernet side to clean noiseless fiber. Look at the converters on Amazon and you can do finder (short runs) for unsolder $200.00. 
 

@bkeske Thank you for a voice of reason.

OP this is a great and simple summary of what bkeske uses. I have decided to go this route as I have been streaming wirelessly from my router with no noticeable issues but want to see if I can hear any differences. In a system well north of $50k this seems like a small investment worth trying.

https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/improving-digital-streaming-with-a-gigabit-ethernet-media-converter-system

@jmbumgarner01  @zavato 

I was also using my streamer wirelessly too, but wasn't happy with the sound quality vs. CD play, or playing directly from my HD 'server' connected to the streamer directly.

As I had a router/extender being used elsewhere, but not critical, I moved that extender down to my Audio rig location and utilized it to hardwire to my streamer direct. This alone helped, but adding the converters between the router/extender and the streamer, made a another nicer improvement in SQ.