Relationship between Ethernet Switch and SQ

@cleeds I have owned Auralic Aries G1 and Lumin U1 Mini. Currently I am using a network renderer in my DAC (Bricasti M3) as a Roon endpoint (Roon core duties are handled by Mac Mini) without an outboard dedicated streamer. I also occasionally use MConnect to bypass Roon and stream direct from streaming services (Qobuz and Tidal).

The M3 has two toroidal transformers running digital and analog sections of the unit. There’s nothing ti fiddle with and I don’t have any plans to do so. The point I was trying to make is it all depends on the design and implementation. There are excellent streamers that utilize buffering and equally good sounding units that leverage caching. 

Here’s the M3 with its hood popped (this isn’t my unit, pic from hifi news). 

Hello,my personal experience with a Bell router is…..Heimdall 2 Ethernet cable to Synergistic Research switch… to Muon Pro filter …. To Aqua LinQ streamer …. To Weiss 501 DAC. This combination is an amazingly level of no audible noise resulting in hours of no fatigue 🎶 .

@audphile1 I gathered that you dropped your Eno filter from the chain.  When I got mine, I did a very cursory test, detected little difference, and assumed it must be helpful.  I am reminded to go back and do a serious A/B and see if it is a net improvement or not.  Potentially even less clutter, a la @fastfreight!

Yes the Eno is gone. I actually had it for a while and concluded I didn’t need it. 
With it in my system the sound became a bit too mellow. I heard that their Muon is more dynamic and more resolving but I’m not planning to spend $2200 on the network filter when it can be invested into other more impactful links in the audio reproduction chain. 

Congratulations.