Importance of clocking

It is vitally important in such discussions that we avoid conflating/confusing the ethernet domain (up to the input side of a streamer) with the bitstream domain (output side of streamer onwards).

@erik_squires is spot on here. The ethernet domain is asynchronous and based on packets/frames being distributed, with error-checking and resend built in to the 7-layer OSI protocols. It stops at the streamer where these packets/frames are converted to a continuous bitstream. At this point, streamer output side onwards, clock accuracy is important to sound quality but there is no mechanism for clock accuracy in the ethernet domain to have any effect on sound quality.

An ethernet clock may be quieter of course, and this could conceivably impact SQ, but I’ve never heard any manufacturer argue that theirs is.

Innuos are careful in their PhoenixNet blurb NOT to assert that the clock they use in it, which is the same as in the Statement I believe, has the same effect on sound quality. They talk instead about the proximity of the clock to processor avoiding the risk of data losses which might conceivably occur with an external clock (though personally I struggle to see this).

Hope this helps clarify.

I can only reiterate what I hear: Etherregen with and without external clock are miles apart. So something happens ahead of the streamer that is affected by the clock. Interestingly John Swenson acknowledge the beneficial effect in his white paper, too.

@antigrunge2 

Let‘s just say that my ears and reputable designers like Innuos, Esoteric et al disagree with you

Dont simply trust “designers”. Companies want your money and will happily sell whatever for a profit. Always verify their claims. I have seen big, imposing chassis from a very reputable company which should stay unnamed, that was literally empty inside with puny power supply and 2x2” PCB board. I costed $$$$ and got rave reviews.

@antigrunge2 I assume you mean Phoenix NET network switch. I can theoretically imagine that streamer has underpowered CPU and low performance network stack and hardware so an extra switch before it helps.

The network switch may be set up to filter out other traffic (like your kid playing Warcraft) so only audio related traffic reaches the streamer. It is possible that streamer CPU is low performance in order to avoid spinning fans and cooling issues. 
 

You count obtain your own network switch for like $100, but setting it up properly may be a challenge unless you are proficient in IT.

Network switches used to improve sound quality (rather than just giving extra ports as originally intended) do so by massively reducing the amount of RFI reaching the streamer. I guess it will also filter out other traffic in the process, but it’s the RFI from other connected devices rather than some sort of digital crosstalk.

An unmanaged switch will do just as good a job of filtering RFI as a managed one, as the management bit is nothing to do with RFI.