ifi LAN iSilencer

@audphile1 - trolling like asking how exactly it works? Let’s see. Manufacturer Web site claims actually a) galvanic isolation and b) EMI noise reduction. That’s it. No "soundstage improvements" or anything specifically audio. Good for them.

Now, in transaction protocols only huge amount of noise matter and one would see it in Web browsing and Netflix stream first. I.e. transmission disruptions. drops and packets lost even after retries. It is easy to measure packet loss by going to any Internet connection measurement site and checking for packet loss. In any case, audio stream is like 10 megabits per second tops and typical connection (like mine) is 500 MB/s. So that audio stream can handle serious packet loss and retransmit will recover it. It is all pre-buffered anyways. Just checked - zero packet loss at 550 MB/s from me to the cloud with many, many connections, routers and optical/electrical conversions, reclocking and buffering. Is this productive enough for you, mr teacher?

Does Amazon use any of such devices to improve "reliability"? Reliability is huge for cloud providers. Even 0.1% matter. Oops, they use Belkin cables.

Buddy you’re trolling. But you finally googled it.

What components did you try the iFi gizmo on? it’s not a thousand dollar gadget. Give it a shot and if it doesn’t do anything in your system report back and return it to Amazon. Voice your concerns to the manufacturer instead of provoking others. I get it you like the smell if your farts. Just makes you seem desperate for attention. 

And by the way Amazon music and Netflix sound quality on most of their content blows. Stop using Amazon as an example. Moving data through fiber optic in data centers and streaming music at home via copper is two different things. You’re comparing apples and oranges

@mikhailark I am loathe to step into this, but having been a software engineer for thirty five years and doing plenty of kernel work along the way, the focus on packet loss as the issue, and ignoring everything else, including user experience, becomes annoying. I am a firm believer that there is little packet loss or data corruption in streaming, the protocols do their job well and it is not the primary issue. Noise, finding its way into the streamer via an ethernet cable, is one of the primary issues addressed by products like this one.

We are not talking about file transfer, we are talking about audio reproduction, using digitally transferred files as a source. The more refined the audio equipment, the more likely it will be affected by noise in an audible, or even subliminal way. 

@zlone - good. Ah, but manufacturer claims improvements in transfer :-) so it is already subject to truth in advertisement.

Next, here is quote from the iFi site - "The LAN iSilencer removes the electrical noise that distorts the audio signal from your network." Huh? What audio signal in my CAT6? Where?

Now, if noise to streamer is an issue. First, it is a twisted pair, correct? So we are talking POOR implementation of the input analog receiver and ADC in the network hardware of the receiver. Sounds unlikely since chips and solutions are 99% standard, nothing is custom there.

So next, you may say - leak EMI from network cable over to.... where? If streamer is combined with DAC - maybe... Get a shielded cable then. If streamer is an ARM PC with USB out - unlikely. Digital to digital over controlled protocols with recovery.

Decent DAC is immune to USB noise and would have isolation at the input. In the worst case DDC like Denafrips Iris in front of the DAC would be a much better choice.