To revive an old classic: Here also are 10 groups of people. Those who grasp digital and those who don’t.
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Personally, I don’t care about digital audio.
I care about Music 
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”Trust me, I know this stuff” on internet forums or trust your own listening pleasure and experience while listening to music. Extremely easy choice for me.
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It’s not difficult, is it?
You buy something. You put it in your system. And the. you listen. If you like it, you keep it. If you don’t, you return it.
We make personal choices for ourselves, and not others.
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Why don’t you get that Zyxel device that is the bases for this rip-off and dare to blind-test for the 1st time in your life?
As I wrote earlier I’m about to order $20 TP-Link switch to test against EE8. I just need to buy an iFi psu to go with it for the comparison to be fair. I will not compare them blind since it has nothing to do with how I listen to my audio system on daily basis. Open sighted listening test is the only test which matters to me. My expectation for this test is that ”there can’t be any difference since internet forum engineers are telling me so”.
If I can’t hear any difference I’m happy to report it here and sell my EE8. I just bought a new power cable to feed my power block so some cashback from switch would be most welcome.
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Wow. Knowing how neanderthal Ethernet is, I think that is a brave step to put nigh on 2 grands worth of faith in such a cable.
To each his own.
At least it’s not shielded.
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Ordering a Zyxel GS-108B v3 would be the ideal comparison as it’s internals make up the internals of the EE8.
The only difference then is the high precision TCXO…
I believe the Zyxel is on $30 or so.
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Shouldn’t matter since there’s no differences between switches right? I like the looks of the TP-Link. It matters since I have to place it in my av-rack.
I think TP-Link SG1005D is better choice since it uses 5V power like EE8 so I don’t need another iFi psu for the comparison. I only need two ports anyway.
Indeed! 
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I’ve ordered the 1005D, 18,89€ including shipping.
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Well we should be exact here and really mention everything that is different, not just clock also aluminium enclosure etc. (don’t know this switch in detail but just seen in first glance).
Shielding etc has also been an essential part in improving performance of CD players etc.
It is a switch, it needs as much shielding as a luster clamp.
Oh, moment …
If power cords and PSU make such a big difference, maybe I should open the walls and change several luster clamps to audiophile ones.
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Well, where it comes to shielding, steel is more effective than aluminium, so the original Zyxel case does better in this respect.
But a switch needs shielding about as much as a goldfish needs a bicycle…
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This confusing digital signals and analog audio signals simply never stops. 
EE is not the only one modding consumer switches
The OCXO Audiophile Switch is a modified TP-Link TL-SG108. They are now disscontinued. I don’t know what the replacements are based on:
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Ok it’s here, TP-Link 1005D.
All plastic casing I think, it weighs nothing. It’s so light weight that my ethernet cables lift it up when I have to twist them to the sockets.
Anyway, about the sound quality. I must say that it’s extremely close to EE8 with few short test periods on both. They both have 5V power input so I can just switch the cables and use the same iFi iPower2 on both. On some tracks I think I hear slightly better clarity and music is easier to follow on EE8 but then some tracks are pretty much indistinguishable. So I will continue testing but TP Link with iFi psu sounds promising. I could definitely live with either one.
Few weeks ago when I tested stock psu of EE8 vs iFi, there was much clearer difference between the two psu’s.
The TP-Link is so ridiculously light weight that I think I’ll try some other cheap switch with 5V power input and metal housing just to make it sit still. It’s unfortunate that so many five port switches have power input on other side of the unit and ethernet ports on another. Impossible to fit the switch nicely on av-rack. Zyxel would fit the bill otherwise but is wrong color (silver).
Now have a friend switch the both and try to identify the EE8 with some 90% precision. Don’t look 
But what does that have to do with how I listen to music at home? I don’t have friend switching my equipment here 24/7. If that’s how you listen to your system on daily basis then by all means, compare your equipment that way.
Also the difference is extremely small/non existent even in open listening so what more do you want? Just as I always suspected, PSU has bigger effect. As I wrote earlier, I have no problem admitting if I can’t hear a difference between certain equipment. I also am not afraid to write about my experience if I do hear a difference. You learn new things every day on this hobby.
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The test would be way more valid if your eyes were out of the equation. As you trust your ears there is no real point to ‘see’ what hardware is playing, correct?