I could not resist…
Besides this thread needs a light injection of humor…
But back to the topic at hand folks!
Carry on please, at least it is a very civil discussion for which I am thankful and appreciate very much.
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I know this is completely off-topic. So my excuses. I haven’t been aware of this kind of footwear, so I’d like to ask you whether these shoes are truly comfortable (compared to regular sneakers for instance) and do they have health benefits for your back and general posture?
I smell a trap…
The most comfortable walking shoes I have ever bought were from Lidl… £16.00 So comfy I bought SWMBO a ladies pair. She has trouble with shoes and comfort. After a little resistance, she wore them… I said nothing and made no comment, on the drive home see suggested a further walk in the village the other side of the river… This was unheard off, so the shoes were more than comfortable. She continues to wear them for walking regularly and they are not falling apart…
What has this to do with Hi Fi and Roon? Nothing except in my opinion, a well made anything will perform well and price has little to do with it. So it’s basic well constructed cables and standard network switches for me…
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The only thing I would never buy without auditioning first at the dealers and then at home is speakers. Just too much difference between them and often too cumbersome and expensive to return just to ‘check out.’ Otherwise I find it safer it to buy into/up a line one already knows for other gear. And of course if it’s a popular piece that can be sold on easily or returned that’s always safer to purchase than some piece of oddball non-supported esoteric gear (unless it’s a sought after known rarity).
Hi, they’re very comfortable and good for your health. I made the transition after having knee problems in regular running shoes. I also have a history of back problems from a car accident back in '93 when my car was hit by a truck. They take some getting used to though (and this may sound strange) but you have to relearn how to walk in them. Normal shoes force your heel to strike the floor first. Barefoot shoes require you do adopt a forefoot/midfoot strike. The same way you would walk in bare feet.
There’s a great book by Christopher McDougall - “Born to Run” which delves into the subject. It a great read.
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Thanks for the info. I think I’ll look into this.
These days I buy almost everything online, but there are exceptions:
Shoes - Not unless they are replacements for ones I already have.
Clothing - See shoes, above.
Groceries - Never, because I’m real picky.
Speakers - See Groceries, above.
OK, I have to confess I recently bought a pair of KEF speakers online without ever auditioning them. The local dealer told me he did not have a set available for audition, and could not get me a pair before the KEF 20% off sale ended. I only did so because the company I bought them from said I could return them if I did not like them. Maybe they thought no one would be motivated enough to drag a couple of 82 lb boxes to FedEx. Clearly they don’t know me. 
Luckily I’m happy with the purchase.
So what does this have to do with Ethernet Cables and Routers/switches? Nothing, but I’d be happy to buy them online as I’ve tried to listen to the difference they make and could not find any:
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Disagree with what? Testing of a DAC goes via the analog signal. It is a digital to analog converter.
You can’t test a DAC without the analog part. No one disagrees. Straw man argument.
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This is something I suggested others do (albeit with JRiver Zones). Very structured and easy to reproduce and thanks for the effort.
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Yes, of course. The DAC signal tested includes the analog part. My point was that the analog side doesn’t seem to matter in the sense that for instance audiosciencereview believes that DAC measurements give you 100% indication of how it will perform. This means that the analog part doesn’t have an impact on the ‘objective’ sound produced by the DAC. That’s hard-nosed objectivism.
Nope. But they give you a very good indication how the resulting analog signal is screwed by bad or voodoo engineering beforhand.
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Are you thinking of analog parts coming after the DAC, like amplifier + loudspeakers?
The DAC doesn’t have a sound as such, obviously. It processes a digital signal and converts it into an analog signal that is then transmitted to the amp. So, as far as I understand it, both the digital processing and the analog conversion are two aspects of DAC processing that, ideally (from an objectivist point of view ‘ideal’ means in accordance with the best possible measurements), produces a completely ‘transparent’ signal to the amp – transparent here meaning pure, uncoloured, resolved to the highest degree. And then, so it seems to me, that signal is amplified by the preamp/ amp which ideally (again) will perform to the highest possible specifications (transparency being cherished). Finally, the amp transmits the amplified signal to the speakers, which, depending on their design, do indeed produce a sound that cannot be totally ‘predicted’ by their specs.
So, from an objectivist point of view, as exemplified by the audiosciencereview approach, once you have components that perform to the highest specifications, DACs won’t influence the sound at all, whereas amps and speakers do (amps much less than speakers).
I currently have a pair of XLR-cables borrowed from my dealer. Back they go since they play worse than my current cables. Both are about the same price. Great service and only proper way to make decisions of new gear, by listening to it in your own system.
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I don’t see any problem with having a preferred ideal behavior for type of component, and measuring it independent to other components to see how it matches that ideal. It is what it is.
A component with a ruler flat frequency response and non-audible noise will of course influence the signal path next to nothing - if that is what you want or not, that’s up to you.
A speaker (in a specific room) is a totally different beast, but now we’er very far from the topic - better start new ones.
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Sigh… this again.
Simple answer, no they don’t. It is physically, technically and scientifically impossible for a network cable or router to make any difference to the sound quality at your endpoint. End of story.
I work with these technologies for a living and the idea that they could, is utterly insane beyond any reason.
If you think they make a difference, good for you, fools and money etc. But in the real world, where technology and facts exist, they don’t.
This isn’t subjective opinion, it is technical fact. Stop wasting your money folks.
Can you imagine, the utter chaos, if our data centre with ten comms rooms, hundreds of servers and tens of terabytes of data movin around every day, was somehow susceptible to the data randomly changing because we picked a different brand of cable. It’s not only ludicrous, it’s totally unworkable.
This isn’t PCM, or toslink, hell it’s not even USB. At the network level, everything is checked at both ends, and resent if it’s not right. Network data either arrives or it doesn’t, there are no shades of grey here.
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I said mine already, but I feel necessity to say it again:
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What’s even more crazy is that people think that digital cables cAn make bass sound fuller, or treble smoother or more soundstaging depth
If a digital cable is sufficiently flawed in design to affect the signal going through it, you’d hear dropouts or horrid audible spikes, not “softer bass” or “more vague imaging”. That’s not how digital audio works.
This is 2022, we need to grow up about this stuff.
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I think you guys IT technicians misunderstand the issue, the issue is not with the integrity of the data being transmitted, if the data is corrupted somehow it will show up very clearly which makes sound unlistenable.
The issue is with the electrical noises which travels from your routers/switches which in turn impacts the analog reproduction stage.
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