Who wants to start a whip-round so that I can buy one and do a proper tear-down?
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They offer free trial, no question asked.
Maybe Roon can sponsor this project? 
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Does that include me carrying out “open heart surgery” on their product? 
As long as you put everything back nicely, they won’t notice, right?
That’s a 100MB switch for ~$3100 USD… It looks like a bog standard reference design.
You would be better off taking a switch like the TP Link or Zyxel where they only need something like 6/9/12 volt (depending on manu) and battery power.
I have a TP link that is 12v at .65 of an amp. I could run that for a year on a battery.
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There is quite a few audiophiles who are prepared to pay that sum for that device! Believe it or not.
Maybe it works for some streamers, maybe not, maybe it is snake oil, I do not know because I am currently using optical ethernet input to my linn streamer.
It’s frightening what audiophiles will pay based on the testiculating* BS spouted by manufacturers, supported by glowing reviews from the shills in the popular audiophile media. Yet those of us with a scientific/engineering bent fundamentally understand that such claims are at best, false, and at worst, criminally fraudulent.
*https://www.collinsdictionary.com/submission/5599/Testiculating
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In some respects, optical ethernet is the ideal - it indisputably provides complete electrical isolation between components that are connected over ethernet.
Properly implemented ethernet also does this, however many audiophiles have a hard time understanding and/or believing it.
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I’m sure I could come up with a few audiophile product ideas that could make me if not rich, then certainly somewhat better off.
However, my moral compass refuses to allow me to navigate in that direction. I’m just too damned honest to make money based on lies. Yet the audio industry seems to be full of people who are prepared to do exactly that.
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Then there’s the laws of diminishing returns. Where is that sweet spot where spending more yields marginal differences? The room and speakers is where you should allocate the bulk of your effort and funds. If you want to upgrade your system, those are the areas to focus on. My philosophy is to allocate at least 55% to 60% of budget to speakers.
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I think you got it the other way round! If you lose precious info at the source, the SQ will get worse at the end of the audio chain when it is amplified and expressed via the speakers, analogous to a photo, if it is not of high quality, hires, it will look worse when you zoom in.
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The source first crap was promulgated by Linn’s Igor Tiefenbrun years ago when all Lin’s made were turntables. Speakers first then amps.
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As far as I know, speakers have easily the highest THD in the whole chain. Power amps are not far behind. DACs are by comparison pretty accurate, even the modestly priced ones. Investing in speakers is a smart thing to do.
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Been there and done it, spent a fortune on HIFI. If you lose info at source, you just cannot retrieve it at amp or speakers, it is as simple as that.
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Oooo, this is going to be good! Source vs rest of audio chain - off topic but, who cares? More please!
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We need a new thread for this lovely debate.
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Like an Ultimate Fights forum section on HiFi vs HiBias
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‘Source first’ myself. Without a doubt. And I’ve been on the ‘journey’ of upgrades etc to experience it first-hand over the last decade.
That’s why I have this lot up-stream from a ‘cheap’ pair of Linn Majik 140’s:
I use Chord Indigo Tuned ARAY streaming cables, with an English Electric 8Switch. It works for me! 
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I would say a $2000 integrated streamer performs at about 85% of a $20k streamer. This does not apply to speakers. It’s is probably about 40% for speakers.
I would say spending in digital transportation is in general the last thing to do if you address this at all by significant funds. It’s ****ing bits. They take care of themselves.
Room → Speakers → Amp → DAC → Moving bits around
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