ISP router is handling also DHCP and wifi for the room where I have my system.
Then I have 3 Asus RT-AC68U to extend the wifi network to the whole house, they are wired to the ISP router via CAT6 cables and 2 5 ports Netgear switches (but this is home network and normally no audio streaming goes there).
from router I have one RJ45 short cable that goes to a TPLink media converter and then via fiber to a 10Gtek switch with 2 SFP ports and 2 RJ45 ports.
This switch is the main device for audio: 1 SFP port to the ISP router via fiber and media converter, 1SFP port to the MOCK, 1 RJ45 very short CAT5 cable to the streamer.
Connected Audio Devices
Chord 2GO/2YU streamer goes via USB to an MScaler and then double SPDIF to a TT2
Number of Tracks in Library
400 tracks are stored (I almost always use streaming from Qobuz)
Description of Issue
No problems here, everything works fine.
I would like to use a double SFP card on MOCK to have the core directly connected to the router via a media converter (the router doesn’t have any SFP output port) and the streamer directly connected to the core via a media converter and so remove the switch.
I would expect a better sound quality if this solution may work as I don’t want to isolate the streamer from the network as sometime I stream film audio directly from my MacBook Pro .
If this can work, my idea is to buy a high level double sfp port card.
Thanks.
After you put enough time and money into it, the choices are: admit it was for naught or convince yourself you lifted a veil or two. I wonder which one’s preferable…
This could work but I doubt it will using MOCK. You’d want to install Linux and Roon Server. A few reasons for this include but not limited to:
Driver support for your SFP card. Probably not supported by ROCK kernel May need to do something even with a stock, say, Ubuntu build.
Configuration of the 2 network interfaces. The interfaces will work fine with both being DHCP but…
In this configuration you’ll need the Core to be a client towards router and a DHCP server to hand an address to the streamer. Then you need to configure it to forward packets between the 2 interfaces. That’s not something ROCK gives you access to. Its not a default or standard configuration. But it is doable.
You probably won’t notice a difference but if you need a weekend project please go at it and report back please.
This isolation is exactly how you described what you’re trying to do so I don’t entirely understand exactly what you’re trying to do.
Hi Ipeverywhere.
I’m already using a single port SFP PCI adapter without problems, MOCK recognized it as second ethernet adapter (the main one is the RJ45 port from the motherboard and is not connected).
In the past, before experimenting with optical fibers, I tried to use an ethernet PCI adapter that I configured on a different subnet from the one set for the main RJ45 interface: the main interface/motherboard port was connected via CAT6 cable to the router and the additional RJ45 port from the PCI card was connected via CAT6 cable to the streamer (there are other posts on this portal that explain this configuration) and the gain in quality was evident compared with the MOCK and the streamer each one directly connected to the router or even to an additional switch.
This had the counter effect to make difficult to reach the streamer in “service mode” as I had to configure my Mac on the same subnet used for the streamer an connect them directly with an ethernet cable (the streamer was an Ifi Zen Stream).
I could repeat probably the same configuration with the current streamer using a double SFP port card, but the Chord streamer also supports Airplay so it becomes easy to stream movie’s audio from my MacBook .
If I set it to a different subnet I lose this function as it disappears from my home network, that’s why I would like to keep it on same subnet.
Dear Marian, even changing an ethernet cable makes a difference in sound, I’m talking about micro details that can make a difference in sound clarity, or transparence, realism (its a different concept from what a cable for analog signal does in terms of audio quality).
When I chosen the DAC I was looking to a device that had to be different from the mass that uses standard conversion chips, but believe me that you can spend all the money you want, but if you don’t take care of all the details , you will never have the best performances from your investment , but just the stress of having invested a lot of money for nothing.
That hasn’t been objectively proven and goes against everything I know or experienced. If you’re talking about purely subjective experiences, then those apply to you and you alone, and I can’t deny that you think you’re perceiving differences.
Exactly. Ethernet cables do nothing in terms of audio quality because what they’re carrying cannot be described as “audio” - but rather as a collection of encrypted data packets, along with a significant amount of protocol-specific overhead (TCP, IP, Ethernet), and that are delivered asynchronously - i.e. with non-deterministic delivery timing and ordering.
Not sure what “standard” means, but there are a lot of commodity chips that have excellent performance - to the point where any improvements become irrelevant.
It think that’s the path you’re going down on by investing in the wrong hardware. Hence, my comments. The choice is of course yours.
I’ve been able to make a new ssd that runs on latest Ubuntu, then I installed Roon (not easy at all, in part because I’m not so familiar with Linux, but the “easy” procedure from Roon is everything except easy . Then I had to learn how to bridge the motherboard’s RJ45 and the PCI SFP ports, this allowed me to remove a small 10GTek G0202-SFP switch that I was using to connect the router, the streamer and the Roon server , and use a simple media converter from TPLink to convert the fiber from the server into the RJ45 cable that goes to the streamer. The media converter is powered with a homemade linear psu (as was the 10GTek switch). This made a HUGE difference in sound quality, so my idea was definitely good.
Many thanks Ipeverywhere for your hint!
