3750G and V1/V2 are noisy and power hungry. X aren’t too bad but its a 10G switch that used is still $3k.
2960 is a much better choice for domestic environs. Not sure I agree its any better than a Netgear though for our needs. I haven’t ‘tested’ though.
Throughput isn’t really a factor. There are two ‘audiophile’ factors that reportedly/allegedly/possibly affect SQ:
Low noise power aka an LPS-1 or suchlike.
Better clocking. Now this is more uncertain or more controversial. They prevailing thinking as I understand it is that its ‘phase noise’ rather than the upstream improved clock telling the DAC what to do.
Now I repeat I’m no expert. But the ISO Regen, the TX-USBultra and the Aqvox SE have all made significant impacts on my SQ and in each case that’s attributable to better clocking.
I don’t have any experience of this OXCO switch. But based on user testimonials and my own clocking experience I am very tempted.
Cheers,
Alan
I’m sorry to say, but none of these make any technical sense in relation to asynchronous protocols like Ethernet or USB audio, only for synchronous audio protocols like S/PDIF or I2S. Various gadgets might reduce electrical noise that leaks into DACs from upstream components and may affect the delicate D2A circuitry. However, well-chosen streamers and DDCs can do a great job filtering out electrical noise and converting an incoming asynchronous signal into a well-clocked, clean synchronous signal (S/PDIF, AES/EBU, I2S) that bypasses lesser quality USB or Ethernet interfaces in DACs. From lower to higher cost, I had good experiences with Schiit EItr (USB to S/PDIF), Singxer SU-1 (USB to I2S) and Auralic Aries Extreme (Ethernet to AES/EBU). In all cases, these where rated more highly than competing solutions by my keen-heared wife, who did not know or care what was what, just cared for the music.
Not to say that a good USB source (such as Allo USBridge or Sonore microRendu) cannot do a solid job into a DAC with a good USB receiver, such as one of the recent Schiit Gen 5 USB multibit DACs or a Soekris dac1541 – I’ve had good experiences with all of those – but bypassing USB or interposing a good USB to (S/PDIF or AES/EBU or I2S) is an ever better choice, in my experience.
I’d not spend much on network switches and Ethernet cabling except to make sure that they are not so broken that packets get dropped. I would (and have) spent more on a good pro router to keeps my home network secure.
But that’s the whole thing. It’s not about 1s and 0s or packets being out of order in asynchronous protocols. It seems to be about phase noise.
I would fail to explain the science properly as frankly it’s kinda beyond me. But look over at CA and there are many people having fantastic results with devices such as the ISO Regen, the TX-USBultra, the Mutec REF10, the sCLK-OCX10 etc etc and the theme is better clocking on USB.
My experience is kinda the opposite of yours. I had the Singxer SU-1 (powered by an UpTone LPS-1) and loved the I2S signal it provided my DAC. However I replaced this digital chain with a better USB server (the Innuos Zenith SE) and this USB source was way better than the SU-1.
But then adding the SOtM TX-USBultra improved it even further and that’s because of the clocking the TX-USBultra does to the USB signal.
Similar results have been cited with network switches that incorporate better clocking and again my experience validates this as my Aqvox SE switch has really lifted the quality of my Tidal streaming.
Should a better clock improve the SQ of asynchronous ethernet into a DAC that does its own clocking? No. But it does. I’m not gonna insist on a manufacturer providing measurements or proof. Many people on CA, Headfi and the likes are citing great results with better clocking. That was enough to persuade me to give it a go and I’m very glad that I did as my system is sounding brilliant. That’s my two cents FWIW.
Cheers,
Alan
What is phase noise and what could it do when the conversion from async to sync in a streamer or DDC is uses digital buffering controlled by independent clocks, meaning that the sync bit stream carries no memory of any phase/frequency/timing effects from the async stream? I’m trained in EE, math, and CS, I’ve worked for decades around some of the best people in those fields, and I never heard an explanation of that concept that made any technical sense.
They make great marketing sense, and Aqvox (a company I respect because I had their excellent phono stage) get to charge ten times what they would have purchased that 8 port switch for. Great business acumen!
The Op asked for experience. I volunteered mine.
You’re free to take it or leave it. Alternatively perhaps there’s a scientific debate forum for you to post this sort of thing 
I’m assuming they don’t just rebadge it, do you know what changes they make?
I have listened through many types of switches. I compared, along with three other people, a TLS OCXO switch with an SOtM sCLK-EX modified switch. I bought the TLS. Yes, I heard a positive improvement in SQ. Everyone in the room did. YMMV depending on your other components.
I do know the changes others have made to that same brand switch, and the 5 port model is the switch I choose to use but for me this is a bit like fine cables. I just can’t bring myself to pull the trigger and buy one! I use studio grade cable and completely standard switches!
My anicdote, I heard no difference between wired switches,wireless and attached usb storage playing same file on my Naim Uniti Atom.
I don’t doubt your collective experience (although expectation bias/placebo effect are very real), I doubt the explanation. Changing network hardware can change circuit electrical characteristics that affect what electrical noise leakage into sensitive DACs. Different kinds of shielding, of (lack of) common-mode rejection, of power supplies, can lead to subtle differences the non-signal part of the bitstream encoding arriving in your DAC, as well as what gets into the DAC through the power cable and by EM radiation. Even just changing slightly the layout of the gear can make a difference: to give a trivial example, the angle and distance between a power cable and a signal cable can make a difference in what you hear. Moving a piece of gear, or replacing it, can cause that – it’s not the particular piece of gear, it’s how its power cable relates to signal cables in the system.
It occurs to me, as findings like appear and play out, that we become aware of the effect first and the explanation later… Take a look at using ethernet cabling for DC supply to ISO Regen, mad but there. It must be annoying for an EE…
Like all these audiophile tweaks and whatnot if you are happy with the cost and can hear and justify the change is better for you then great. Everyone hears differently. Part of the fun of this hobby is finding what you like. It’s a journey not a destination. Ultimately devices will fail and subsequent replacements which possibly sound different will be added.
Different is not always better, or worse…just different, and it’s that difference that you either like or don’t.
If I had to reassess my audio every time I changed a cable or router or switch or added a printer or a dimmer to my house I think it would drive me nuts and take away the pleasure I get from my listening to the music which is why we are having this audio gear in the first place.
Now go and enjoy your music and stop worrying so much about the tech.
if network switch or lan cable can really affect sound quality than these downloadable music from web download stores like hdtracks, prostudiomasters etc … should be totally ruined by passing trough many miles of non audiophile lan cables and numerous non audiophile switches.
Oh no, not again.
Actually the issue here is that these pro Cisco switches are exactly what is used in the network! They are built the way they are because they have to be impervious to outside influence in the environments in which they usually reside. It is the SOHO switches we used, more often than not bought based on cost that are less well engineered because they are in electrically ‘quiet’ environments.
So just reading posts and people’s experience, and disregard how ocxo switch works, it seems it could provide improvement on SQ. The ideal way of course is to have one to try. However, to me, the cost is too high especially if Cisco switch 2960 could do the same. So anybody has compared ocxo switch with Cisco switch? This should be an interesting question to my ppl.
When you have a managed or “smart” network switch, what attributes or features are you managing? Can you assign IP addresses, for instance? As I’ve never used one I’m curious; I have a passive Cisco SG100 16-port switch that seems to be doing fine, so far as I can tell.
Do you use fibre on your 2960?
If so, which SFP modules do you have?
Also do you use any ‘tweaks’ to the config, QoS and the like?
Cheers