I recently bought a Matrix switch that has optical fibre sockets. Reviews seem to agree that having fibre optic in improves sound a little bit further. I would like to try it but I get completely confused when I check some online site and they list dozens upon dozens of transceivers and cables.
I guess the idea is having fibre into the switch, copper out to the streamer as RJ45 is the only network port it has…
It dos not.
You need to math the transceiver (I assume the switch has slots for SFP modules and not actual fiber jacks) witrh the cable. If you get multimode ones, get multimode cable with correct connectors. If singlemode, then singlemode cable.
If oyu are doing it for SQ improvements though, you are wasting time and money.
Thanks! What’s the diference between multimode and single mode? I think that’s the thinner straight line or bouncy light thick ones but whats the one to get for short runs? And the transceivers, why are some 20 euros and others 300 euros?
Single-mode has thinner core, multi-mode is thicker. They use different frequencies of light, too/
Single-mode support lengths in excess of 10Km and higher (hundreds of Gb/s) speeds. But the fiber itself is more expensive, and it needs transceivers with real lasers, making the setup significantly more expensive. Multi-mode is good for 500 m - 1 Km or so, depending on the grade. Transceivers can use LEDs or something similarly cheaper, so the overall setup is much less expensive.
Unless you are planning on running your own private network across town, multi-mode is what you’d use at home.
If you have enough `devices at home that you need to use multiple switches, AND those devices use enough bandwidth to saturate the link between them, using fiber for the trunk line between switches might be wise. For audio equipment it is completely unnecessary though.
Ok, thank you, that’s a big help 
You’re welcome!
For what it’s worth, I am using multi-mode 10Gb SFP+ modules to connect my switches (not so much for any benefits fiber brings, although I guess if a lightning strikes on one side of the house, only one switch will go up in flames rather than everything connected to the network 
) but because switches came with one port that needs some SFP module in it, and optical vs. copper one keeps them cooler.
Transceivers themselves were $15 each and they are working perfectly fine, I don’t think I’ve had even a single lost or corrupt packets (at least according to what switches tell me) in a year.
You definitely can get a $20,000 transceiver that can push 400Gb/s over 80Km but I would imagine it’s a bit of an overkill for home use. Just make sure that the cable you get is same mode (single or multi) as the transceivers, and that connectors on the cable match connectors on the transceiver -0- there are several different kinds.
If you go with multi-mode, I’d get at least OM-3 grade (this is similar to CAT rating for copper vethernet; OM-3 does 10 Gb/s over 300 meters, and can do 100 Gb/s over shorter distances. You could certainly get OM-4 or 5 which can go faster over longer distances, but you’d pay about double for the cabling. And to make use of it you’d need some pro-grade switches that support more than 10 Gb/s, which are quite expensive, too.
Sheeesh, when you thought you had gone down all the hifi rabbit-holes, you get sucked by yet another one. It’s all those grades and types and numbers that were making my head spin when looking in some site like FS. Everything looks the same but there’s tones of different SKUs and wildly different prices, so I knew they couldn’t possibly be the same…
To be honest, I think I’ll postpone this tinkering for now. I need to get some nice cable between switch and streamer first, maybe some passive filtering in there too. I have a feeling I have more to gain there and these are really the finishing touches on my system. Cross my heart! 
No need, really, as long as it is a standard-compliant Cat5e or better cable.
How long do you need them to be anyway?
I’m successfully using the following combination:
2 off TP-Link Gigabit Single-Mode Media Converter MCS210CS
1 off Ipolex SC to SC Fiber Patch Cable Single Mode, 1.5m length
2 off Chord electronics C-Stream RJ45 cables, 0.7m length.
Switch->RJ45 cable->MC210CS->Single Mode fibre->MCS210CS-RJ45 cable->SMS200->USBcable-DAC
between my network switch and the Roon endpoint (SoTM SMS 200 Neo), it works fine and only cost around £100 all in from Amazon.
No SFP modules involved as the MCS210 accepts the fibre directly.
Hope this helps.
Lol, really close. Probably within a meter but not more than 2 
Ah, thanks! So that’s what those MCS210CS are! I had seen those and similar ones, thought they looked different but had missed that they are themselves a transceiver (or whatever the correct term is).
Small Green Computer sells the OpticalRendu as a kit with everything needed, that acutely simplifies things. Apparently not so easy to find in Europe and, with our stupid taxes, importing it would end up being 30 and a lot % more expensive. But hey, I am one of those that pays 2k for 2x3 meters of cables
You probably should get an AOC – active optical cable – which is basically a pre-made cable with correct transceivers on both ends. Then you can be sure that everything works. Although I still doubt that it would do anything for you.
Something like the MC210CS is a media converter – if you have an optical cable sticking from one end, and only have a copper jack on the other, this is how you’d connect them. In your case it probably only makes sense if you buy an optical csable to plug into your switch, then use the converter to connect it to your streamer. But now you just have another electrically active device sitting close to the streamer. Not that it really made any difference, but if you are trying to use optical to isolate it from something, this just adds moving parts but does not do anything…