I don’t need to buy a space ship to try to see that the earth is not flat. A little bit of scientific knowledge can answer such questions without spending time and money in trying voodoo.
2 Likes
And if you use a streaming service you also have to exchange all the thousand switches between the server location and your home.
4 Likes
Good, then don’t. But the OP isn’t so convinced, or else he wouldn’t have asked the question. You should just buy a 1985 CD player since bits are bits so it must sound the same as a modern DAC
3 Likes
The Ethernet card on the receiving end is grounded. If analog noise somehow gets past that point, the equipment is defective.
1 Like
don’t forget the newest snake oil products, The Quantum Stickers!! Lol https://telos-audio.com.tw/sticker/ . You stick them on top of capacitors, resistors, and pretty much any connect. They are supposed to work the the subatomic level guys to recover lost phase noise through arithmetical operations! How could anyone not want these?
8 Likes
Yeah I heard a difference with each switch. They are all dedicated to my audio system the feed is from the internet router.
Value of audiophile network switches? They are of great value to manufacturers 
. Sorry, couldn’t resist [ducks…]
1 Like
Yea, tho I walk thru the valley of audiophile network switches, I will fear no evil.
3 Likes
Do you think any mission critical sectors (healthcare, financial, energy) use anything but normal routers? Of course not. Digital data is just data.
3 Likes
… until you try to turn it back into a low level analogue signal…
… then it gets a bit more complicated than that!
3 Likes
If your Ethernet switch affects the sound quality, then it is really faulty, e.g introducing excessive delay variations (which won’t happen in a non-overloaded network). Keep the path between server and client clean and all Ethernet frames will arrive in a proper error free state. Then it is the turn of your DAC to clock them in neatly. The local oscillator of your DAC is then decisive; not the Ethernet frames.
1 Like
You know the difference between a simple transport device that transports data without changing them and a device that converts digital data to analog?
3 Likes
Not necessarily, there are many factors for common mode noise in Ethernet and not one solution fixes it all, they may reduce them to levels that pass certification of EMI radiation but don’t irridacate them completely. It’s this common mode noise that they are all trying to reduce further in one way or another. It’s what Swenson mentioned a lot in his research and this is what I have also heard from members of other forums who are telecoms network engineers who know there stuff a bit more than most us. Know I don’t claim any of this works or is necessary as to me I don’t feel I need to change network gear just for audio, I did find cables made zero difference in my system and I tried some expensive one. But as I said it all seems very dependent on system, environment. May be they all make it up maybe not. But just to say its all bogus one way or another is just wrong. Openess on this forum is getting more and more absent.
Any way interesting doc on common mode noise in ethernet from TI.
3 Likes
No offense, Stephen, but this is exactly the problem.
Nobody cares what your view is.
Nobody cares what my view is.
If someone is in possession of some actual evidence about the topic, preferably a peer-reviewed study with measurements, by all means trot it out! That’s what we’d all like to see.
1 Like
My view is that not every website has to emulate ASR.
2 Likes
billy
No offense taken…
I think your wrong about the problem. I think some care what fellow audio nuts are experiencing with equipment without peer reviewed double blinded measurements.
I think that is the heart of the question asked here.
Who cares about measurements anyway. Its about what brings a meaningful experience and engagement listening to music. And for some its about the journey and discovery of improving the experience.
I’m not holding my breath waiting for you to publish a study and I don’t believe there are many folks on the edge of their seat waiting for the next peer reviewed study on ethernet switches.
I do care what your view is, I just don’t get it.
There are no problems here.
1 Like
There are 2 ways to “know” if these kinds of products make any audible improvements:
1-Bench test the product. For example:
2-Perform a level match blind test. Have a friend do the switching without you knowing. Do around 20 tests. Tally the results. If you see a significant correlation say 75% picking one over the other, then there it helps. If not, it doesn’t… waste of money and provides no audible benefit IMHO. The mind fools the ears in sighted tests.
1 Like
You should replace the SMPS in your 218 with an external DC supply. You would be converted to a tinkerer instantly. Guaranteed.
2 Likes
I’d need a willing enthusiast to tackle that task in exchange for food/beer/wine and a good listening session…
Genius!
The web site is fantastic - literally and figuratively, shame there are no prices to marvel and coo at
1 Like