Are my CAT5 and router my weak link?

08-12-12: Jeffatus
I have my computer hard drive connected to the router via cat6 cable, non shielded. That run is about 10 feet. Then I have a 50 foot run, cat6 unshielded, from the router to the DAC.

It sounds like a relatively inexpensive experiment to try the shielded runs, but what about the router? I just keep thinking about all of the money I have spent for high end gear and their fancy connectors, etc. and want to know if a $120 router will be my weak link.

I'm hesitant to contradict Al's opinion, since he's eminently qualified in these kinds of technical matters, while I am not.

Having said that, I suspect it's possible that your router is degrading SQ. I would consider two experiments...

1. Replace your unshielded Cat 6 with either shielded Cat 6 or Cat 7 (always shielded by specification). Cost = about $25.

2. Remove your router from the system, run a direct ethernet line (preferably shielded) between your computer and your dac, and see if it sounds better. If it does, but you need the router for functionality, you can either...

(a) use the router wirelessly, so that there is no hard line between it and the computer, or...

(b) add a simple ethernet switch downstream from your router. So the arrangement would be...

computer -> 1' Cat 6/7 to ethernet switch...

...ethernet switch -> 10' Cat 6/7 to router
...ethernet switch -> 60' Cat 6/7 to dac

If you added all new cables and an ethernet switch, cost = around $65.

As I mentioned above, I experienecd significant improvements in SQ when I went from unshielded Cat 5 to shielded Cat 6 and then more improvements going from Cat 6 to Cat 7.

As for the router, in my current arrangement, I have two ethernet switches in the configuration, so that when I listen to music, I can kill the power (with a simple rocker switch) to the ethernet switch closest to the router, which severs the hard line between the router and the audio system.

You may just wonder why I don't just shut off the router. The reason is that I don't want to interrupt the other wireless devices in the house from communicating with it, and I don't want to wait for a long reboot when it turns back on. With the ethernet "kill switch," the reboot is about 5 seconds and there are no settings to be lost/changed, so it's idiotproof. Good thing for me.

Bryon

Eniac26,
So what is the brand of the opto isolator and where can I buy one?
Thanks in advance!

Steve

Interesting Bryon, I am trying to work this out in my head.....

I need the wireless router on because my iPad controls the computer wirelessly. The computer, via PS Audio's eLyric, then sends the data to the Perfectwave DAC.

So.....

Computer to the switch via CAT7.

From the switch: one cat5 to the router, one cat7 to the DAC

Then modem will still be connected to the router....then to the switch....then to the computer.

I am basically just adding a switch between the router and computer, while bypassing the router from the computer to the DAC....via the switch. I need to draw this out before my brain explodes! Hahaha

Jeff

Jeff, you've got it right, except that it would probably be a good idea to upgrade the router-to-switch cable, in addition to the others. Although that cable will no longer be in the signal path between the computer and DAC, it could still conceivably radiate or couple digital noise into pathways that ultimately lead to the DAC, or even to other parts of the system.

Considering the low cost that is involved, Bryon's suggestion of the switch seems worth trying, although whether or not it will make a difference for the better is anyone's guess. Among many other things, it would depend on how the characteristics of digital noise generated by the switch may differ from the characteristics of noise generated by the router; on the degree to which router-generated noise can propagate through the switch; how the risetimes and falltimes of the output signals of the router and of the switch compare; and on the sensitivity of the DAC to all of these things, if indeed it has any sensitivity to them at all.

Regards,
-- Al

08-14-12: Jeffatus
The modem will still be connected to the router....then to the switch....then to the computer.

I am basically just adding a switch between the router and computer, while bypassing the router from the computer to the DAC....via the switch.

That's right, Jeff. But Al is correct when he says...

...Bryon's suggestion of the switch seems worth trying, although whether or not it will make a difference for the better is anyone's guess. Among many other things, it would depend on how the characteristics of digital noise generated by the switch may differ from the characteristics of noise generated by the router; on the degree to which router-generated noise can propagate through the switch; how the risetimes and falltimes of the output signals of the router and of the switch compare; and on the sensitivity of the DAC to all of these things, if indeed it has any sensitivity to them at all.

That is why I would add a SECOND ethernet switch. Yes, I know, I'm sounding crazy. But bear with me...

If you add a second ethernet switch, you can kill the power to the second switch and SEVER the ethernet connection between the router and the computer/system. I drew you a picture, which you can see here.

That is the configuration I'm currently using. When I listen to music, I kill the power to ethernet switch #2, cutting off the ethernet connection between the router and the system. That way...

1. The router remains on all the time.
2. The router is disconnected from the system when listening to music, and reconnected to the system with the flip of a switch (pun intended).

How does your brain feel now? :-)

Bryon