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If you stream music from the internet, I can't recommend this more highly

I had been using a Roon Nucleus to stream Qobuz, with my Chord Qutest directly connected to the Nucleus. I thought I was getting pretty decent sound quality. And then I got a marketing email from Small Green Computer touting some of their optical gear. The basic idea is that normal cables and connections used to stream from the internet pick up noise of one kind or another (radio frequencies and electromagnetic something or other). But fiber optic cables and their connections/interfaces do not. I don’t know anything about anything, but it made theoretical sense to me, it wasn’t a huge amount of money ($1,400), and with a 30 day return policy I figured I could always return it if I didn’t hear any improvement. Well, I didn’t just hear a slight improvement; it was like turning on the lights in a dark room. Much greater clarity and detail, much better micro and macro dynamics, better timbre to acoustic instruments -- overall just more lifelike. Two quick examples: I’ve listened to some of Steely Dan’s top songs 100s of times over the course of my life, and this is the first time I’d ever noticed a particular and very subtle sound characteristic of Fagen’s keyboard in Babylon Sister. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like there’s a slight sound of air being exhaled by it. The other example: the specific timbre of whatever percussive instrument is used at the beginning of Copeland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man" (a recording by the Minnesota Orchestra). There’s more of a metallic sound than a drum skin sound to it that I didn’t know was there before. The metallic sound starts in the center and then projects out and to the sides, like a wave washing over you. Anyway, I’m just thrilled about having stumbled upon the whole "optical" thing and felt obligated to let others know about it. If you stream music over the internet, I highly recommend giving it a try. (The product I got was the opticalRendu, with the linear power supply option, and the Fiber Ethernet Converter Bundle option.)
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luisma31
516 posts
 
Let me start saying I haven't read this entire thread but I have read others and I do believe people have heard an improvement with optical interfaces vs ethernet.
I'm also aware SGC and Sonore make exceptional well regarded audio products.

That said it is a misconception to think optical as a technology is "completely" clean for RFI purposes, now if this RFI dirtyness (residual of optical) affects audio or not that's another story.

The entire RFI/EMI issue arises on ethernet and dacs, servers and such on poorly designed and improperly shielded systems. When you are modulating a wavelength (either multimode light or single mode laser) over fiber there are residual RFI which by the way are many times higher than with actual ethernet, 30 to 40 dB in magnitude, radiating in all directions and inducing into cables creating antenna effects everywhere, shielding with aluminum, copper and even cable shielding blocks at most 10 to 15 percent of this signal but it is ineffective at blocking effectively specific residual due to their magnitude. This problem is even more accentuated with BiDi devices which transmits and receives over the same fiber on different wavelengths. Finally this will get induced into ac adapters, other cables and such.

Does it affects music? Apparently not since no one has complained and people I trust have tested the Sonore and SGC products and report an improvement with optical, but it does exist and it is not "completely clean"

On my testing some optical equipment is better than others blocking and shielding this effect, SGC and Sonore products haven't been part of my testing as my test was on a different application than audio related directly to my work.

luisma31
516 posts
 
just in front of my Antipodes server to eliminate EMI/RFI that may potentially be contaminating the approximately 30 feet run of Ethernet from my router to my server

@mitch2 question is what this contamination might do, your tplinks will certainly contaminate based on my results, is it audible or different in SQ?

TP-Link Gigabit SFP to RJ45 Fiber Media Converters cost about $20 bucks

But they are terrible at shielding, think of it like most FMCs will radiate omnidirectional and through the cable in every direction. Using SFPs "usually" will radiate on controlled directions (mostly in front of the SFPs) use MM better than SMF unless you need more than 1 gb which is highly unlikely, and avoid BiDi



luisma31
516 posts
 
It’s really hard to say "how much" of a difference something makes, because of subjective listening habits and inability to measure. 

Agreed

Although it is nice to have that software option (Foobar

Have you tried HQPlayer?
Yes, there still is a small chance of the Wifi interface causing some residual EMI on the SPDIF circuitry. Is it measurable, will it make a difference? I don’t know.
 My point exactly, will the analog part or digital conversion stage elements suffer from this residual or will it be impervious to it? I haven't noticed any differences myself but others intriguely do, should I say they are delusional or should I give them some credit? I choose the latter, I don't like to dismiss people experiences, unless at some point I realize they are truly delusional.

my personal preferred filter setting is MP/fast (minimal phase, less pre-ringing),

I prefer these filters too

luisma31
516 posts
 
In a home environment, with cheap cables, data losses and retransmits are near zero
This is accurate, if I may I would just add that if the switches support flow control and enough buffers the values will be actually zero and if they don’t if your audio devices do buffering it doesn’t matter if there are errors anyways during transmission.
atmfrank01's avatar
atmfrank01
12 posts
 
Have you tried HQPlayer?
Good question. I have used HQplayer for a brief trial period. The UI is a bit primitive, but it provides a great learning opportunity to study the effects of filter design on sq. Essentially, one is able to simulate internal DAC operations. But you have to learn the theory first before making good selections for the various filters. A great resource and highly recommended for anyone interested in the topic. I see a lot of people struggle with it.

In my case, I only applied my limited playtime with HQPlayer to a high-quality ESS9018 based DAC and found very few (subjective) differences between the various options. Not enough for me to put up with the poor UI and make it the primary player for everyday use. As an end-point to Roon perhaps it is better suited.

I also think that if one has a high-quality d/s based DAC of recent design, the benefits of using HQPlayer is greatly diminished.

Luisma31, thank you for your comments.
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