Why do I need a switch?

I added a high end Ethernet cable which feeds my Aurender. The claim was that this cable minimized noise, but I believe that the N20 input is galvanically isolated, so in theory, the expensive last few feet of Ethernet cable should have been a waste of money, but at the time I thought it improved the sound. I’ll need to replace it with a cheap cable and see if it makes the same difference after I have lost my return privileges.

BTW “snake oil” is the mother’s milk of politics and it has been used to control the masses for thousands of years.  So, a bit of audio snake oil is more amusing than a serious issue.

At no point will it improve the signal, and the standard certainly doesn’t state that.

Not an argument I ever made, except in the cases of shielded Ethernet, in which case I could see only grounding one end as being a good idea. 

@8th-note  Very well stated.

If you want to start small install fiber media converters. They not only eliminate the noise that cat6 will pick up but they also isolate for surge protection. You can be all in for $60. New Egg has great options search fmc.

I’ll have another shot of that Snake Oil please!!!!