2. digital
  3. 164076-142524

Best Ethernet Setup for Streaming Audio

I am streaming from an external drive on my Mac computer to an Auralic Aries, fed to an LKS DAC. I have a wired Ethernet connection from my wall outlet to an AT&T provided modem. The modem is connected to a Netgear router, which connects to a Netgear switch that is optimized for music streaming. Another Ethernet cable runs from my Mac directly to the Netgear switch. I am aiming for the best sound quality with this system. Here are my questions:

1. is it best to have my computer's Ethernet cable plugged into the switch, or should it be plugged into the router instead. It will function either way. But what would be the best option?

2. To provide optical isolation for the Ethernet cable, I installed two TP-Link FMC’s between the switch and the Aries streamer. Is that the best position for the isolation? I have it as close to the DAC as possible. Or should I place the FMC's somewhere else in the chain?

3. Would I obtain a boost in sound quality if I added a second pair of FMC's to the system? There are 4 other options: a. Between the wall outlet and the modem. b. Between the computer and the switch. c. Between the modem and the router. d. Between the router and the switch. In case it matters, the longest stretch of copper Ethernet cable is between the computer and the switch (50 feet).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
boakey39
raysmtb1's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
raysmtb1
792 posts
 
Www.small green computer.com 
erik_squires
15,697 posts
 
I find the little wall warts that the routers and switches plug into to be the biggest noise issue.

Make sure all your routers and switches are 1GigE at least. This will give you tons more bandwidth than you need for audio, even with competing streams. Once you do that, go with simple, short runs, and use switches were convenient to avoid running multiple long runs.
mitch2
3,691 posts
 
The FMC the OP is talking about was recommended by reviewer Steve Plaskin (currently with Twittering Machines) a couple of years ago when he was with AudioStream. The idea is to disrupt EMI that may have been picked up by the Ethernet cable. If you look at Plaskin's system page over on TM, he is still using that set-up although he now uses the Sonore Signature Rendu SE Optical.
I started using the optical isolation discussed in the original article about a year ago with two TP Link converters and a short fiber optic cable between them. Very recently I decided to replace my long Ethernet cable from my router to my server with a 15M fiber optic cable using two TP Link converters, one near the router and the other just before the server. Both TP Link converters are connected to their respective Ethernet connections with very short CAT 8 cables.
boakey39 OP
10 posts
 
Thanks, Mitch2. So, do you now have 2 sets of FMC's in your system?
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Kijinki, can you explain the above? How does fiber get interfered by electrical noise?
When transition edges are perfectly square (low transition time) electrical noise added to source or destination makes no difference - level change is recognized at exact moment of transition, but when transitions are slow noise added at the source (varying light intensity) or at the DAC side (varying threshold point) will change moment of level recognition - amplitude variation converts to time variation. Time variation - jitter, converts to added noise.  High end transports have transition times as low as 5ns, typical transports about 25ns and optical many times that.
More to discover