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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
dfairc777a
60 posts
 
Thanks Kijinki. Way over my head, but I appreciate the attempt.

Relatve to FMCs adding electric noise, I found a small USB powered FMC thinking this would be less likely to add noise as it it doesn't need a wall wort. Any thoughts on this?
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Where this USB power comes from?  Computer sourced power is not better than wall wort - both likely use crude switching power supplies.  There are very high quality SMPS with lower noise than typical linear supply, but you won't find them in USB supply.  Next best would be linear power supply for USB, but I don't know much about them.  I'm sure they exist and perhaps somebody can suggest a good one?
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Thanks Kijinki. Way over my head, but I appreciate the attempt.
Draw on paper two horizontal lines connected by 45 degree transition. Let say, that level recognition point is in the middle of this transition. This will correspond to particular point (draw vertical line). Now, replace this 45 degree straight diagonal line with wobbly line - like sinewave (that’s added noise). Vertical point corresponding to midpoint will change. Vertical line (time) was shifted.
Imagine that you send digital stream producing 1kHz tone. If this digital stream shifts back and forth in time 60 times a second it will result on analog side of D/A conversion with 1kHz tone and two added tones at 940Hz and 1060Hz called sidebands. Amplitude of these sidebands will be proportional to amount of the shift. These sidebands are extremely small, but are still audible since they are not harmonically related to root frequency (in this case 1kHz). With many root frequencies (music) there will be many sidebands, resulting in added noise. This noise is present only when signal is present, so it is hard to measure it. In addition, this shift of the streamed data doesn’t have to be caused by one singular frequency, like 60Hz (correlated) but it might shift at multiple frequencies (uncorrelated).

Perfect transitions (like 0ns) will still have amplitude variations of the midpoint, but it won't change the time moment of level recognition (exact moment of transition).  That way slower transitions are more likely to add noise induced jitter.
mitch2
3,683 posts
 
@boakey39 - Just one set right now, 15M from my router to my music server and then I am using USB from the server to my DAC because that input sounds best.  However, I am scheduled to receive a new DAC soon that will have much improved inputs, S/PDIF-BNC, AES/EBU, and USB.  I am planning to use the AES/EBU input and I will then need another Ethernet run from my server to a separate Roon endpoint so I will use one of the fiber converter loops there too.  I also have CAT 8 Ethernet cables in place for both of those runs so after a while I will probably disconnect the fiber and reconnect the CAT 8 Ethernet cables directly without any fiber and then I will listen to hear any differences.
nordicnorm
313 posts
 
This thread may be of interest:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/if-you-stream-music-from-the-internet-i-can-t-recommend-this-more-high
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