Always the naysayers. Too funny. I got me an expensive network switch, put it after my fiber media convertor and got an improvement in sound on the stereo. Mostly, the bass improved. So then as an experiment I bought a 100ft Cat7 ethernet cable and patched it from my new network switch to the TV in the family room. Wow! Quite the improvement in picture quality. If hearing isn't believing, seeing must be believing. Then, since my TV was previously streaming via wifi and an Apple TV box, I plugged that Cat7 ethernet cable into the mesh repeater near the TV. The TV picture quality improved almost as much as when I plugged the Cat7 cable into it directly. Spent a good half a day running ethernet cables from my stereo Network Switch through the walls, under the house and to both my TV and the mesh extender. Well worth the trouble, I found.
Why do I need a switch?
I just watched a few videos about audiophile switches and I don’t understand the need. Cable comes into my home and goes to a modem and then a NetGear Nighthawk router. I can run a CAT6 to my system or use the wireless. If you don’t need more ports, why add something else in the signal path? On one of the videos the guy was even talking about stacking several switches with jumpers and it made the sound even better. He supposedly bought bunch’s of switches at all ranges and really liked a NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Plus Switch (GS108Ev3) That costs $37 on Amaz.
Thanks in advance.
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Thanks for the reply. yes I have a CD transport, An Audiolab 6000cdt, and yes sometimes I can hear differences between the CDT and the streamer, but sometimes the disk is better than the streamer. I have also noticed that the sound is sometimes different in the evening than the morning. Oh and I was planning on getting a couple of the ifi power warts to replace the ones that come with the converters. |
taking a step back, i think part of the fun in this pursuit is trying stuff and finding out for yourself used (or discounted demo) gear is a good answer... op can buy a used ’audiophile switch’ at a fair price... say 50-60-70% of full retail... try it, decide with his own ears -- if it doesn’t make a positive difference, turn around resell it for little or no haircut as i ventured through my streaming journey since covid shut us all in a few years... i have basically tried everything worth trying (for me...) in this manner ... streamers, dacs, filters, switches, cables, all of it... and in my own mind, this journey has allow me to figure out what matters to me, in my system, what is of marginal, or just total nonsense, and so on... yes, there is planning and effort involved, and care needed, also need patience, and some spending power to do this -- but for me it has been (and continues to be) a road well worth travelling otoh, some of us aren’t really into the journey, don’t want to expend the effort, come here ask a question, just want the simple answer, then they get much input that is contradictory, vocal naysayers abound, and then frustration ensues ... |
Thanks for your reply, I screwed up. The part above about getting the ifi power was supposed to be for you. I’m going to order A Pair of 1.25G/s Bidi Gigabit Multi-Mode Fiber Ethernet Media Converter with 2PCS Bidi SFP LC Dual Transceiver Module Included, 10/100/1000Base-Tx to 1000Base-SX SMF RJ45 to SFP Slot up to 550M https://a.co/d/3XpXgoa first and see if it made a difference and then upgrade the power. |
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