Wifi vs ethernet revisited

@troutstreamnm SQ is very good in all these setups (including yours), see my original post. We’re just trying to figure out what’s better, which is possibly a crazy exercise, but it’s fun.

On that note, @sns I’ve also tried different alternatives with fiber, including the Optical Module and Optical Rendu combo you mention. For me, a Netgear unmanaged switch with SFP worked just as well as the OM at the start of the fiber. No difference. At the other end, there was a significant positive difference (relative to the OM) when I used an Etherregen with fiber coming into the A-side and a very short ethernet cable to my streamer on the B-side. My transceivers are Finisar FTLF1318P3BTL. If I follow your advice on isolating the Eero mesh, I would like to get a router with SFP out and remove the existing Netgear switch so as to streamline the topology.

Here is the crazy thing though. I cannot find a router which (a) has no wifi, (b) has SFP, (c) has a 2.5gb port which I can use for the mesh and (d) can be run cool with a 12-15V DC power supply. The closest I can get is the MikroTik hEX S, but alas it doesn’t have a 2.5 gb LAN port.

@debrajray My thought along same line in a router, simplify the setup. Why do you need 2.5gb lan, you have super high speed internet provider? While I haven't checked lately, always on lookout for audiophile router.

My issue with SFP in router is I'm not aware of any audiophile SFP card for my custom server. Using JCAT Netcard XE in server so this mean fiber conversion post server which feeds the OpticalRendu streamer.

I've always considered adding a switch to be redundant/needless complexity for audio streaming, the audiophile switch I tried resulted in much poorer sound quality.

@sns  Agreed, each additional switch adds an unneeded layer; so the router with SFP seemed like a good call. It is unclear to me what "audiophile SFP" would mean TBH, though I do agree that I liked some transceivers more than others.

I need the 2.5 because I have a 2gb symmetric internet connection that I actually use for moving large files (not audio). Or at least I would prefer to have this; "need" may be too strong a word.

I’ve tried the same and find that a good Ethernet cable (I use a 6A from Blue Jeans cable made to length) from the router or from an Eero pod works better than Wi-Fi.  The streamer is important too.  My Innuos Zen MK3 improved the sound when I upgraded from my Bluesound Node N130 as a streamer.  

@sns This is the one I am going to try: ASUS RT-AX86U Pro (AX5700). It has wifi alas which I will disable.