Do upgraded LAN cables/purifiers/switch box make a difference. What is recommended, if so?

I bought a trendnet 8 port unmanaged 1g switch for around $20 on amazon and I was surprised not only by it not harming the anything but it actually reduced a bit of noise. More natural sound. I have nice Ethernet cables and yes they make a difference. 

I introduced the LHY SW-8 and noticed slight improvements at best. It did seem to darken the background a bit. Worth the $? For me yes. But by far the biggest improvement was adding the DENAFRIPS Hermes DDC which I connected to my Pontus II 12th via I2S. What a difference!

Focus on the DAC and Streamer. The other stuff has never been proven to make a sonic difference. Some will say that it does. Please show me a statistically relevant test that some cable or wire sounds better? Save your money--Spend it on your kids.

Cheers,

Before spending big bucks on a switch and cables (there really is no such thing as better cables (unless you mean physically built better), cat 6 would be more than sufficient and just make sure you have a brand name Gigabit switch.

DACs/Streamers may have audible differences but primarily on the analog side of the DAC assuming it’s designed by a competent engineer and that’s probably why people hear a difference between them.

If there is something you’re dissatisfied with your current setup, unless you bollixed up your network or you have insufficient bandwidth from your ISP (which I doubt), the network is almost never the problem.  I’d look elsewhere.

+1 for the Etherregen and the new v2 is likely to come out in Q1/26. Get it with Ca6 BlueJeans ethernet cable.