I think the same holds true in many other areas of audiophilia. HDMI cables or seeing how many zeros you can stack behind a decimal point for instance.
I upgraded from 100 Mbps to 1 Gig and I can't hear a difference!
Gang,
As I prepare for my new gig and for the new year I’ve been fixing things up around the house. One thing in particular was that yours truly really flubbed some wiring in the data closet. My home office and entertainment center (at least) had swapped wire pairs and as a result my router was only connecting at 100 Mbps.
Today was the day I finally fixed this all up. Using an inexpensive Ethernet wiring tester I headed into my patch panel with a punch down tool, headband flashlight and reflective vest. The vest wasn’t needed but I like feeling like I am doing real work when I’m in there. Couple of hours later including breaks for lunch, etc. I was done. My Asus router and the switch at my entertainment center confirmed my improvements, showing all ports were now connecting at 1 GigE and my speed tests were fabulous. I had 1 GigE from router to streamer and about 600 Mbps from the street.
I sat down to listen to my Roon based audio and, it sounded exactly the same.
What did I do wrong??
OK, just kidding. 192k samples x 24 bits x 2 channels is about 10 Mbps. I already had 10x more bandwidth than I needed. I have been running with ’degraded’ Ethernet for at least a year without knowing it or feeling it. It’s fine to get the latest and greatest network technology, wiring and speeds but be aware that we are already blessed with a lot more bandwidth than most of us ever use.
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Internet is not just for streaming. At least in my house it isn’t. The point you’re making is that we normally have more speed than we need. Yes that’s true. You don’t need all that bandwidth for streaming music but there are other tasks that are being performed by a number of various devices at any given time including work computers where we benefit from higher download speeds. Good news is there’s no degradation in sound quality with higher bandwidth. |
I don't understand how having a 1GB between your router and switch helps when you have 600 Mbs coming in. Sorta like putting a 3 inch pipe on your faucet. What would really make a difference is getting a switch with at least two SFP connections. One fed from your router by CAT 8 RJ45 cable and the other SFP connector feeding directly to your streamer. Note, you need SFP 10/100/1000 plugs not SFP+. Expect a huge difference. |
I definitely feel it working and downloading big fat games from Steam (like Horizon) that's for sure, but it's worth looking at your router's Internet usage charts from time to time to show you what's going on.
Very true! I'm not suggesting people downgrade their Internet provider, but to be judicious and be aware that chasing the latest Ethernet (10Gbps), fiber or higher Internet speeds is probably not going to be as useful as, for instance, adding an Apple TV account.
It won't help. No upgrades will help. Thats' my point. This isn't the pipeline, it's about overkill. My internet bandwidth is generally underused. At 600 Mbps an uncompressed 192k/24 bit stream is using about 1/60th of the bandwidth. It's like having a 60 lane freeway with 1 car on it. With 100 MBps I have 10 lanes, 1 car. |
It may help others to know that I have about 40 internet connected devices. About 15 Kasa smart switches, Roon, a TV, a couple of streamers and various smart thermostats and Alexa devices, plus 4 computers. With all of that I barely use my Internet bandwidth except transferring large data files for work or downloading games or new OS images. The place where you have to be careful is having too many Wifi attached devices, and that's where mesh routers and devices like Asus' AiMesh can really help. The access points can offload the Wifi overhead, but I doubt you'd feel this below 40 devices. |
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