Fiber Optic isolation causing listening fatigue


Just curious if others have experienced the issue I'm having. I have a decently resolving system: Aurender N150>Weiss DAC 204>Wyred4Sound Pre>First Watt J2>Omega RS8 monitors. Not being able to leave well enough alone, in a quest for more detail, I decided to isolate my streamer from the router by dropping in two TP Link fiber media converters separated by a fiber optic cable. Well, initially I got the effect I was hoping for: I heard a great deal more detail in my music. I could hear the singer take a breath where I typically couldn't. I heard nuances of music that typically escaped me. In fact the effect wasn't really subtle. There was much more clear instrumentation separation, etc. However, after about an hour of listening, I started noticing a feel of irrititability, just a general annoyance. I told myself "you're just over-caffinated." But I think the added level of clarity was simply causing listener fatigue.

Anyone else experience this with a fiber optic upgrade? Of course the fiber optic cable will not require break in (it is simply passing light through a channel), but maybe the fiber media converters would need time to settle in? I was trying this upgrade as a "proof of concept" thinking that I would upgrade to a Sonore Optical Module Deluxe if I liked the effect. Now I'm not so sure I'll take the risk in spending more money on this.

I guess I'm just curious if anyone has had this experience. Or might have some thoughts?

Thanks,

Tal

surlydale

I tried it but I didn’t use any fancy converters. Didn’t like the effect on few different streamers. Removed it. With Aurender you really just need a good Ethernet cable. It’s pretty robust. 

Try to have all your network stuff plugged into a different circuit to avoid contaminating the AC line where your system is connected to. 

That’s a good thought. I plugged the first FMC into a different circuit, but the one going into my streamer is plugged into the same power distributor as my system.