Fiber Optic isolation causing listening fatigue

Well, after more listening, there IS a difference.  The LHY has a slightly "darker" sound, a frequency balance that shifts the instruments further back in the sound stage.  I had to listen to some solo instruments like cello and harpsichord to hear it.  The TP-Link has more top end and upper-mids, so the instruments sound closer.  My wife noticed it as well.  The funny thing is, if I played both for an audiophile and said the TP-Link was $3K, he'd probably want to buy it. ;-)  So, yes, there is a difference, but is it better?  Maybe after a week I'll become addicted, but when I told my wife the price of the LHY she said, "Oh, no." ;-)

@dogearedaudio I would save for a better DAC and not spend on switches. 

@audphile1 You don't need to convince me. ;-)  I just thought others would be interested.

op

by the listing of your components there shouldn’t be harshness... the weiss 204 is detailed but not at all harsh (i have the 502 4-ch) in a proper setup

i would suggest a few things

-- are you using a linear power supply to power your clean side tp-link switch/optical module?  you 100% need one there on the clean side

-- you should use a better quality module on the clean side (ie a sonore optical module as you mentioned, or one by lhy or gustard/matrix)

-- try finisar sfp modules

good luck

Just an observation but members who don’t have SFP facility at the streamer end have two conversions first from the router Ethernet to Converter box one, then out via optical fiber to converter box two where it is outputted back to ethernet.

So two boxes two power supplies two conversions. I don’t consider this to be an optimal solution as it runs the risk of reintroducing noise post the last conversion.

My router is in a difficult spot away from my listening room, so I use one TP optical converter fed by a short, high quality industry standard Cat7 cable from my router, then Finisar SFP module out of the converter via Corning single mode Optical Fiber all the way to my Lumin X1 via matching Finisar SFP module. I power the TP Link with a IFI Clean Power PSU and my results are superb.

One conversion One standalone Box One quality PSU.  I didn’t upgrade the router because they are expensive and noisy items anyway and having a SFP built in would likely not better the TP Link stand-alone properly powered unit.

Another observation by some contributors is the percieved Jitter issue the Optical Converter may introduce. I don’t consider this to be a "thing".

Optical converters aren’t “adding jitter” to the digital audio data stream per se. They can still introduce via (PSU, ground, RF) that just may influence the downstream clock domains if that noise couples in. I believe my one-step approach as outlined above removes this possibility without spending 100’s even 1000’s on an "Audiophile Optical Fiber Converter"

The optical fiber cable choice is crucial easpecially if you have to route it extensively, navigating corners and bends etc.. but I wanted most all the distance copvered by Fiber cable and Corning offerers me that quality as optical fiber cannot act like an antenna, where even well shielded Ethernet cable still can to a degree.

So if you have SFP on your streamer and its optimized which it should be if its offered, in my experience,it is far and away the best method of connecting your streamer to the outside world. One would need to ask youself why we moved away from copper to optical fiber all the way to your door. I have seen the data and heard the difference and its not subtle with my Lumin X1.

I dont find it fatiguing, I find it exciting and so enjoyable to have as close to total blackness in the soundstage as I am getting where music magically appears and dynamics have a weight and impact withopit searing my ears