Digital Hygiene

Yes, it's also always good to practice good aural hygiene...

Oh my, that‘ll be a long list: good linear power supply and grounding on the on the router; good cables, a reclocked switch witha good power supply, possibly fiber conversion but definitely other forms of galvanic isolation to the server, reclocking the USB connection and galvanic isolation to the dac, superb clock on the dac as well clean power supply, possibly complete shielding of all eqiopment against RFI/EMI; proper grounding for switch, server and Dac. I could go on with proper isolation against vibration for all components and power cables, as well as RCA or XLR analogue cables but that‘s probably still incomplete. Unfortunately in digital everything matters albeit differentially depending on set up.

+1 @antigrunge2     Everything matters.

. . .  with proper isolation against vibration for all components and power cables . . .

Physical vibrations, also.  Not only soundwaves/vibrations coming from the speakers, but mechanical resonance originating on the circuit board within the streamer or DAC itself.  

With my lightweight streamer - I put a 4 lb weight on top of the housing - along with a vibration draining footer* underneath.   Another incremental improvement.  

Quality digital components have many of these tweaks built into their construction.  That’s why they’re more expensive.

- - - 

* Not all footers drain the same.  Some dampen too much - others not at all.

In the past couple of months, I have made changes in this area that have been critically beneficial to sound quality.

Over the years I had previously effected the following other changes, in no particular order:

• Installed a Melco S100 Ethernet Switch purely for audio
• Upgraded both the streamer and DACs (see virtual system)
• Given the TV, Sky Satellite Box, etc. their own separate ethernet switch and connection to router
• Added linear power supplies for my Roon ROCK NUC  Server, Melco Switch, router and mode
• Put SSD storage in the NUC
• Put the NUC in a fanless case
• Isolated the Melco Switch from the rest of the network with a TP-Link Media Converter and SFP fibre
• Changed the connection between the Switch and my Linn DSM Streamer to SFP fibre
• Placed the streamer and DACs on IsoAcoustic Oreas and Puck Minis.
• Placed Synergistic Research Tranquility Pods under or over the Streamer, DACs, Melco switch and NUC server.

These produced improvement to a greater or lessor extent, but I have still not been happy with the sound of streaming for the past three years or so. In fact, I have much preferred listening to vinyl records.

Earlier this year, I made a break through when I discovered that Sky Q satellite tv box was causing a considerable amount of interference. I moved the NUC and Melco away from the Sky Q box to some bookshelves at the rear of the room. 

This change gave a remarkable improvement in the sound quality of streaming. Something really unpleasant about it disappeared. That was transformational. I found both streaming both local files and Qobuz were listenable again.

The improvement inspired me to try some more changes according to advice from a friend, online forums and AI that have collectively proved to further refine the sound of streaming, as follows:

• Upgraded the cable between the Melco Switch and NUC Server from Chord C-Stream to Melco C100
• Upgraded the cables between the Media Converter and router and modem to Melco C1AEs
• Upgraded the cable between the router and modem to Chord C-Stream
• Placed the NUC and Melco Switch on a Mana Power Supply Table
• Adjusted the Optimisation Preference of Space Optimisation of my Linn DSM
• Plugged the power supplies of the NUC and its switch directly into wall sockets eliminating a cheap mains trailing lead adapter
• Moved the router a short distance away from mains cables to prevent noise entering the house mains generally

As soon as I effected this last change a couple of days ago, I finally got the clean pristine sound that I was looking for. Difficult albums that sounded unpleasantly harsh are now listenable. Sound quality wise, streaming and vinyl records are now in the same ball park at least. I’d say that streaming is sterile and vinyl organic, but both are excellent. The choice between them is now only a matter of taste and mastering.

No intent to high jack this thread. My question is this; My  Xfinity router is in the basement. I'm running a 35' Linkup cat8 to the Ifi LAN PRO which is powered by a LHY battery pack. From there a .5m Silver ethernet to my Innuos Pulsar. From there to my DAC it's connected with a Audience Front Row usb. Besides the Silver cable, does anyone have any suggestions on improving my setup?  

                                Dan