USB2 to Cat5 converter
Posted by: ferenc on 26 September 2010
I got a chance to play with an Icron USB2 to Cat5(5e,6) converter and I like it a lot 
It can be used through a router or a Gigabit Ethernet switch or directly between the host computer and USB device. There is a transmitter and a receiver, the receiver is a 4 port hub as well with its own 5V, 3A power supply. I tried with my HiFace EVo and a i7 27 inch iMac with an USB DVB-T, tuner and 2 4 port USB hub with 7 external USB2 hard drives connected. It worked flawlessly, even when I was operating all the USB devices at the same time. If you want to have a chance not to use a computer in your music room, you need to put the USB2 hub receiver in the music system to connect your USB audio interface. Worked well without a glitch even with 192k/24 bit files.
Remote control of the iMac was an iPod Touch using remote app. The Icron 2104 is a cross platform device, works on Win, Mac and Linux, without driver installation.
So if you do not want a PC in your music room, but want to use a computer with your (Naim) DAC, it is a very convenient solution. I did not hear any problem with the sound quality, sometimes I even felt it was a bit more airy or smoother than the direct USB connection from the HiFace EVo to my Naim DAC I was told the receiver USB hub is using a small impulse transformer on the Cat5 connector, so grounding can have an effect probably or my senses were playing with me.
I hope to try the WiFi and Fibre version of the same Icron ExtremeUSB technology as well in a week or so.
It can be used through a router or a Gigabit Ethernet switch or directly between the host computer and USB device. There is a transmitter and a receiver, the receiver is a 4 port hub as well with its own 5V, 3A power supply. I tried with my HiFace EVo and a i7 27 inch iMac with an USB DVB-T, tuner and 2 4 port USB hub with 7 external USB2 hard drives connected. It worked flawlessly, even when I was operating all the USB devices at the same time. If you want to have a chance not to use a computer in your music room, you need to put the USB2 hub receiver in the music system to connect your USB audio interface. Worked well without a glitch even with 192k/24 bit files.
Remote control of the iMac was an iPod Touch using remote app. The Icron 2104 is a cross platform device, works on Win, Mac and Linux, without driver installation.
So if you do not want a PC in your music room, but want to use a computer with your (Naim) DAC, it is a very convenient solution. I did not hear any problem with the sound quality, sometimes I even felt it was a bit more airy or smoother than the direct USB connection from the HiFace EVo to my Naim DAC
I was told the receiver USB hub is using a small impulse transformer on the Cat5 connector, so grounding can have an effect probably or my senses were playing with me. I hope to try the WiFi and Fibre version of the same Icron ExtremeUSB technology as well in a week or so.