Would I benefit from adding a switch?

The cables are round. Initially I had Cinnamons between the switch and the U.S. and SU, with bog standard lead between the switch and the router. Then I got Supra to replace the standard one, but found it was big and blue, which looks awful, as it runs around the edge of the room and can't be hidden. So I swapped it for Pearl, which sounded similar. A few months later I swapped the Pearl for Cinnamon, which not only looks better, as its a mellow reddy browny stripey affair, but sounds better too. The fact that all the wires are the same set feels more right somehow. The Forest is green (as one might expect!) which makes it a non starter in my room.

Note that the short cables have a nice woven braid, whereas the long ones have a plastic outer covering.

On my system it definitely does work. However, but if it all goes tits up, don't blame me!

Go on, go for it!!

Actually, I had to put 01. 02. 03. etc. Otherwise, track 10 would play first!...Having to do this on 400 albums though, is a bit of a ball ache. Why does Twonky do this? I don't think other media servers do it!

To reduce the amount of RFI injected into the network cables and thence coupled into the analogue circuitry of the streamer.

Network switches do need power -- typically provided by a "wall wart" type switched-mode power supply to convert AC to DC.  Lots of discussion on the forum here regarding the (potential for) creation of RFI by cheap switched-mode power supplies, resulting in audible distortion of the music.

Thanks HH for explaining that. As Simon & Mike have advised, I will start between the switch and the ND5 XS, then switch to router. The 10 metre run to my NAS will be the cruncher, although the guys have indicated, that particular run was least important. I only moved the NAS because of fan noise. Where is your Synology? It may be cheaper to get a silent NAS, and put it back in the front room, and connect it with a 1 metre Cinnamon.

I plug the Synology in about once a month to do a backup, so it's not really installed properly. I keep meaning to sort it out. I have my UnitiServe on the rack with the SuperUniti. There is a little Cisco switch on the bottom shelf, so I only need 0.75m length of cable, which is good, as the cost of £65 each is not too bad. Then there is an 8m run to the router. The picture is a bit rubbish, but you may just be able to see.

Really fascinating! I still have a spare 12v 4.5 a PSU from Israel. I will give it a try.

Fred

My Synology lives in the listening room inside a closed door cabinet along with its UPS & the switch.

It has a fan - I have it set to quiet mode which is its slowest fan speed & it controls the temp to not more than 5'c above ambient.

I have fitted 4x 19mm half hemisphere sorbothane feet (squishy) that helps deaden any slight vibration/noise from being amplified on the cabinet floor.  

In use its silent,  the only time I hear any noise is when the room is quiet & its going thru a manual switch off or on cycle, the noise is just the HD's whirring into position.

Thanks HH...I just remembered, your music is stored on your UnitiServe. Your Synology is just for your backups.

Are you gonna do it?

That's ok then. The fan on the Qnap is quite loud and annoying. They do a silent one, but it's about £350! If I'm going to pay that, I may as well get a 10 metre Cinnamon!

Cheers Scott.

Hi Bart, two points:

• how could one check whether this is indeed the case (I refer to the audible distortion). Would a comparison of same track from the NAS and the USB input of the streamer be indicative?
• assuming there is indeed an effect, would plugging in the switch's PS into a mains conditioner help?

Greg

Greg I"ve never heard this noise myself, but others here have written about it.  If you search "ferrite" and "RFI" here on the forums you'll see lots and lots and lots of posts.

My home is less than 10 years old.  The modern-day wiring and the general condition of mains power here in the States may account for me not experiencing some of the power issues that perplex some.  On the other hand, I have annoying lingering home networking issues that won't go away; we all have our crosses to bear I suppose. 

Another option... Fanless PC with SSD or hybrid/SSD drive. Super quiet.

Bart, often the effects of RFI are not directly audible unless really bad with some sort of breakthrough into the audio signal. However IME  the effects of the presence of RFI are similar to the effects of bad cable dressing, system support or mains supply. The audio can become brittle and less fluid and can sound fatiguing and/or lacking fine natural detail.

Technically the RFI is interacting with the audio circuitry at a very low level to cause intermodulation distortion. These are non harmonic sum and difference frequencies added to the audio path that affect the gain and feedback of analogue audio circuits, as well as frequency modulating precision clocks in digital circuitry.

I suspect some have RFI in their audio equipment and they are not aware its there, and therefore they are not hearing their system at its full potential. Sometimes you need to hear RFI removed to appreciate its there... and of course because there is always a spectrum of preference, some may actually prefer the effect of RFI distortion on thier audio.. especially if the system has been 'tuned' with RFI present.

Simon

Simon,

Are you suggesting experimentation with ferrite chokes on power and interconnect cables? It has been mentioned here much lately and seems to have a high VFM potential.

wrt to chokes...

The Star-Tec brand seem to be quite well speced:

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/lev...uleId=cpc/693254.xml

Data sheet

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1696279.pdf

Note the advice from the manufacturer is at least one turn...

Whoa   !!!!   don't bend your ethernets to look like that, it'll break um

Ethernet has bend radius limitations

I'm just saying this is what the manufacturers advise; picture from their site. Maybe not quite as tight then ;-)

I think the rough rule is 4 x cable diameter = radius

Scott: UPDATE!! I have just found a new server on the Qnap app store, called PLEX Server. I tried it last night You can have it alongside Twonky, and see which one you prefer. And...all the tracks are listed as per the original CD/download. First impressions are amazing!

Mike-B, Simon

A question on network (not mains!) earthing, if I may?

At the heart of the network is a Netgear GS108T managed ethernet switch, with all the electronic bits connected to it via Cat6 ethernet cables. These include:

• a mac mini (audio out via USB to DAC-V1, NAP140 & PMC DB1i speakers)
• Synology DS212+ NAS drive
• Apple Time Capsule - a broadband router cum 3TB back up hard drive, fed in series by a Virgin Media superhub (in modem only mode)
• another Netgear switch, an unmanaged GS105, located upstairs to feed the kids playstations etc.

I've ordered some ferrite chokes to play with on both ethernet & SMPS mains cables, to see if they make an audible difference.

Now, on the outside case of the Netgear GS108T case is a small, shiny, earthing tag - see the left end of the picture below:

 I have connected this via an insulated mains earth cable to the house earth.

Why? Because it seemed like a good idea to have an earth for all the shielded ethernet network and because the GS108T has a metal case.

However, if the Synology NAS drive is also earthed, then am I in effect creating a large earth loop by having 2 separate earth points (the switch & the NAS drive)?

I'm aware that if I had used Cat5e, then this might not be an issue because Cat5e isn't a shielded cable.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. 

Best regards, FT