Switches, Ethernet cables, routers, UnitiServe and all that jazz...

Sounds like a decent setup - i'd not worry and just enjoy the NDS. 

+1

+2

Linear power supply on the laundry ethernet switch, and try grounding the switch chassis to see if it helps lower the noise level.

New owner of Statement #001 finds his NDS/500 system sounds most musical when his local switch is stacked on the same power strip as NDS rather than a separate spur. I too have discovered similar benefits against the conventional wisdom of separation.  I think It's about localising ground return currents.

 He also has Sarum TA ethernet cables if you want to go the final yard....

HiFi Critic Vol 7 No 1 full test of NDS reported a final quality jump of 15% with local USB drive playback and all networking shut down, "quite unmistakeable when you hear it", so there are gains to be had optimising the network even with an NDS.

Your setup is startlingly similar to mine.

Internet modem/router, Time Capsule (for wifi only), nas, uServe all in my loft, all connected to an unmanaged switch. 

Audioquest Cinnamon ethernet cable from the switch to my Qute2, which plays music in my loft.

Switch connected to the loft wall, with internal wiring that goes from the loft to my laundry room one floor below.  In my laundry room I don't have a switch, just a female-female RJ-45 connector to connect to more internal wiring that goes to the wall in my living room yet another floor below.  Audioquest Vodka ethernet cable from the livingroom wall to my NDS.

I'm not sure that I'd benefit from a switch in the laundry room vs. the straight connector.  And I, too, did not want to put any other hardware in the laundry room; I'd have to build a shelf, and frankly it's easier for me to have it all in my loft all on one rack tucked away in a corner.

how does one 'ground the switch chasis'?

Run a wire from a screw on the back of the switch out the closest window, down the side of your house, to a metal spike inserted into the ground or to the water main entering your home.

Don't ground a switch chassis with shielded ethernet cables !!!

A LAN must only have one earth, multiple earths can carry a potential between different earth points

Hey Mike, you must be getting dizzy, what with my thread as well!

Dizzy  ???    tell me about it

Did you read this thread ........... https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...est-network-solution

My post about #10 has a diagram that shows a single earth LAN

I certainly did! When you see it displayed in a diagram like that, which is precisely how my set up is, even idiots like me can understand it! 

Nice one Mike! 

I'd try running a music server on your NAS and taking the US out of the loop. Easily reversible. You might be surprised, you might not. I was.

I ran the music server on my NAS for a while. I was very surprised that the UnitiServ made the difference it did. I'll revist that at some point. Need to optimize other stuff first.

Made a few changes today - and had a big positive improvement.

Did direct wiring in the laundry - essentially Just have one switch now. The Music network is connected to the internet via an airport extreme running in bridge mode - no physical connection between the music network and the router.

CableModem/Router is connected to a Airport Extreme - 1.

Airport Extreme 2 is connected to a switch which is connected to NAS, US, and NDS. Bypassing the switch in the laundry room.

Noisefloor now down to 0. 

An interesting approach.  The music network only needs access to the internet for (1) streamed content and (2) metadata lookup.  If (1) works to the extent you want it to over the wifi bridge -- why not!

So in my case, I'd want the uServe, the NDS and the Qute all connected to switch #1, which in turn is connected to an Airport Extreme, which in turn has a wifi connection to say another Airport Extreme that is connected to the switch #2 that my cable modem is connected to.  If I ever get bored I can try this. 

I tried to put a different switch in the laundry room - with nothing on it but the two cables - one for the NDS and one for the UnitiServe/NDS. 

Noisefloor went up immediately.

Leaves with me a problem -  how do I hook up my NDX to all of this? I don't see a solution, TBH, except running the NDX wirelessly.

Or using another airport express as a bridge to offload the wireless processing off the NDX.

Well if the NDX is in a room remote from the server, you have to run a cable in the wall or go wireless.  If you have to go wireless, it would be an interesting experiment to offload as you say; it would certainly let you use wireless ac which in and of itself would be a huge improvement, on top of offloading the processing which may or may not be audible.

This really proves the importance of setup - even and maybe especially for streaming devices. Even though the NDS decouples the ethernet input, I'm surprised at the big big difference this small change of removing one switch in the middle has made in my system.

This very well might be the issue that has plaguing me the last three years.

Hi Mango

You've made a fortunate discovery!  Ethernet/power noise seems the Achilles' heel of all these streaming solutions, and a significant arbiter of ultimate performance. 

In my case a local switch (on linear PSU) proved more transparent than the same remotely, for no rational reason except maybe localising ground currents.  However it seems very dependent on one's overall environment.....

@40 Below -

Did the Teddy Pardo PSU make a big difference on your NAS?

Hi Mango

I can only give you a part answer on this, because I changed course.

For a while I used my Synology DS213j with a second TP PSU (4.5A Unitiserve model), via 10m Ethernet to the US.  It made a good improvement at the time, but still fell significantly short of local USB in naturalness, retaining the 'digital edge' which I hate.  I subsequently 'debugged' my house mains configuration and found my laundry (housing servers) was unexpectedly on the same mains spur as the rig!  The root cause of many issues to that time, hence some re-siting and rewiring.  So can't call this experience representative.

Subsequently I moved my US-SSD music library from NAS to a LaCie 2GB USB powered drive on a Teddy 12V/2A supply, and depowered the NAS except for occasional rip.  My USB drive is cleaner and more open than a USB stick on the Unitiserve, which was the benchmark I was aiming for, so now very happy!  Although I've lost utility of the Naim metadata on my CD rips (ID3 tags are OK), the music makes up.  While mildly curious I haven't yet compared NAS on TP on a separate power spur, its on the long list of to-do's....

Suggest you try a USB stick (with WAV) into the front of your NDS as a reference test... I used a couple of well-recorded classical/acoustic pieces and worked backwards successively connecting/powering things up one-by-one to track the successive degradations being introduced. 

I've been fortunate to have enjoyed a couple of hours alone with Statement and my own music library on USB stick into NDS/2*DRs, those 16/44.1 rips sounded so consistently clear and musically revealing  

I've also heard Statement demoed with same NDS, and HDX UPNP server with WD USB drive powered by a Supercap as the music store (+ Sarum TA etc).  Its regarded as the 'gold reference' around here, getting the file-server data off the Ethernet switch delivering lowered noise floor.  Go figure...