aqvox audiophile ethernet switch/ se

Hard to say until you've listened to one I suppose but there are many unsuspected areas where we cna get improvements we'd never have dreamt of years ago.

you are right, it is only a review and it is better to listen to it to know.  For myself i will keep my cisco 2960, which gives more involvement and body to the music, vs my last netgear gs105.

I have also tested the tcxo paul pang switch with hdplex ps, but found the sound a bit lean vs the cisco.

£750 represents a significant contribution towards the cost of combined store/renderer (Core, Melco, Innuos Zenith etc), which need have no network effects at all, and no need for any other fancy network components...

Innocent Bystander posted:

£750 represents a significant contribution towards the cost of combined store/renderer (Core, Melco, Innuos Zenith etc), which need have no network effects at all, and no need for any other fancy network components...

the new cisco 2960 costs nearly the same.....  and have positive sound effects with a core or unitserve and very probably innuos zenith ( in upnp mode).  The melco has 2 switch, so it must be different...

I have recently gotten the "entry" Aqvox-8 switch. The rationale was simple: it costed ballpark as a good LPS which seems to be a recommendation for switches / NAS's. I cannot (and haven't tried to) do a comparison with my older basic switch. It is was one of those "belt and suspenders" moves to have the feeling you have taken all reasonable precautions...

In fairness switches can easily cost north of a grand, I guess whats going on here is being able to sell expensive gear to people willing to pay when they don't need too. Expensive switches are aimed where expensive switches are needed, certainly not at home.

The only possible way it could be justified to purchase an 'audiophile switch' (!) is if your main hifi is at the very highest level. Certainly by this stage music is a secondery consideration anyhow, so may as well fill your boots.

If I was spunking that sort of money on a switch I would fancy one of those ubiquiti ones, just because the interface is so purdy. As good a reason as any! 

My personal opinion is for the home gamer, ebay is your friend, I have a 48 port netgear in use and 3 24porters spare in the garage, all less than a hundy each.

This whole audiophile network stuff is just snake oil if you ask me. Will it make my colours better and my picture less soft on my video streaming gear too. No didn't  think so. 

even on devialet forum, the members were not convinced by this switch, enough to buy it. It uses also the tcxo inside as paul pang switch.    But few reviews on it, i will not say definitely that i don’t believe in sound improvement with it. The costly new cisco 2960 , bought second hand, had an impact on music.....so a good quality switch seems important in the chain.

What good is a clock with further decimal accuracy going to do for an asynch system playing audio? I can pull the Ethernet cable and audio still plays. What happens to all that extra fine clocking?

Jinjuku posted:

What good is a clock with further decimal accuracy going to do for an asynch system playing audio? I can pull the Ethernet cable and audio still plays. What happens to all that extra fine clocking?

i have no technical responses , just can testify that a better switch has an impact on sound quality. I had before a common netgear switch : i connected to it a linear ps which improved the sound by a clear step . Now the cisco 2960, a 700GBP new switch, used by some on this forum : the music is more involving, with more grip, bass and body.  Second hand cisco 2960-8tc, easy to find on bay site...  For technical answers, ask Simon in the suffolk.

Switches vary in terms of analogue noise on the data lines (random variances in the amplitude domain, below the digital switching threshold, but still enough to get electromagnetically coupled into the sensitive analogue electronics) and jitter (random variances in the time domain, less then the period of the digital clock, but these also get electromagnetically coupled into the sensitive analogue electronics where they resolve as though they are analogue noise).

The Cisco 2960 series are very precise switches with very high quality PSUs and together these factors reduce artefacts transmitted down the Ethernet cables and noise injected back into the mains.

The Cisco 2960 is not the only one. It makes the sound smooth, natural but feeling that there is curtain still. However, HP1410-8G (very cheap) with linear Power supply is much better in my system (NDS/2x555PS, Avantgarde amps & Duo XD speakers), more dynamic, better resolution, etc... Naturally cabling affects as well.

French Rooster posted:

Jinjuku posted:

What good is a clock with further decimal accuracy going to do for an asynch system playing audio? I can pull the Ethernet cable and audio still plays. What happens to all that extra fine clocking?

i have no technical responses , just can testify that a better switch has an impact on sound quality. I had before a common netgear switch : i connected to it a linear ps which improved the sound by a clear step . Now the cisco 2960, a 700GBP new switch, used by some on this forum : the music is more involving, with more grip, bass and body.  Second hand cisco 2960-8tc, easy to find on bay site...  For technical answers, ask Simon in the suffolk.

I'm a CCNP. I have racks of Cisco/Juniper/HP Procurve collecting dust. 

Not sure how your response answers my clock question. 

Given that the reviewer's DAC has virtually the same 'denoising' functionality as the AQVox Switch SE, its hardly surprising that he couldn't hear a difference. Like washing your car twice in succession .....rarely gets it any cleaner.  

What about avoiding additional network devices, by connecting a NAS directly to the streamer (a QNAP HS-251+ / ND5 XS combo in my case) ?
Would that solution improve or decrease the SQ ?

Digitalbow posted:

What about avoiding additional network devices, by connecting a NAS directly to the streamer (a QNAP HS-251+ / ND5 XS combo in my case) ?
Would that solution improve or decrease the SQ ?

your nas has not two lan ports i think, so you can’t.

It can be done but its not practical, no UPnP etc.,   & no it does not make SQ any better,  or at least not better enough to justify the absolute  PITA of not having iPad/Android browse & control, no iRadio & web streaming

@French Rooster
the QNAP HS-251+ has got two lan ports actually :-)

@MIKE-B
Just finished to experiment...
thanks to the QNAP 'Virtual switch' feature I managed to have both worlds' benefits: NAS is linked to the external world (internet, Android browse and control, iRadio) through lan port #1, also it is linked directly to ND5 XS through lan port #2;
the 'Virtual Switch' I created through the QNAP procedure, allows for the two worlds to talk each other.
I personally tested Android browsing and control and iRadio streaming.
Probably due to the 'non-perfectly optimized' network and appliances of my house, SQ has neatly improved from the previous layout, where the NAS was 'behind' a switch, 10-15 meters of in-wall network cable (run-of-the-mill cat6 unshielded cable), a socket wall and, finally, the last two meters of cable to the the ND5.

Over the Computer Audiophile site one can read a lot (and rather positive comments, for that matter) about modified switches by SoTM (capacitors and clock). 

Thanks for the info on how to do it with a 2 port NAS.    I only had a 1 port when I tried it.

Digitalbow posted:

@French Rooster
the QNAP HS-251+ has got two lan ports actually :-)

@MIKE-B
Just finished to experiment...
thanks to the QNAP 'Virtual switch' feature I managed to have both worlds' benefits: NAS is linked to the external world (internet, Android browse and control, iRadio) through lan port #1, also it is linked directly to ND5 XS through lan port #2;
the 'Virtual Switch' I created through the QNAP procedure, allows for the two worlds to talk each other.
I personally tested Android browsing and control and iRadio streaming.
Probably due to the 'non-perfectly optimized' network and appliances of my house, SQ has neatly improved from the previous layout, where the NAS was 'behind' a switch, 10-15 meters of in-wall network cable (run-of-the-mill cat6 unshielded cable), a socket wall and, finally, the last two meters of cable to the the ND5.

 

ok, good to know.  

FR - This particular switch is reviewed in the latest issue of Critic. MC seemed to find it produced a mild improvement in his setup. 

James

I have just dumped my tp link switch and upgraded to a ubiquiti unifi 8 port switch. I have been amazed by how much better my NDS sounds. This change was not done to improfe the sound but for other reasons but this added benefit made my purchace even better value for money.