Virgin SuperHub '2'

My advice is put it straight into modem only mode and hook up a decent router.

Thanks Garyi,

Im using  an old Netgear,(Virgin ), router connected to a SuoerHub in Modem mode and a TP Link Gigabit Router but I need to reduce the box count to be honest so my thoughts were if the latest SHUB is good then I'll go for that and keep the TP LINK router for extra ports.

i hope this makes sense..

I have a superhub 2 and it works well enough that I sold the expensive router I was using with my first superhub (which was shite). I'd suggest you try it first but I have a hell of a lot of stuff running through mine, including my Naim,  with absolutely no problems

What is the problem you have that you need to fix?

+1

-1!

I am running it fine without an additional router. I suggest you try it as is and only go with a router if you have a problem.

It would perhaps be useful to the op if those giving advice could confirm that they are actually using a superhub 2?

I'm guessing those of us with the dog laughably known as 'Superhub' will already own a separate router and, if not, wouldn't shell out £50 to upgrade to 'Superhub 2' when, for a few quid more, you could get a much better spec'd independent router?

G

See sticky above, we are looking into this, we had an issue last week with super hub blocking upnp replaced the router all fine with another brand ,checked some other Virgin hubs fine, this could be a rouge or Batch issue, trying to engage Virgin support! 

The new one is reasonably well equipped with dual band etc. Mine was free from Virgin and I tested it against the very well specced router I'd bought to use with the first superhub and it was good enough for there to be little point in keeping the router. If you can get one foc I would because mine has been pretty reliable

Superhub 2 is newer than the superhub but still approaching 2 years out of date. I certainly would not pay a penny for one from virgin.

There are some superb routers out there, I have a number of devices with AC wireless so that puts superhubs out of the picture straight away. Check out the asus RT AC-68U, just an awesome piece of equipment.

Big thank you for all your replies and advice. 

At at the moment I have an old MK-1 Superhub which initially I used as a router but its performance was poor so Virgin suggested reset the SH to Modem only which I've stuck to ever since. 

I had had an old Netgear Router which had 5 Ports but obviously one port was used to connect to the SH. Eventually I found I needed more ports so I bought a TP Link 5 Port Gigabit Router which i connected to the Netgear Router but what I really need is to cut the amount of boxes I have hence my reason to go back to Router/Modem plus just one extension router effectively taking the old Netgear router out of use. 

I suppose I could just keep what I've got for sake of just one box but I just want to simplify things and free up some much needed space. 

Having contacted Virgin yesterday they offered me a MK-2 Superhub for £20:00 but I refused to pay so then I was told that my Broadband will be upgraded to 50MB in November so I may get a free Superhub anyway. I think I'll hang on till then. 

Just to to say my setup is SuperHub as a Modem into a 5 Port Netgear/Virgin Router then I've connected a 5 Port TP Link Gigabit Router of which my Unitiqute is connected to. 

I presume the the above setup is correct ? It not then I'd be very grateful for any advice given.

Thanks again guys..

First, a Superhub 2 won't cure the ports issue as it's only a 4 port device, you'll still need an additional router or switch.

Your existing config will work fine, but may not be optimal for two reasons.

Networking:

If you use a switch rather than a router, then traffic that doesn't need to be sent to the streamer won't be sent to it, and it won't have to deal with as much network traffic.  This will reduce it's processing load and can improve sound quality.

Electrical:

Switches are simpler than routers, and have to potential to be less electrically noisy (particularly the 'green' type that can operate on reduced power levels).

If you connect your audio network devices (Streamer and NAS) to the switch and all other network devices (likely to be electrically noisy) to the Superhub, then the switch will help protect your audio setup from the electrical noise.  There are further measures you can take, but I won't go into those here.

Even if you keep your existing set-up, moving your audio stuff to the TP-Link router, and keeping all the other stuff on the Broadband 'Superhub' may bring audio quality benefits.  (If it doesn't then you probably need more RFI protection on the system).

Good advice

A L3 managed switch can control things better, but it needs quite a degree of networking proficiency to set it up correctly.

So, assuming you're not a networking expert (or you probably wouldn't be asking the question!)...

Go for an unmanaged switch with 'green power reduction'  i.e. it can run in a low power mode when the attached cables are of limited length.

Then make it dedicated to the audio network only; i.e. only attach your streamer and server to the switch (plus a single cable to allow it access to your router/switch that handles your broadband and computer stuff).

The switch I use is 100Mbps rather than gigabit (lower frequencies = less troublesome RFI) and has a low power demand and 5V power supply (for the same reason).

It's actually a D-Link DES-105.

Even with that I still need to use clip on ferrites to reduce the RFI.

I dont understand why you would only hang audio stuff off a switch, however my bit of advice is make sure the switch is centurally placed for maximum benefit, for me this is in the loft as on average the amount of hassle and cable needed to anywhere in the house is best managed from here

I would also say that as you get into this game you will regret not forward planning, I sure did. If you do go for a switch in the right location and decide to run some proper networking, double/treble/quadruple the wires because its amazing the bredth of things out there that can use it. I have 6 ethernet devices in the living room alone.

Ditto, which is why I have a switch under my tv

To avoid injecting additional RFI.

I dont buy that. Every thing has to link up in the chain eventually.

purchase a decent switch.

use it as it was intended and dont get sucked into the audio 'stuff', LAN networking was ticking along just fine without us a few years ago.

garyi,

The noise margin for Ethernet communication is about 0.5v.  The RFI noise margin before it starts to affect the audio performance of the streamer may be as much as a few millivolts (but is more likely to be in the microvolts range).

I'm not talking about RFI interfering with the Ethernet communication, but the effect on sound quality.  LAN networking was ticking along fine without high quality audio components attached to it (IP phones don't count as high quality; at least to my ears!).

What do you define as a 'decent' switch?

I was having problems running my NDX from a NAS and controlling it all with my iPad.

Having updated NDX firmware, resetting all elements several times etc it all got better but not 100%. I then upgraded from a Superhub  to Superhub 2 at 150mbps (getting over 160!) and after I fixed the IP address of the NAS all now seems to work as it should. I also upgraded this week to Naim's latest software on my iPad.

I used both Superhubs in router mode and used a simple 8 port switch to tack in the various network items around the house. Switch is a Trendnet Gigabit TEG-S82, Less than £20

Hope that helps?

NTD