Replacement for dead switch

Netgear is sound use one myself well made fr what they cost.

Yes I use GS105 and GS108 switches all over the house. You turn them on, plug in the cables and forget about them.

best

David

The Netgear GS105 /GS108 Prosafe Gigibit switches are rock solid (IME) & I doubt anyone has any evidence to say they are better or can be bettered by another in that price category.    The GS 1 series are being replaced by the 3 series.   If looks are an issue (the 1 & 3 series are steel cased & look utilitarian) Netgear make desktop versions GS205 / GS208 & GS605 / GS608  

I found my Netgear GS105 very reliable, and it needed no configuration at all, just turn it on and plug in the leads, and it works. Mine is now redundant as I've changed to a fibre optic switch and cabling, which have been equally simple to set up and use, and the very thin cables were much easier to run through the house.

Hal, the little Netgear switches are robust and easy to use, but I do have the question of SQ. In some recent informal investigations I have been looking into why different switches and media servers 'sound' different... there has been a general assumption in audiophile circles it's 'RFI' and to do with the powersupply, but that is too simplistic and IMO doesn't really address the issue. I am coming to the conclusion that the switching port carrier clock stability/jitter in the switch might have an effect on SQ in the connected streamer... its effects are not dissimilar to SPDIF transport clock jitter into modern separately clocked DACs.. that is the jitter causes intermodulation crosstalk as opposed to directly affecting the DAC clock... not least because TCP is completely asynchronous 

Therefore you might want to look at a used little 8 port Cisco 2960 or similar as I have found these sound better than the Netgear GS range. Unfortunately this carrier jitter specification is often not  mentioned or published outside of very specialist network documents and devices... so is a bit trial and error, but in digital audio SQ timing appears to be a dominant variable..

if you get a used 2960 get your seller to fully reset it so that it runs like a regular un managed switch.. unless you know how to configure it...

Simon

The Cisco SD-100D-08 unmanaged switches seem to work well.

Thanks again for your time. 

Simon, it is quite interesting to read your findings with regard to switches. I flew over some of your posts on this issue. It is disturbing to be aware of nasties injected by those small boxes when it comes to streaming. 

I checked the price of that Cisco switch (new). Gulp, seriously?! It should be indeed good. We all strive here to get better SQ but it is just a UQ2, not a high end streamer. If Netgear boxes are robust and easy to use then they should be good enough in my bottom feeding setup. Unfortunately, evilbay is a no go.

Well, let me continue going down my path in streaming where ignorance is bliss for me

Hal posted:

Thanks again for your time. 

Simon, it is quite interesting to read your findings with regard to switches. I flew over some of your posts on this issue. It is disturbing to be aware of nasties injected by those small boxes when it comes to streaming. 

I checked the price of that Cisco switch (new). Gulp, seriously?! It should be indeed good. We all strive here to get better SQ but it is just a UQ2, not a high end streamer. If Netgear boxes are robust and easy to use then they should be good enough in my bottom feeding setup. Unfortunately, evilbay is a no go.

Well, let me continue going down my path in streaming where ignorance is bliss for me

I think Simon's suggestion is a counsel of perfection and many forum members are very satisfied with the Netgear GS1** range. No doubt the newer GS3** will be fine too. At about £20 for a GS105, it's cheap enough to buy and give it a try.

best

David

Of course it is and appreciated.  Maybe I have not made myself clear in my previous post.

Thing is I am not fully comfortable or satisfied (or both) with streaming yet, after all these years. I have almost tried everything that I learned from this venerable forum to get it right but there has always been a catch.  I set my standart pretty low, if UQ2 works properly and delivers, be it via NAS, Tidal, Spotify or iRadio then it is fine. I prefer pleasure listening on a CD based setup.   

So an unmanaged GS108 it is then (not that I need but extra ports can be handy).. I've placed an order for it. Cheers!

HAL of course a GS switch will work just fine - when you later get an upgrade itch - these are the things to look at along with higher quality ethernet leads - think of it like using a quality digital transport with a quality SPDIF lead - a basic Sonos will work wonderfully but you can can get better but you start to pay for it... such as a Melco or a certain Cisco switch....

S

I'm curious, my ndx is now connected directly to the Apple extreme WiFi router. Is there a need to put a switch in between? Does this improve SQ? 

kaydee6 posted:

I'm curious, my ndx is now connected directly to the Apple extreme WiFi router. Is there a need to put a switch in between? Does this improve SQ? 

I would have thought that it wouldn't improve SQ. Sometimes using a switch improves discovery and makes the network more stable but if all of that is ok for you then I would leave it as it is.

best

David