linear ps for switch and routers

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

sbilotta posted:

sbilotta posted:

I put an ifi on a Paul Pang switch and there was a clear (even if not dramatic) improvement.

Should be getting an LPS-1 soon and will swap it out and let you know the outcome.

Got the LPS-1 and after some running in I put it on the Paul Pang switch last night (being fed by the ifi) and the improvement was very clear.

so lps 1 is an improvement over ifi power on your switch?    do you have an optical bridge or ethernet isolator?  

Yes, LPS-1 is definitely better than the IFI.

I had an optical bridge but I didn't feel it bettered anything so I took it off, but it is also true that I have Acoustic Reveive Lan Isolator (which does work !) so probably that is already doing a good job and made the optical bridge less (or not) worthwhile.

ok, interesting... and your lan cable with nds, what is it?

Keler Pierre posted:

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

sbilotta posted:

sbilotta posted:

I put an ifi on a Paul Pang switch and there was a clear (even if not dramatic) improvement.

Should be getting an LPS-1 soon and will swap it out and let you know the outcome.

Got the LPS-1 and after some running in I put it on the Paul Pang switch last night (being fed by the ifi) and the improvement was very clear.

so lps 1 is an improvement over ifi power on your switch?    do you have an optical bridge or ethernet isolator?  

Yes, LPS-1 is definitely better than the IFI.

I had an optical bridge but I didn't feel it bettered anything so I took it off, but it is also true that I have Acoustic Reveive Lan Isolator (which does work !) so probably that is already doing a good job and made the optical bridge less (or not) worthwhile.

ok, interesting... and your lan cable with nds, what is it?

Currently using a good but stock cat6 STP, before I was using a Tera Grand cat7 i.e. not real "audiophile" lan cables

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

sbilotta posted:

sbilotta posted:

I put an ifi on a Paul Pang switch and there was a clear (even if not dramatic) improvement.

Should be getting an LPS-1 soon and will swap it out and let you know the outcome.

Got the LPS-1 and after some running in I put it on the Paul Pang switch last night (being fed by the ifi) and the improvement was very clear.

so lps 1 is an improvement over ifi power on your switch?    do you have an optical bridge or ethernet isolator?  

Yes, LPS-1 is definitely better than the IFI.

I had an optical bridge but I didn't feel it bettered anything so I took it off, but it is also true that I have Acoustic Reveive Lan Isolator (which does work !) so probably that is already doing a good job and made the optical bridge less (or not) worthwhile.

ok, interesting... and your lan cable with nds, what is it?

Currently using a good but stock cat6 STP, before I was using a Tera Grand cat7 i.e. not real "audiophile" lan cables

ok, because some said than lan isolator like yours, with audioquest diamond lan cable( as mine) is too much and dynamic is affected.   You have not diamond, so it is ok.        For my switches i will certainly take in the future better ps than ifi power , perhaps an uptone js2 to power my unitserve ( and replace my tp ps) and also power in the same time my first switch.  So my 2 ifi power ps i just received will power my optical bridge... or just uptone lps1 on my first switch....  i don't know yet ...?

Good choice the JS-2 in your scenario !��

sbilotta posted:

Good choice the JS-2 in your scenario !��

thanks.  you have certainly a nas powered by a linear ps?

Keler Pierre posted:

sbilotta posted:

Good choice the JS-2 in your scenario !��

thanks.  you have certainly a nas powered by a linear ps?

no      (it has an internal PS - Qnap 469)

another reason why I appreciate my lan isolator.

Just thought I'd give an update after my second LPS-1 arrived.

First thing I did was replace the IFI on my Paul pang Switch --> noticeable improvement as expected. I stayed like this for a week and then today I did a few interesting changes.

1. I re-inserted the FMC loop between my NAS and switch, powered both my second LPS-1 and used the IFI to power the switch --> improvement still

2. I then put the FMC loop after my switch and before the mR --> slight improvement

3. I then took off the Acoustic Revive RLI-1 from just before the mR --> no improvement. It seems that the  RLI-1 does a good of a job as the FMC loop but with it (or vice versa) is redundant

4. so I then put the RLI-1 before the switch and after the NAS (that leg of the network had isolation) --> again an improvement

sbilotta posted:

Just thought I'd give an update after my second LPS-1 arrived.

First thing I did was replace the IFI on my Paul pang Switch --> noticeable improvement as expected. I stayed like this for a week and then today I did a few interesting changes.

1. I re-inserted the FMC loop between my NAS and switch, powered both my second LPS-1 and used the IFI to power the switch --> improvement still

2. I then put the FMC loop after my switch and before the mR --> slight improvement

3. I then took off the Acoustic Revive RLI-1 from just before the mR --> no improvement. It seems that the  RLI-1 does a good of a job as the FMC loop but with it (or vice versa) is redundant

4. so I then put the RLI-1 before the switch and after the NAS (that leg of the network had isolation) --> again an improvement

 

4. before the switch and after the nas? i don't understand: if it is after the nas, it isolates what?

so you use fmc and acoustic revive isolator, fmc  isolates the micro rendu but acoustic revive?

thanks for clarifying me.

For myself, i received the uptone js2 which power now my unitserve and my tp link switch before nds. The first tp link is powered by ifi power and the first switch after router ( to unitserve) is powered by tp ps ( which was before on my unitserve): the improvement is dramatic!  i have now the soundstage and softness and separation of instruments improved and also the power/ prat and urgency of the cdx2/xps2. I think i have more than 20% improvement of the nds, more than the step between xps2 and 555 dr on my nds!  

Keler Pierre posted:

4. before the switch and after the nas? i don't understand: if it is after the nas, it isolates what?

so you use fmc and acoustic revive isolator, fmc  isolates the micro rendu but acoustic revive?

thanks for clarifying me.

 

Hi Pierre, I meant that between my NAS (without LPS) and the switch there was no galvanic isolation and hence all those nasty electric gremlins could get with the signal to my switch; by putting the acoustic revive before the switch I clean the signal before getting to the switch and this has an impact on sound quality.

Putting the same acoustic revive in the same leg of the network where the FMC was already isolating (and hence cleaning) the signal, there was no apparent sonic benefit. 

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

4. before the switch and after the nas? i don't understand: if it is after the nas, it isolates what?

so you use fmc and acoustic revive isolator, fmc  isolates the micro rendu but acoustic revive?

thanks for clarifying me.

 

Hi Pierre, I meant that between my NAS (without LPS) and the switch there was no galvanic isolation and hence all those nasty electric gremlins could get with the signal to my switch; by putting the acoustic revive before the switch I clean the signal before getting to the switch and this has an impact on sound quality.

Putting the same acoustic revive in the same leg of the network where the FMC was already isolating (and hence cleaning) the signal, there was no apparent sonic benefit. 

all seems to be well working for you now, as for me.  When i put the js2 on my unitserve, which had tp ps before, the sound improved by an important margin.  My unitserve is like a nas in my system.  So, may i suggest you to try in the future a different nas with big linear ps as uptone audio, or a melco?   I am not sure, but i feel that your nas ( with its own ps) may be a little limiting.  But perhaps not...   I say that because of my recent experience with js2 on unitserve.

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

4. before the switch and after the nas? i don't understand: if it is after the nas, it isolates what?

so you use fmc and acoustic revive isolator, fmc  isolates the micro rendu but acoustic revive?

thanks for clarifying me.

 

Hi Pierre, I meant that between my NAS (without LPS) and the switch there was no galvanic isolation and hence all those nasty electric gremlins could get with the signal to my switch; by putting the acoustic revive before the switch I clean the signal before getting to the switch and this has an impact on sound quality.

Putting the same acoustic revive in the same leg of the network where the FMC was already isolating (and hence cleaning) the signal, there was no apparent sonic benefit. 

do you think i have to try acoustic revive between the switch and unitserve?   the fmc is before my nds...   thanks

nigelb posted:

I put an iFi iPower (£45) on my Netgear switch, then replaced them with a managed Cisco switch with an integral linear power supply (£50 pre-loved) and have a cuddly toy linear power supply on my UnitiServe. All these changes produced some subtle improvement to these cloth ears. I would however recommend taking a placebo pill with each change to appreciate the full improvement in sound quality. 

CISCO makes switches with linear power supplies? Is that true of all their various models?

Kevin Richardson posted:

nigelb posted:

I put an iFi iPower (£45) on my Netgear switch, then replaced them with a managed Cisco switch with an integral linear power supply (£50 pre-loved) and have a cuddly toy linear power supply on my UnitiServe. All these changes produced some subtle improvement to these cloth ears. I would however recommend taking a placebo pill with each change to appreciate the full improvement in sound quality. 

CISCO makes switches with linear power supplies? Is that true of all their various models?

I very much doubt it's true or any of their switches!!

Keler Pierre posted:

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

4. before the switch and after the nas? i don't understand: if it is after the nas, it isolates what?

so you use fmc and acoustic revive isolator, fmc  isolates the micro rendu but acoustic revive?

thanks for clarifying me.

 

Hi Pierre, I meant that between my NAS (without LPS) and the switch there was no galvanic isolation and hence all those nasty electric gremlins could get with the signal to my switch; by putting the acoustic revive before the switch I clean the signal before getting to the switch and this has an impact on sound quality.

Putting the same acoustic revive in the same leg of the network where the FMC was already isolating (and hence cleaning) the signal, there was no apparent sonic benefit. 

do you think i have to try acoustic revive between the switch and unitserve?   the fmc is before my nds...   thanks

From my experience, a form of galvanic isolation in that leg of the network should improve things, be it Acoustic Revive or other.

Kevin Richardson posted:

nigelb posted:

I put an iFi iPower (£45) on my Netgear switch, then replaced them with a managed Cisco switch with an integral linear power supply (£50 pre-loved) and have a cuddly toy linear power supply on my UnitiServe. All these changes produced some subtle improvement to these cloth ears. I would however recommend taking a placebo pill with each change to appreciate the full improvement in sound quality. 

CISCO makes switches with linear power supplies? Is that true of all their various models?

Not aware of any - and would not really be very sensible if they did. All the Cisco equipment I know with power supplies use quality switched mode power supplies

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

sbilotta posted:

Keler Pierre posted:

4. before the switch and after the nas? i don't understand: if it is after the nas, it isolates what?

so you use fmc and acoustic revive isolator, fmc  isolates the micro rendu but acoustic revive?

thanks for clarifying me.

 

Hi Pierre, I meant that between my NAS (without LPS) and the switch there was no galvanic isolation and hence all those nasty electric gremlins could get with the signal to my switch; by putting the acoustic revive before the switch I clean the signal before getting to the switch and this has an impact on sound quality.

Putting the same acoustic revive in the same leg of the network where the FMC was already isolating (and hence cleaning) the signal, there was no apparent sonic benefit. 

do you think i have to try acoustic revive between the switch and unitserve?   the fmc is before my nds...   thanks

From my experience, a form of galvanic isolation in that leg of the network should improve things, be it Acoustic Revive or other.

 

Remember all Ethernet links are galvanically isolated - otherwise they would be unreliable and most likely unworkable and non compliant.

Simon

simon had finally convinced me, i am waiting for the cisco 2960 now. We will see if it will replace my netgear/tp linear ps.

It feels like we could simply work around these problems and issue by moving to the UnitiCore. Saves you the need to have two linear psus (1 one for NAS and 1 for US)...

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Kevin Richardson posted:

nigelb posted:

I put an iFi iPower (£45) on my Netgear switch, then replaced them with a managed Cisco switch with an integral linear power supply (£50 pre-loved) and have a cuddly toy linear power supply on my UnitiServe. All these changes produced some subtle improvement to these cloth ears. I would however recommend taking a placebo pill with each change to appreciate the full improvement in sound quality. 

CISCO makes switches with linear power supplies? Is that true of all their various models?

Not aware of any - and would not really be very sensible if they did. All the Cisco equipment I know with power supplies use quality switched mode power supplies

Yes, I am not correct. The Cisco switch has a SMPS, not a linear one.

Sorry for the misinfo.

MangoMonkey posted:

It feels like we could simply work around these problems and issue by moving to the UnitiCore. Saves you the need to have two linear psus (1 one for NAS and 1 for US)...

for what i am hearing about the core, almost every day on different topics, i would not go for the core yet. ( too many problems with metadata). As for the linear ps in the core, i don't know how good it is.  Personally i don't have a nas...

But in absolute terms you are right, the core can make the economy of a linear ps. 

Personnaly, if i had not a recent serve with uptone js2, i would go rather for the innuos zenith, or wait until all is fixed in the core. 

Given that one can rip into uncompressed flac using dbpoweramp (and I don't believe naim rips are special), the uniticore seems good to me already. I don't really care about it's meta data editing facilities or lack thereof. I've never bothered changing the meta data even once when I had the UnitiServe...

MangoMonkey posted:

Given that one can rip into uncompressed flac using dbpoweramp (and I don't believe naim rips are special), the uniticore seems good to me already. I don't really care about it's meta data editing facilities or lack thereof. I've never bothered changing the meta data even once when I had the UnitiServe...

it is difficult to me to make a synthesis of all actual problems with the core, and metadata is not perhaps the good term, but my english is limited, sorry.

Some users are complaining about a lot of albums missing after the transfer from their nas, or albums split in different tracks and a lot of bugs... Phil Harris is receiving a lot of mails of members who have problems with the core.  A lot of users are saying it is a shame that naim had sold a not finished product and some want even to sell it...

I had the core at home one month ago: it was a catastrophe !  i had a lot of bugs and half albums missing,  the downloading with the app could never stop ( 15 hours for 200 albums...), and a lot of blank covers....

As for sound quality, vs my serve / tp ps, it was nearly indistinguishable.  With my new ps, the core is far behind...

Did you compare upnp vs  coax when you had the UnitiCore?

MangoMonkey posted:

Did you compare upnp vs  coax when you had the UnitiCore?

no, because the nds is better as player. But the coax of the core must be better than the serve- the core has a linear ps inside, not the serve. I could have compared, by curiosity, coax with core and serve/tp ps but the upnp with nds/ serve is so much better than coax , so i found no interest personally to compare.

MangoMonkey posted:

Did you compare upnp vs  coax when you had the UnitiCore?

i must add that the big difference between coax and upnp is when network is upgraded with quality lans, isolation like optical bridge or isolators, and linear ps on switches. Without this, the coax can even sound better. It was my experience, but i am not alone. 

With upgrading network, it is night and day!   I was very sceptical at the beginning, but now i don't regret my near 2000 pounds investment on network. It is a real jump in sound quality.