Meicord, Supra or something else?

Obsydian posted:

 

       ..............   what model Netgear switch did you install  & what/how was the switch function previously,   another switch or a wireless router (make & model)  

I went from a Sky router to muso, to the Sky router to Netgear 105 switch to the muso

As the impacted anal glands at Photobucket have crashed my '3rd party' posts in an attempt to extort money,  I've deleted this (original) post with the offensive Photobucket notice & reposted with the missing circuit diagram (courtesy of Imgur).  

105 is missing an important prefix,  I hope you have the Netgear GS105 (Gigabit 1000mb/s switch) rather than the FS105 (Fast 100Mb/s switch)      I suspect the improvement is because of the Sky hubs 100Mb/s ports combined with the hubs switching management that may not be managing the data packets as a pukka switch.        

Although 100Mb/s (100BASE-T) is the stnd for all audio streaming,  I've both experienced & read numbers of reports of some of the low end hubs & switches with so call 'Fast' 100Mb/s ports being improved by changing to Gigabit versions.  In my early experiments with streaming I went from routing NAS-NDX via a 100Mb/s BT hub to via a Netgear GS105 (branch off to BT hub) just as you have,   & the change was very obvious.   

So 20m of Meicord has turned up. Not time to run it out today but hopefully in the morning. It does look well made. There are different coloured inserts in either end, one black, one white. No idea which way round it's designed to work (or even if it matters) so will try black end at the router, white end at the switch. 

Finkfan posted:

So 20m of Meicord has turned up. Not time to run it out today but hopefully in the morning. It does look well made. There are different coloured inserts in either end, one black, one white. No idea which way round it's designed to work (or even if it matters) so will try black end at the router, white end at the switch. 

The twist in ethernet cable & its twisted pairs has mirror-inverted geometry at one end compared to the other,  the coloured ends are CW & CCW wire route managers to optimally route the twisted pairs into the RJ45 plugs.   MeiCord don't claim the cable to be directional other than suggest you try it yourself.     I tried swapping my short NAS--Switch cable around, no diff that I could detect.   I ended up white end on NAS & black end on NDX (just for consistency of cable twist from one end of the LAN to the other)  

Hope you enjoy - feedback required.   

I had some time this morning and so ran out the Meicord through the house to the office. I listened to a few tracks that I'm familiar with via Tidal HIFi, using my existing cat7 directly from router into switch 2 with Supra cat8 from switch to 272. I then plugged in the Meicord directly from router to switch 2. I was hoping to hear no changes to the sound and initially I didn't. Great, just as I thought and money saved. However after listening to a few more tracks I felt something WAS different. It was subtle but there was something. It was similar to when I added an ipower to switch 2. A slight smoothing of the sound. Slightly cleaner. I switched back to the cheap cat7 and I could here that the soundstage has decreased ever so slightly and everything sounded a little thinner. Will have another Listen this evening, but so far I'm quite impressed by this cable and surprised that it has an effect between router and switch. 

Good feedback Finkfan,  & surprising considering it's only on the broadband hub to switch branch.    Did you try a test for directionality ???   I'm not going mad, honest,  it's just that I am temporarily moving all my stuff next week & its an opportunity if such madness does exists.    

Hi Mike. Yes I was surprised to hear a difference but all quite subtle as you'd expect. I did try the cable both ways and I couldn't hear any difference at all. 

Mike-B posted:

Good feedback Finkfan,  & surprising considering it's only on the broadband hub to switch branch.    Did you try a test for directionality ???   I'm not going mad, honest,  it's just that I am temporarily moving all my stuff next week & its an opportunity if such madness does exists.    

Oh I hope not! Otherwise it'll involve major upheaval.

Finkfan posted:

...........    I did try the cable both ways and I couldn't hear any difference at all. 

Phew !