Switch location and Ethernet cable advise

Yes. 

Yes .... but,  define audiophile cable & your expectations.

???? Popeye,....I also say yes.
It is an advantage if the distance between the switch and streamer is short,..the distance between the switch and modem/router can be long.

I,and they I know,use ehternet cables between the switch and streamer which is between 0.75 cm to 1.5 m long.

/Peder ????

Borrow a couple of audiophile cables from your dealer and try them out first. I did, using a £1,000 Tellurium Black Diamond and a £450 Chord Epic Reference internet cable - no discernible difference, so kept my £5 stock Cat 6 patch leads. I’m sure they work for some people in certain situations, but why part with so much folding stuff for no good reason?!

There is also a potential benefit to keeping cheap consumer electronics like routers and their power supplies physically and electrically separate from the hifi. I would keep it a good distance away, and on a separate mains circuit if possible. 

Thanks guys. I noticed in my original post It maybe interpreted that I use a switch now but I don’t, just modem and separate router that has 5ports I think it is, all in use. 

Seems crazy to add in a switch into the equation and it could help with sound. 

Please remind me of the switch that is recommended, bearing in mind I will be only using one port. 

Willing to give it a go and see if it makes any difference however. 

Popeye, the switchports on your broadband router which will be absolutely fine.. unless you are using a very old device.

A switch will provide benefit if you have a lot of devices neddeding to talk ro each other some distance from your router switch ports.. the benefit is that the switch provides increased host capacity (the number of devices that can be plugged into your network) and reduces the amount of Ethernet cabling.

if you do want to get an additional switch, many seem to say (including me me) that the Cisco Catalyst switches work well and arguably produce less link layer noise and therefore sound better on connected streamers.. an example of a Catalyst switch is a Cisco 2960... where older  models/discontinued variants  can be bought secondhand quite cheap,y. Go for an 8 port version as they are silent and have no noisy fan(s)

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Popeye, the switchports on your broadband router which will be absolutely fine.. unless you are using a very old device.

A switch will provide benefit if you have a lot of devices neddeding to talk ro each other some distance from your router switch ports.. the benefit is that the switch provides increased host capacity (the number of devices that can be plugged into your network) and reduces the amount of Ethernet cabling.

if you do want to get an additional switch, many seem to say (including me me) that the Cisco Catalyst switches work well and arguably produce less link layer noise and therefore sound better on connected streamers.. an example of a Catalyst switch is a Cisco 2960... where older  models/discontinued variants  can be bought secondhand quite cheap,y. Go for an 8 port version as they are silent and have no noisy fan(s)

Thanks Simon

I don’t need the additional ports of a switch but it was more a thought as to rather than getting a Audiophile data cable 3m long, putting a switch within a meter of the NDX and then I would only need a 1m Audiophile data cable. 

Not sure if there would be a benefit?

???? Popeye,....It is this below you should have,it was manufactured between 2007 and 2013.
Make sure to buy one as late as possible.

We have had to do a recapp on two Ciscos from 2007,so better to buy as late as possible.

You can read outside on the Cisco when it is manufactured,so that information you can have before you buy the Cisco.

They cost no more than £40-70:-,take one with a normal powercord.
There is also a variant with "power over Internet" if you know about it,but a normal with powercord is easiest.

????Cisco WS-C2960-8TC-L.

I take the liberty to copy in a post,review from another thread written by Marcus.....???????????? 

------------------------------------------------------------

Hi!

Sorry for the late feedback but finally I managed to test a Cisco 2960 in my system.
I’ve had a 2 week vacation and it also took a week to take delivery of the switch after ordering.
 Okay, so does a switch improve SQ in my system?

Yes it does! Thank you Simon and the rest of you that suggested the Cisco 2960 .

I’ve compared “no switch” vs Netgear GS105 vs Cisco-switch.
With “no switch” as baseline I get an audible improvement by adding the Netgear switch “between” wall outlet and my Melco NAS.
When exchanging the Netgear switch for the Cisco the improvement is twice as big (at least).
The connection is from wall outlet: cheap “freebee” Ethernet cable from wall outlet to Cisco switch, cheap “freebee” Ethernet cable from Cisco switch to Melco NAS and finally Chord Sarum SA from Melco NAS to my Naim streamer.

I also tried to connect the switch earlier in the signal chain, after my Router but before the cable in the wall leading up to the wall outlet next to my system.
 Here I can also hear an improvement but I would say it’s something like half the improvement compared to the switch connected closer to my system.

So the conclusion is that I “need” the Cisco switch and it needs to be connected close before my Melco NAS.
 The idea now is to have a 3m long cable from wall outlet to switch, 1m cable from switch to Melco NAS and 1m cable from Melco to Naim streamer.
 I will hide the switch underneath the brawn-stack in my setup.

I have also made a few tests with Ethernet cables.
Starting with cheap “freebee” Ethernet cables in all three positions I have tried to insert my Sarum SA in the different locations.
 The last meter (between Melco and ND555) is by far the most important location to my ears but I can also hear improvements in the other two locations where switch to Melco is the second most important location.

Adding the Sarum SA between the wall outlet and switch also improves the SQ but less so compared to the other positions. No real surprise there…
Next step should be to borrow a couple of Ethernet cables from my dealer and experiment a little more.

Will I get an improvement when using cables of a little bit better quality (instead of cheap “freebee” Ethernet cable) in all three positions simultaneously?

/Marcus
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/Peder???? 

Popeye posted:

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Popeye, the switchports on your broadband router which will be absolutely fine.. unless you are using a very old device.

A switch will provide benefit if you have a lot of devices neddeding to talk ro each other some distance from your router switch ports.. the benefit is that the switch provides increased host capacity (the number of devices that can be plugged into your network) and reduces the amount of Ethernet cabling.

if you do want to get an additional switch, many seem to say (including me me) that the Cisco Catalyst switches work well and arguably produce less link layer noise and therefore sound better on connected streamers.. an example of a Catalyst switch is a Cisco 2960... where older  models/discontinued variants  can be bought secondhand quite cheap,y. Go for an 8 port version as they are silent and have no noisy fan(s)

Thanks Simon

I don’t need the additional ports of a switch but it was more a thought as to rather than getting a Audiophile data cable 3m long, putting a switch within a meter of the NDX and then I would only need a 1m Audiophile data cable. 

Not sure if there would be a benefit?

The benefit will be subjective with respect to the cable between switchport and streamer...you will hear changes between most cables, of all prices... in many ways the Ethernet cable is acting as a kind of RF stub on the streamer, and therefore it’s characteristics will slightly adjust the noise profile...by all means try a boutique cable, but please don’t feel you must pay a lot here for a better performance in regards to  SQ... equally good results can be had for a few pounds, but be prepared for some trial and error.

On the latest streamers you can completely disconnect and the streamer plays out for quite a while, and so one can really hear what if any effect the Ethernet cable / switch  is having on those devices.

Short answer - No

Long answer - No

Kiwi posted:

Short answer - No

Long answer - No

????????????????????????????????????????????

/Peder???? 

^   The many faces of Peder!   ^   

Huge posted:

^   The many faces of Peder!   ^   

????????????

/Peder????