The Ethernet cables, Switches and Network related sound thread. Share your listening experience only.
May 3, 2024 at 12:40 AM Post #2,131 of 2,204
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May 3, 2024 at 1:00 AM Post #2,132 of 2,204
I don't know if this is of interest to anybody and a good solution using direct sfp?

Maybe overpriced and for rich people mostly. Maybe other brands can eventually make more cost friendly options.

It seems to have brought nice improvements for the reviewer.

https://the-ear.net/review-hardware/melco-c1-d20-sfp-a-direct-connection/
This is a special "audiophile" version of this cable category.
You get "non audiophile" versions for much less than 50 Euro.
Search for SFP+ Direct Attach Cable
 
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May 3, 2024 at 2:04 AM Post #2,133 of 2,204
This is a special "audiophile" version of this cable category.
You get "non audiophile" versions for much less than 50 Euro.
Search for SFP+ Direct Attach Cable
But will they sound as good?
Or are melco overcharging being known brand.

The review would have been more interesting comparing with a less expensive sfp+ cable then.
 
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May 3, 2024 at 3:54 AM Post #2,134 of 2,204
The review would have been more interesting comparing with a less expensive sfp+ cable then.
Indeed,
please be encouraged not to believe that all products labeled "audiophile" are musically superior to "non audiophile" ones.
Often it is quite the contrary. In all cases I would perform a comparison in my set-up and decide with my ears/brain which I prefer.
 
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May 3, 2024 at 7:14 AM Post #2,135 of 2,204
I will try but its easy to fall for more expensive is better thinking admittedly.
 
May 4, 2024 at 2:17 AM Post #2,137 of 2,204
I noticed turning off my 5g and 2g wifi from my router settings improved SQ in my overall system.

For desktop users, another thing I learned from @dunring , make sure all of the usb controllers in device manager have their "allow pc to turn off to save power" unchecked under power management.
Under edit power plan and change advanced power options make sure turn hard disk after is set to 0 ("so it'll never put your SSD/NVME drive into standby mode"), and put USB selective suspend settings to disabled.
 
May 4, 2024 at 2:59 AM Post #2,138 of 2,204
I noticed turning off my 5g and 2g wifi from my router settings improved SQ in my overall system.
I found this too - an audible negative effect of having wifi switched on router - even on low transmit power and after inserting fibre media converters between router and downstream gear and putting copper shielding between (and around) router and audio gear. Pretty inconvenient having wifi off though so have an access point I’ve been meaning to setup some distance from router and hifi gear with cheap FMCs in between.
 
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May 4, 2024 at 4:40 AM Post #2,139 of 2,204
I noticed turning off my 5g and 2g wifi from my router settings improved SQ in my overall system.

For desktop users, another thing I learned from @dunring , make sure all of the usb controllers in device manager have their "allow pc to turn off to save power" unchecked under power management.
Under edit power plan and change advanced power options make sure turn hard disk after is set to 0 ("so it'll never put your SSD/NVME drive into standby mode"), and put USB selective suspend settings to disabled.
Do the same on the network adapter in device manager.

1714812017274.png

1714812035704.png
 
May 4, 2024 at 6:20 AM Post #2,140 of 2,204
Another great tip: Never mix different speeds of ethernet on the same segment/network. 10/100/1000

"Flow control...is a way for a network device to tell its immediate neighbor that it is overloaded with data"

In short on network this is basically a bottleneck. Nothing wrong with any of the speed, but they need to be the same on same segment for best practice and performance.

1714817946312.png
 
May 4, 2024 at 8:07 AM Post #2,141 of 2,204
For those of you who use Fileserver/NAS. It could be really interesting if you setup a ISCSI target and compared vs NFS.

I want to believe there is no difference but ISCSI seems like it has a better timing. I hear no difference in sound quality, but the timing/layering(0-5%) is well controlled...could be make-belief.

I test between to different foobar portable installations on same drive.

——

Wasapi(SHARED) was used.
 
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May 6, 2024 at 8:12 AM Post #2,142 of 2,204
For those of you who use Fileserver/NAS. It could be really interesting if you setup a ISCSI target and compared vs NFS.

I want to believe there is no difference but ISCSI seems like it has a better timing. I hear no difference in sound quality, but the timing/layering(0-5%) is well controlled...could be make-belief.

I test between to different foobar portable installations on same drive.

——

Wasapi(SHARED) was used.
After 12 hours of AB.....ISCSI is nothing less than amazing! - same NAS same network setup as a typical NFS share.
 
May 8, 2024 at 1:27 AM Post #2,143 of 2,204
I don’t suppose anyone here is one of the early adopters of this new Afterdark (AD) switch by any chance and can comment on how it compares to other switches? FWIW AD do include a testimonial on the AS special offer page from someone who purports to be a Phoenix Net user.

I ask as with the great result I got with my Rosanna-moonlighting-as-fancy-FMC (a level over the Teradak OCXO version which is pretty nicely built itself, see link below) I’m seriously considering one or more other Afterdark networking products, especially with their Munich special offer (they’re a bit expensive at full retail, but good value after discount especially if one already has or intends to get an external clock, or in the case of some of their other networking products that take a DC 5v input, a high quality external LPS).

IMG_0209.jpeg

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...le-switch-high-end-munich-2024-special-offer/

https://www.adark.co/collections/pr...udiophilestyle-edition?variant=40135100629110

Teradak link - https://kamaudio.com/TeraDak-T-S212-SFP-media-converter
 
May 8, 2024 at 2:00 PM Post #2,144 of 2,204
Basic question here. I'm looking to improve, if possible, my network setup. I have a router/modem unit that I'm stuck with as it's the only one the ISP uses. And the way my house is situated, the router/modem is in the furthest room possible away from my audio setup. So I'm using a wifi extender to get the signal, then hardwiring from the extender into my Innuos streamer/server unit which supplies my music (mostly Tidal, some local files).

I don't have any other things plugged into the wifi extender other than the Innuos. Is it possible to improve upon this configuration at all? I can't hardwire from the main router/modem (impractical), I've already tried powerline network adapters (didn't work/noisy). I have linear PSUs on the main router/modem and the wifi extender. Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.

In a nutshell:
Main router/modem → [wifi] → Wifi extender → [ethernet cable + SOtM iso-CAT 6 isolater] → Innuos Zen streamer/server
 
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May 8, 2024 at 3:08 PM Post #2,145 of 2,204
Basic question here. I'm looking to improve, if possible, my network setup. I have a router/modem unit that I'm stuck with as it's the only one the ISP uses. And the way my house is situated, the router/modem is in the furthest room possible away from my audio setup. So I'm using a wifi extender to get the signal, then hardwiring from the extender into my Innuos streamer/server unit which supplies my music (mostly Tidal, some local files).

I don't have any other things plugged into the wifi extender other than the Innuos. Is it possible to improve upon this configuration at all? I can't hardwire from the main router/modem (impractical), I've already tried powerline network adapters (didn't work/noisy). I have linear PSUs on the main router/modem and the wifi extender. Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.

In a nutshell:
Main router/modem → [wifi] → Wifi extender → [ethernet cable + SOtM iso-CAT 6 isolater] → Innuos Zen streamer/server
I have a similar network setup for my bedroom rig. I find that using a dedicated 2.4 GHz band set to 20 MHz for the wifi extender gives the best SQ. No other 2.4 GHz clients connected. You can use a tri-band wireless router to do that. I don't have any other 2.4 GHz clients. So I just use a two-band wireless router.
I use 2.1 kg ground boxes with silver 14 AWG wires on the modem, router and extender. Connected to unused USB inputs. It does make a difference- lowers high frequency noise. Using silver DC-cables on the LPS's + upgraded fuses also makes a positive difference. I use HiFi-tuning silver supreme.
 

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