The effects they described just reminded me of the TotalDAC USB cable but that's not really relevant nor is the comparison with USB. The things they heard though are relevant in this case and not desirable for me. 
Of course I would really need to listen to it in my own system to be sure, but for now I'm no longer interested in the Etalon.
Edit: the Melco's employ pulse transformers, nothing special as far as I can see. IMO Melco does some misleading marketing with their "light piped athernet ports" which suggests they employ some form of optical isolation but it just means the light of the LED's (that are outside of the connector) is led through a plastic "pipe" to the outside of the chassis. Isolation in ethernet is mandatory as it's part of the standard, it's present in any ethernet interface. (Even our Devialets!
). It provides galvanic isolation for DC and lower frequencies but it's not a brickwall filter, noise of higher frequencies still bleeds through.
Of course I would really need to listen to it in my own system to be sure, but for now I'm no longer interested in the Etalon.
Edit: the Melco's employ pulse transformers, nothing special as far as I can see. IMO Melco does some misleading marketing with their "light piped athernet ports" which suggests they employ some form of optical isolation but it just means the light of the LED's (that are outside of the connector) is led through a plastic "pipe" to the outside of the chassis. Isolation in ethernet is mandatory as it's part of the standard, it's present in any ethernet interface. (Even our Devialets!
). It provides galvanic isolation for DC and lower frequencies but it's not a brickwall filter, noise of higher frequencies still bleeds through.
PS Audio P3, Shunyata ΞTRON Alpha Digital and HC/Furutech power cables, Paul Hynes SR7EHD-MR4, DIY Roon Server & Roon Endpoint running AudioLinux Headless, Phasure Lush^2 USB cable, Audioquest Diamond RJ/E ethernet, Uptone Audio etherREGEN, Mutec MC-3+ USB, Shunyata ΞTRON Anaconda Digital XLR AES/EBU, Devialet Expert 250 Pro CI, Nordost Tyr Reference LS cables, Von Schweikert VR-5 SE Anniversary Edition, Anti-Mode Dual Core 2.0, JL Audio Fathom F112. More detail here.
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