Etalon ethernet isolator.

[Confused]

Is anyone clear regarding how these things work?  I am assuming that they do serve a purpose because otherwise industrial and medical versions would not exist.  However, taking the earlier thought of using the device with AIR, here packet data is sent to the Devialet which then buffers the data to internal memory, with the buffered data then leaving the buffer to do whatever Devialet AIR does to provide music.  So I am assuming that any noise in the Ethernet feed cannot be stored in the buffer to influence the actual data that is stored, then emerges out of the buffer.  So is it a case of simply keeping any electrical interference or noise away from the Devialet Ethernet port?  

That said, personally I do prefer the idea of something like the Etalon rather than stuff like the Intona, if only because the Intona introduces the need for additional LPSU's or similar.  That said I also note Antoine's earlier comments regarding it being a good idea to avoid passive filtering in the digital domain.  

Fascinating stuff, but somewhat confusing!  I know a lot of people have reported good results with network isolation, so I think there has to be some benefits, maybe it's one of those things that work for reasons 'not yet fully understood' in the world of digital audio.

Anyway, I will certainly be interested to read Guillaume's observations of this one.

Hi Confused
Actually, the Intona doesn't require any power supply, but takes power from whatever it is connected to. 

Alex.

Yes, thanks Alex.  I do like to keep things as factual as possible, but my Intona reference was nonsense in this context.  So thanks for spotting that.  Utter stupidity on my part!

To clarify, what I meant to say was that prefer the idea of the Etalon in comparison to 'optical bridge' type devices, that is Ethernet to Toslink to Ethernet converters, which do need external power.  Of course the Intona is a USB isolation type device, a different thing altogether.  Brain fade on my part in my earlier post.