"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation

[Snoopy8]

Hans Beekhuyzen is a good source for formal reviews and comparisons of audiophile Ethernet switches (in date order)

SOtM sNH 10G
AQVox AQ-Switch SE
Silent Angel Bonn N8  includes comparing using 3 streamers (Bluesound Node 2i, SOtM SMS-200 Ultra, Auralic Aries G2) and 3 switches (standard TP-Link 8 port switch, Silent Angel Bonn N8, SOtM sNH 10G)
Uptone EtherREGEN

[Flashman]

@kerkhoffd@David A@mdconnelly I had written previously that the Bonn N8 (Silent Angel) switch had solved the gigabit handshake issue between my Devialet Expert 220 Pro and Roon.  Well, that solution to get Roon RAAT (and better SQ than my standard Netgear switch) is no longer working properly, requiring me to constantly reboot the Devialet, only to find the problem reoccurring, sometimes within minutes.

So, I have bitten the bullet and ordered an EtherREGEN to take advantage of the 100mbps isolated port and to get what appears to be a nice leap in SQ.  I've read a lot of positive user reviews about the device on the Audiophile Style thread and viewed the Hans Beekhuyzen video review, which, to be quite honest, convinced me -- along with comments on this forum -- that this was the best path forward.

I'll get the EtherREGEN switch at month's end and report my findings.

[mdconnelly]

The EtherRegen may very well be the best path to a behaving Devialet Expert Pro if you've got gigabit ethernet. My cheap 100mbps switch seems to work just fine, but if the EtherRegen also promises improved SQ I just may have to jump. Agreed that the HB video review is quite compelling.

It's been a year since Devialet last released a firmware update for the Expert Pro so I'm not at all hopeful that Devialet will ever address this issue.

[David A]

@Flashman

I've had no problems apart from one hiccup which went away when I disconnected the EtherREGEN from power and reconnected it. It had been running for 3 weeks at that time and it's now been running without problems for 2 weeks since then. I have no idea what the issue at the time was but it did affect connectivity.

On the sound quality: I'm definitely getting an improvement in my system but while I could list specific aspects of sound which I think have improved, I think the biggest benefit comes from the way in which those aspects seem to work together. I'm noticing things in the sound which I hadn't noticed before, but I'm really appreciating facets of familiar music which I hadn't noticed before. The music itself just seems more compelling to me. I think you'll like it.

[mdconnelly]

@David A  - have you seen any symptoms whatsoever with stuttering, dropouts, paused music or "Audio files loading slowly..." errors while using the EtherRegen with your Expert Pro?   I would imagine that given the 100 mbps output of the eRegen, all would work just fine, but I just want to make sure before I pop for one.    Thanks for reporting on SQ!  There are a number of mixed reports (and skeptics) out there and it's tough to know how much merit to put into anything.  The Hans B review went a long way to convincing me that it will bring a nice improvement.

[kerkhoffd]

Thank you @Flashman for the update. In my setup the Bonn N8 works perfectly fine, but always interested in improving SQ. Would be very nice of you to share your comparison of Bonn N8 and EtherREGEN on SQ alone.

I have no clue what the EtherREGEN would cost with tax, postage etc. when sent to Europe. But if there is a significant jump in SQ, and cost isn't too high, I might also take the jump.

[Snoopy8]

I have no clue what the EtherREGEN would cost with tax, postage etc. when sent to Europe. 

https://www.metawave.org/products/access...therregen/

[David A]

@mdconnelly

I mentioned that I had had one connection problem with the EtherREGEN. It started with playback pausing and getting the "audio file loading slowly" ewssage with a CD quality stream, not a high res stream, and then a little while later I lost the Roon Ready connection but could get AIR. I ended up disconnecting the EtherREGEN and reverting to my previous switch for a couple of hours after rebooting the Devialet and the Nucleus+ didn't help. That evening I reconnected the EtherREGEN and everything worked perfectly and has worked perfectly since.

I don't think the problem was the RAAT problem that concerns you. The problem occurred on a Tuesday morning. I'd had to shut the entire system down and disconnect it from power the previous evening because of an electrical storm, and it occurred when I reconnected everything the next morning and started playing music. I'm wondering whether something went wrong in the EtherREGEN's boot process given that both my Nucleus+ and 140 were also booting at the same time. My initial reaction was to think of the RAAT problem and I tried the things that had worked for me when I had that problem previously when trying to stream 192/24 resolution files, ie restarting the 140 and restarting the Nucleus+ but those things didn't work which is why I resorted to swapping the EtherREGEN out for a while so I could think about it. I started to wonder whether all I needed to do was to restart the EtherREGEN so I reconnected it and started it up while the 140 and Nucleus+ were both running and everything worked perfectly and has since.

I did try streaming at 192/24 for a few hours with the EtherREGEN when I first got it and had no problems at all with the high res files. I don't have any native 192/24 files so I was using Roon to upscale standard resolution files to 192/24. I don't notice any improvement in sound from upscaling in Roon, and the Devialet automatically does it anyway, so I went back to streaming at native resolution once I had tried 192/24 for a few hours without problems.

So that's the story of my one problem. Apart from that one instance the EtherREGEN has functioned flawlessly for the whole 5 weeks it's been in the system. So yes, I did get paused music and the error message but those things can happen for reasons other than the bug in the Devialet's firmware. I've got no reason to think that the problem was related to our firmware issue and good reasons for thinking it was just a problem with something going wrong when I reconnected and restarted the whole system including the EtherREGEN after it had been disconnected for several hours.

[Flashman]

On the sound quality: I'm definitely getting an improvement in my system but while I could list specific aspects of sound which I think have improved, I think the biggest benefit comes from the way in which those aspects seem to work together. I'm noticing things in the sound which I hadn't noticed before, but I'm really appreciating facets of familiar music which I hadn't noticed before. The music itself just seems more compelling to me. I think you'll like it.

@David A I've been intrigued to read the various comments about ER on the UpTone-sponsored Audiophile Style thread, many which comport with your observations.  Besides providing a solution to the Devialet/Roon RAAT handshake, the improvement in SQ will be interesting to hear.  I understand that for many, ER takes some time to show its true colors.  We shall see.

[Flashman]

Thank you @Flashman for the update. In my setup the Bonn N8 works perfectly fine, but always interested in improving SQ. Would be very nice of you to share your comparison of Bonn N8 and EtherREGEN on SQ alone.

@kerkhoffd As with you, I have been really pleased with the Bonn N8.  I am just disappointed that the initial success in mitigating the Devialet/Roon RAAT handshake didn't last.  I am not too good at comparing set-ups (Bonn N8 vs. EtherREGEN) but I shall try to give my impressions on any SQ improvements!