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"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation
Hello guys, on Saturday evening with my dealer (one of my longest and oldest friends) carried out a network switch test in one of his studios!
We have heard of the following network switches:

Linksys LGS 105
Cisco 15 ..
AQVOX SE
Silent Angel Bonn N8
Melco S100, with SBooster power supply

Listening environment:
B&W 800
Devialet 220 Pro
MCIntosh MA9000
Roon Nucleus+ (Tidal, Qobuz HiRes)
AESTHETIX ROMULUS Digital-to-Analog Converter with CD Transportand PANDORA Digital-to-Analog Converter

Wiring, all Transparent Audio, except network cable Audioquest Diamond.

We heard and compared each switch individually.
AQVOX SE and Melco S100 remained until the end.

Melco S100, paid and taken with you !!
Theme network switch is thus done for 2020, and no longer a topic for me (only for me no longer a topic Smile )
Aavik U-280 / Audio Physic Cardeas / Melco N1ZS + D100 / Melco Switch S100 / KECES P8 Dual / Transparent Audio PowerWave X / Cable: Audioquest, Shunyata, Transparent, Ansuz Digitalz A2 Ethernet, USB
Remote: iPad-Pro
Roon Nucleus+(B), Lifetime / Qobuz Studio Sublime                                                                                                          
Germany / Bavaria
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(22-Dec-2019, 15:42)K4680 Wrote: Hello guys, on Saturday evening with my dealer (one of my longest and oldest friends) carried out a network switch test in one of his studios!
We have heard of the following network switches:

Linksys LGS 105
Cisco 15 ..
AQVOX SE
Silent Angel Bonn N8
Melco S100, with SBooster power supply

Listening environment:
B&W 800
Devialet 220 Pro
MCIntosh MA9000
Roon Nucleus+ (Tidal, Qobuz HiRes)
AESTHETIX ROMULUS Digital-to-Analog Converter with CD Transportand PANDORA Digital-to-Analog Converter

Wiring, all Transparent Audio, except network cable Audioquest Diamond.

We heard and compared each switch individually.
AQVOX SE and Melco S100 remained until the end.

Melco S100, paid and taken with you !!
Theme network switch is thus done for 2020, and no longer a topic for me (only for me no longer a topic Smile )

Would you be able to elaborate more on what you heard during the test?

Is the Melco S100 much better than the Bonn N8?

Thanks.
Reply
(22-Dec-2019, 17:16)nicoludio Wrote:
(22-Dec-2019, 15:42)K4680 Wrote: Hello guys, on Saturday evening with my dealer (one of my longest and oldest friends) carried out a network switch test in one of his studios!
We have heard of the following network switches:

Linksys LGS 105
Cisco 15 ..
AQVOX SE
Silent Angel Bonn N8
Melco S100, with SBooster power supply

Listening environment:
B&W 800
Devialet 220 Pro
MCIntosh MA9000
Roon Nucleus+ (Tidal, Qobuz HiRes)
AESTHETIX ROMULUS Digital-to-Analog Converter with CD Transportand PANDORA Digital-to-Analog Converter

Wiring, all Transparent Audio, except network cable Audioquest Diamond.

We heard and compared each switch individually.
AQVOX SE and Melco S100 remained until the end.

Melco S100, paid and taken with you !!
Theme network switch is thus done for 2020, and no longer a topic for me (only for me no longer a topic Smile )

Would you be able to elaborate more on what you heard during the test?

Is the Melco S100 much better than the Bonn N8?

Thanks.

Hi, of course everyone records their personal listening impressions! I personally liked the Melco the best. We have not compared the Bonn with the Melco!
Aavik U-280 / Audio Physic Cardeas / Melco N1ZS + D100 / Melco Switch S100 / KECES P8 Dual / Transparent Audio PowerWave X / Cable: Audioquest, Shunyata, Transparent, Ansuz Digitalz A2 Ethernet, USB
Remote: iPad-Pro
Roon Nucleus+(B), Lifetime / Qobuz Studio Sublime                                                                                                          
Germany / Bavaria
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Thanks, I am confused though. Were you not able to listen to the Bonn and the Melco at the dealer?
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(22-Dec-2019, 17:35)nicoludio Wrote: Thanks, I am confused though. Were you not able to listen to the Bonn and the Melco at the dealer?

Hello, of course we heard all the switches. Unfortunately, the Bonn N8 didn't make it to the end. The Melco has a better detail, more clarity and calm. As i said, all personal perceptions. Wink

Best sound, but only 100MBit output !!!
Aavik U-280 / Audio Physic Cardeas / Melco N1ZS + D100 / Melco Switch S100 / KECES P8 Dual / Transparent Audio PowerWave X / Cable: Audioquest, Shunyata, Transparent, Ansuz Digitalz A2 Ethernet, USB
Remote: iPad-Pro
Roon Nucleus+(B), Lifetime / Qobuz Studio Sublime                                                                                                          
Germany / Bavaria
Reply
Funny how that works and surprising results.
Aurender N10 - Kharma Enigma Signature AES/EBU - Devialet 400 - MIT SL-Matrix 28s - Audio Physic Virgo 25 Plus - IsoAcoustics Gaia II - AudioQuest Diamond RCA-AES between Master and Companion - Silent Angel Bonn N8 - AudioQuest Diamond Ethernet cable - Keces P3 with Hifi-Tuning Supreme 3 Silver fuse - GigaWatt 16A automatic circuit breaker - Vibex One 6 Cu - Shunyata Research ΞTRON Alpha Digital and ΞTRON Z PC-10 powercords - Qobuz 24 bit Studio

The Netherlands
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(22-Dec-2019, 18:17)K4680 Wrote:
(22-Dec-2019, 17:35)nicoludio Wrote: Thanks, I am confused though. Were you not able to listen to the Bonn and the Melco at the dealer?

Hello, of course we heard all the switches. Unfortunately, the Bonn N8 didn't make it to the end. The Melco has a better detail, more clarity and calm. As i said, all personal perceptions. Wink

Best sound, but only 100MBit output !!!


Thanks.
Reply
(21-Dec-2019, 19:04)mdconnelly Wrote:
(19-Dec-2019, 06:57)Elztalbiker Wrote: Yes, I had this trouble. Tidal>Roon>Devialet. Now it‘s gone .


Gesendet von iPad mit Tapatalk
It appears that the Bonn N8 is all gigabit ethernet.   So if Roon RAAT to your Expert Pro now works flawlessly via the Bonn N8 where before it did not (at gigabit speed) then that's a huge win (in addition, of course, to all the other sound quality benefits it would seem).
@mdconnelly@David A As with @Elztalbiker I may now stream -- without problem -- gigabit Ethernet via my Devialet Expert 220 Pro/Roon RAAT using the (Silent Angel) Bonn N8 switch.  Works with local files, Tidal music and DSD files.  So, in addition to providing an illuminating musical experience, it's solved what was previously (for me) an intractable problem.  A bit of a Christmas gift in advance!
Devialet Expert 220 Pro Kinki EX-M7 power amp tethered to a fiber-fed Lumin X1 streamer via Grimm XLRs, Vivid B1 Decade speakers in Rosso Barchetta red (only 200 produced in a limited edition), Roon Nucleus with a Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SSD, etherREGEN switch fed by a Sonore opticalModule (and Sonore-supplied transceivers and 1M optical cable) with a SOtM dCBL-Cat7 cable to my Nucleus and a DH Labs Reunion Cat8 to my Lumin T2 streamer, Keces P8 linear power supply feeding a (to come) NUC and EtherREGEN switch with an external AfterDark OCXO clock., and opticalModule (5V/1A), AudioQuest Niagara 1000 power conditioner, ASI LiveLine loom (purchased directly from Franck Tchang when I lived in France), Less Loss Firewall for Speakers and Roon lifetime license with Tidal streaming.
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@Flashman

That is good news but may I ask a question. What resolution files are you streaming? I don't think Tidal has anything above 48 kHz, at least I haven't noticed anything including their NQA files which unpack to higher resolutions but stream at 48 kHz or less in my experience.I understand that DSD 64 is equivalent to around 88.2 or 96 kHz and DSD 128 would be twice that.

I'm streaming over a gigabit connection via a Cisco switch and don't get problems unless I do something like having Roon upsample everything to 24/192 which definitely triggers issues for me but DSD 64 and 24/176.4 and lower aren't issues for me. I'm not certain what the issue is but Roon say it's a buffer handling problem on Devialet's part. High res files can certainly trigger it but I don't think it's so much the resolution as the fact that more data is involved, the buffer size is measured in milliseconds so higher res files means more data gets held in the buffer and I wonder whether how much data is held in the buffer is part of the issue, but given that some people have problems streaming at CD resolution and I don't, I think there are other factors involved as well. It seems as if changing switches has been very beneficial for you but I've tried a number of nion-qaudiophile switches in my system over the last 10 months (switches from Netgear, D-Link, and Cisco, and also a Netgear Orbi hub's ethernet ports, and had similar good luck with all of them. My experience is that any standard switch works just as well for me as any other. I'm happily enjoying my success but I wish I knew what was going on and why what I'm doing works for me but doesn't for others. I'd also like to know why changing from one gigabit switch to a different gigabit switch worked for you and @Elztalbiker when changing to other switches hasn't worked for other people here.

Having the Roon Ready connection work is really great but it seems to be a hit or miss thing. I don't think either of us have solved the problem, we've each just found our own way to avoid it in our individual setups. What I really want is to see the problem solved for everyone with no need to resort to limiting connection speeds or the file resolutions we stream or having to change switches or the like. I just want to see Devialet fix the underlying problem.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.

Brisbane, Qld, Australia
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(24-Dec-2019, 06:55)David A Wrote: @Flashman

That is good news but may I ask a question. What resolution files are you streaming? I don't think Tidal has anything above 48 kHz, at least I haven't noticed anything including their NQA files which unpack to higher resolutions but stream at 48 kHz or less in my experience.I understand that DSD 64 is equivalent to around 88.2 or 96 kHz and DSD 128 would be twice that.

I'm streaming over a gigabit connection via a Cisco switch and don't get problems unless I do something like having Roon upsample everything to 24/192 which definitely triggers issues for me but DSD 64 and 24/176.4 and lower aren't issues for me. I'm not certain what the issue is but Roon say it's a buffer handling problem on Devialet's part. High res files can certainly trigger it but I don't think it's so much the resolution as the fact that more data is involved, the buffer size is measured in milliseconds so higher res files means more data gets held in the buffer and I wonder whether how much data is held in the buffer is part of the issue, but given that some people have problems streaming at CD resolution and I don't, I think there are other factors involved as well. It seems as if changing switches has been very beneficial for you but I've tried a number of nion-qaudiophile switches in my system over the last 10 months (switches from Netgear, D-Link, and Cisco, and also a Netgear Orbi hub's ethernet ports, and had similar good luck with all of them. My experience is that any standard switch works just as well for me as any other. I'm happily enjoying my success but I wish I knew what was going on and why what I'm doing works for me but doesn't for others. I'd also like to know why changing from one gigabit switch to a different gigabit switch worked for you and @Elztalbiker when changing to other switches hasn't worked for other people here.

Having the Roon Ready connection work is really great but it seems to be a hit or miss thing. I don't think either of us have solved the problem, we've each just found our own way to avoid it in our individual setups. What I really want is to see the problem solved for everyone with no need to resort to limiting connection speeds or the file resolutions we stream or having to change switches or the like. I just want to see Devialet fix the underlying problem.
David, I probably need to do some more experimenting.  Unfortunately, I have shut Roon down as I am leaving home and won't be back until late January.  At that point, I can do additional testing.  I am likewise puzzled as to why I can stream gigabit Ethernet in my setup, where previously it would not let me do so unimpaired.  I am pretty sure that that I upsample to 24/192 in Roon as a practice but I would need to check that when I return.  More later...
Devialet Expert 220 Pro Kinki EX-M7 power amp tethered to a fiber-fed Lumin X1 streamer via Grimm XLRs, Vivid B1 Decade speakers in Rosso Barchetta red (only 200 produced in a limited edition), Roon Nucleus with a Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SSD, etherREGEN switch fed by a Sonore opticalModule (and Sonore-supplied transceivers and 1M optical cable) with a SOtM dCBL-Cat7 cable to my Nucleus and a DH Labs Reunion Cat8 to my Lumin T2 streamer, Keces P8 linear power supply feeding a (to come) NUC and EtherREGEN switch with an external AfterDark OCXO clock., and opticalModule (5V/1A), AudioQuest Niagara 1000 power conditioner, ASI LiveLine loom (purchased directly from Franck Tchang when I lived in France), Less Loss Firewall for Speakers and Roon lifetime license with Tidal streaming.
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