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"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - Printable Version

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RE: "Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - salk61 - 07-Jul-2020

I got my first “audiophile” switch almost 2 years ago; an Audiovox SE. The sound was noticeably better than my TP Link switch which I junked. Until recently, I was quite satisfied and contented with the sound. Then I saw the reviews about the Uptone audio EtheRegen and ordered it with a Keces P8 Power supply. The sound was more full-bodied but I immediately noticed that it added significant Coloration to the sound and the highs we a bit too shrill for my liking. Even after giving it ample break in time, I really didn’t like it. Then I took the big plunge and ordered the €4150 JCat M12 gold switch. After letting it break in for two weeks, I actually quite like the sound. But here is the catch: to get the best sound out of it you have to get the JCat optimo duo 3 linear power supply which is another €1500 So the total cost ends up being €5650 inclusive of two ethernet cables. That’s a ton of money and after listening to my system a lot of people may say that the Audiovox SE is a great bang for the buck at €900. If I were to do it all over again I’d most likely get the Melco S100 which is $2200 and you get to choose your own ethernet cables with it rather than being stuck with the one supplied with the M12 Gold switch. In its defense, the M12 gold has what I would call a mature sound that grows on you and is an acquired taste like fine Wine and cigars. My next project would be a very interesting piece of equipment called the fiberbox II Which is made in Hong Kong and I just ordered it in the extreme version which is around $1500. I should get it in a week and it will be interesting to see how much of a claimed noise isolation it provides. The link is below

https://www.howenint.com/products/fiber-box-ii

Most likely a better option than the TP link ethernet media converters. I think the only money that has been wasted was on the EtheRegen, not my cup of tea


RE: "Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - David A - 07-Jul-2020

I'm not certain that it's a better option than the TP Link converters if you want galvanic isolation.

I'm using an ETHERRegen and like it, and don't notice any coloration, but I won't dispute your statements about what you hear. What I will talk about is galvanic isolation.

My audio system is connected to a dedicated circuit. My router, in a different room, is on one of my household circuits. The dedicated circuit provides a good degree of galvanic isolation for the audio system but I lose that if I connect a copper ethernet connection all the way from the router to my Roon Nucleus+ and 140 Pro. The ETHERRegen helped a bit by providing isolation when the signal crossed its moat but I wondered whether it was possible to do better.

Instead of connecting the ETHERRegen directly to the ethernet wall point which provides a connection to my router, I connected a TP Link converter to the wall point and connected its power supply to a power output on the same circuit as my router. I used a fibre optic connection from the converter to the ETHERRegen which gets its power from the dedicated circuit for the audio system so there is now no copper wired connection between the audio system on the dedicated circuit and the router and other household devices on other circuits,. The fibre optic run makes the connection between the audio system on the dedicated circuit and all devices not on the dedicated circuit. That made a very noticeable difference.

The problem I see with the Fibrebox II is that it powers the converters at both ends of the fibre optic link from the same power input so it can't provide complete galvanic isolation, the output is connected to the same power circuit in your house as the input is connected and that means that both input and output are susceptible to the same noise components from your household power.

If you want to get the most galvanic isolation possible you need to have the input and output ends of the fibre optic link getting their power from different circuits so that means using 2 separate conversion devices, not combining the two in a single box with a single power supply.

There may well be better ethernet to fibre converters than the TP Link devices, and I find myself wondering about whether or not I would benefit from something like the Sonore optical module instead, but I know from my experience to date that I get better results when the switch and audio system are on a different power circuit to my router and other household devices and the router end of the fibre optic link is not connected in any way to the same power circuit as the switch and audio system. It's not possible to do that with the Fibre Box device.


"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - nicoludio - 07-Jul-2020

(07-Jul-2020, 16:56)Antoine Wrote:
(07-Jul-2020, 13:01)Petter Wrote: yea

with little luck maybe some even have tried it

Based on experiences I read from others (don’t remember where I read this, I read too much! Wink) your etherregen will outperform the Silent Angel Bonn N8 and so if it is really a rebranded one, the Chord switch as well.


Think that it was Hans Beekhuyzen who came to the same conclusion too.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Io4SDi5hLxs


RE: "Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - Snoopy8 - 07-Jul-2020

(07-Jul-2020, 18:24)salk61 Wrote: I got my first “audiophile” switch almost 2 years ago; an Audiovox SE. The sound was noticeably better than my TP Link switch which I junked. Until recently, I was quite satisfied and contented with the sound. Then I saw the reviews about the Uptone audio EtheRegen and ordered it with a Keces P8 Power supply. The sound was more full-bodied but I immediately noticed that it added significant Coloration to the sound and the highs we a bit too shrill for my liking. Even after giving it ample break in time, I really didn’t like it.
Having now heard a number of switches, I realised that each switch can impart its own sound.  Sorry to hear you do not like the ErherRegen but it has been good for me.

(07-Jul-2020, 18:24)salk61 Wrote: My next project would be a very interesting piece of equipment called the fiberbox II Which is made in Hong Kong and I just ordered it in the extreme version which is around $1500. I should get it in a week and it will be interesting to see how much of a claimed noise isolation it provides. The link is below

https://www.howenint.com/products/fiber-box-ii

Most likely a better option than the TP link ethernet media converters.
Please give us an update when you get them. 

I am using a Ubiquity EdgeRouter with an SFP port, powered by a  LPS, to feed the SFP port of the EtherRegen.  Using FS.com generic SFPs and cable.  It is much better than the TP link ethernet media converters.


"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - salk61 - 08-Jul-2020

Hmmmm.... I had not considered having certain devices on different power circuits in the house. I guess at the end of the day it will all boil down to one simple fact: does the music sound good through the fiber optic box II or not. I’m not unhappy that I spent so much money on networking devices but like the most of us, an upgrade pathway should be prioritized. Even though I will get it eventually, this product would probably make a greater difference than the networking devices and perhaps I should’ve purchased this before the networking equipment. It really boasts fantastic engineering and even though I’m digressing from the forum I just thought that I’d bring this to everybody’s attention. A great music server and does everything that the nucleus+ does and more. Good old Dutch technology: -

https://www.grimmaudio.com/hifi-products/music-players/mu1/

Happy reading and I’ll share the results soon as I get the fiberbox II


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


RE: "Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - David A - 08-Jul-2020

(08-Jul-2020, 00:17)salk61 Wrote: Hmmmm.... I had not considered having certain devices on different power circuits in the house. I guess at the end of the day it will all boil down to one simple fact: does the music sound good through the fiber optic box II or not…

The problem is that the better and more resolving your system becomes, the more things you find that count. Ultimately everything counts and getting the most out of a system comes down to attention to detail and the more you look the more details there are to pay attention to.

Does it all boil down to whether or not the music sounds good through the fibre optic box II or not? When it comes to purchase decisions I don't think so. How do you define "sounds good"? You may not have thought about it but I'll bet part of sounding good to you in this particular context means that things sound better with the fibre optic box II than without yet I'd also bet that you'd be quite happy to say that your current system "sounds good". If what counts is that things sound good and your current system sounds good, there's no reason to buy the fibre optic box II unless it makes your system sound better than it currently does. Everyone here has a system which almost certainly "sounds good" and which sounded good some purchases ago. We're not chasing "sounds good", we've got that. We're chasing "sounds better" when we take cash out of our wallets.

Life was so much more affordable when what counted was simply whether or not it sounded good. That was back in the "good old days" which obviously never proved to be "good enough"   Sad


RE: "Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - ssfas - 08-Jul-2020

(07-Jul-2020, 20:45)David A Wrote: I'm not certain that it's a better option than the TP Link converters if you want galvanic isolation.

I'm using an ETHERRegen and like it, and don't notice any coloration, but I won't dispute your statements about what you hear. What I will talk about is galvanic isolation.

My audio system is connected to a dedicated circuit. My router, in a different room, is on one of my household circuits. The dedicated circuit provides a good degree of galvanic isolation for the audio system but I lose that if I connect a copper ethernet connection all the way from the router to my Roon Nucleus+ and 140 Pro. The ETHERRegen helped a bit by providing isolation when the signal crossed its moat but I wondered whether it was possible to do better.

Instead of connecting the ETHERRegen directly to the ethernet wall point which provides a connection to my router, I connected a TP Link converter to the wall point and connected its power supply to a power output on the same circuit as my router. I used a fibre optic connection from the converter to the ETHERRegen which gets its power from the dedicated circuit for the audio system so there is now no copper wired connection between the audio system on the dedicated circuit and the router and other household devices on other circuits,. The fibre optic run makes the connection between the audio system on the dedicated circuit and all devices not on the dedicated circuit. That made a very noticeable difference.

The problem I see with the Fibrebox II is that it powers the converters at both ends of the fibre optic link from the same power input so it can't provide complete galvanic isolation, the output is connected to the same power circuit in your house as the input is connected and that means that both input and output are susceptible to the same noise components from your household power.

If you want to get the most galvanic isolation possible you need to have the input and output ends of the fibre optic link getting their power from different circuits  so that means using 2 separate conversion devices, not combining the two in a single box with a single power supply.

There may well be better ethernet to fibre converters than the TP Link devices, and I find myself wondering about whether or not I would benefit from something like the Sonore optical module instead, but I know from my experience to date that I get better results when the switch and audio system are on a different power circuit to my router and other household devices and the router end of the fibre optic link is not connected in any way to the same power circuit as the switch and audio system. It's not possible to do that with the Fibre Box device.

I don't use switching. I have a 1m ethernet cable (Blue Jeans) from my modem into my server (Innuos Zen Mk3) and that connects directly by ethernet to the Devialet Expert Pro ethernet input. The modem/Innuos are in my office and the connection requires a 25m cable under the floor and down a wall.

I ran parallel ethernet (AQ Pearl CAT 6a) and fibre optic. The fibre optic uses TPLink converters, an iFi 9v supply at the sending end and a 9v battery (SoTM) at the receiving end, so galvanic isolation. The last connection uses Blue Jeans ethernet.

I can honestly say that I cannot hear any difference between the fibre optic and copper ethernet connections.


"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - salk61 - 08-Jul-2020

Right, well that’s good to know. I should have my equipment in a week and will gladly share the results. It could be that your wiring is so good that you probably don’t need a fiber-optic connection


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"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - salk61 - 08-Jul-2020

That’s actually what I meant and implied, sounding better. I should’ve clarified that


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RE: "Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation - sam1000 - 17-Jul-2020

Quick question to all EtherRegen owners. Does the unit runs pretty hot? Is that normal? I just got my unit today and I although I do not believe in burn-in that much, i just inserted it in the chain and played some music in the background. After a couple of hours, when I touched the unit, it was very hot. Should I be worried?