A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[Confused]

I think I have gone from being a little sceptical about the benefit of switches to being rather more intrigued about the possibilities.  I wonder what that EtherRegen might bring to the party?

Better late than never LOL   

For me one of the biggest jumps in performance happens when you connect a master clock to the switch. Are you able to try this?

Guillaume

Essentially, I was using a "master clock" on the switch, but this probably deserves some explanation. 

The SOtM "bundle" that I bought included a custom version of the sMS200ultra.  This includes a connector for an external 10MHz reference clock, and an additional connector running from the Ultra's internal sCLK-EX clock distribution board.  The sCLK-EX board is what turns a "standard" sMS-200 into the "Ultra" version.  It can be configured to accept a 10MHz reference clock feed, and in turn it can provide clock signals to up to 4 devices.  So in the case of my sMS-200Ultra, the sCLK-EX board itself  is clocked via the 10MHz feed from the Mutec REF10, and in turn it the sCLK-EX provides a clock signal to the sMS-200 itself, and  to the connector for the modified switch.  There is a simple SMB type cable that connects the modified switch to the sMS-200Ultra.  So this is a little bit of a spaghetti / DIY solution, but it does mean that the switch is effectively clocked from the Mutec REF10.  As it happens, the SMB cable is a little longer than it needs to be, these cables only cost pennies, so it occurs to me that I should get a shorter cable, no reason why not.

What I found at the weekend was that adding this "clocked" switch did indeed provide a nice improvement, this was in terms of the fine details, being more easily able to hear the ambience in the room and other subtle nuances in the recording.  This was a definite plus.  It was however accompanied by what sounded like a touch of extra harshness in the highs.  Thinking about this, I recall now that I tried the switch last year, and I was not convinced that it was not actually making things worse, thus contributing to the decision to simply leave it out of the system.  When I was testing last weekend with the Arcam as a reference in direct A/B swaps, it was far easier to discern the goodness that the "clocked" switch was providing.  Then adding my old TP-Link switch back in and finding that this removed the slight harshness that was bugging me previously was just a lucky discovery after tying something as a hunch and as a punt.  I think I agree with @baconbrain's comment above, I suspect that my old trusty TP-Link switch just happens to be blocking some stray current or noise from the Ethernet feed, something that the SOtM modified switch is perhaps not doing such a good job with. 

I did have a chuckle to myself about all this, there have been many reports of folk (including your good self) getting excellent results running two SOtM sNH-10G switches in series, which is quite an expensive thing to try.  I seem to have lucked into something running two switches with a combined cost of less than £100.  (albeit one of them has a £400 PSU)  Joking apart, I am genuinely surprised at just how good the improvement was that I gained last weekend.  If it was not for the fact that that the EtherRegen is due to be released soon, I would be ordering a sNH-10G now, simply on the basis of what I have heard with these lesser switch mods.