@bernardl - First to say congratulations with running both the 250 Pro and one of Le Gouverneur's (@Guillaume 's) favourite speakers. A fine system I am sure!
I presume you have seen this thread?
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Wilson-Benesch
I would say that this thread has over time more or less become my system thread. More specifically, it has detailed my personal quest to find a "front end" solution that both meets my needs for functionality, and also delivers a sound quality superior to AIR or Roon AIR. This is not an easy task at it turns out. The sound quality performance of AIR has improved over time, and improved with the latest Pro generation Experts. Anyway, I always welcome questions such as yours, my view is that audio forums such as this at their very best when members are sharing views and experiences, we all have something to offer and something to learn I think, and sharing can help us all.
In direct response to your first question, yes, the most sensible location to add an EtherRegen would be between the Mac mini (A side) and the Devialet (B side). Plus, some other forum members have tried this with Roon AIR. I have linked to one of @David A 's posts below for your reference, but this link is to a 50+ page thread, so lots to read there if you have time, including posts from people who report good results from other switches, and posts from those who are cynical about the benefit of Ethernet switches. This is a controversial area, and I think it is good to have the more cynical posts mixed in with the subjective positive posts, this keeps us all grounded and curious.
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Audiophi...6#pid91326
I am using the EtherRegen with the Mutec REF10. My purely subjective opinion is that this seamed to offer an improvement over the EtherRegen alone. It is not quite that simple though, in my case I am not running AIR or Roon AIR, (or the CI Board RAAT) the Mutec REF10 is a very expensive device, and I am not sure that it would offer value for money just using it to provide the clock for the EhterRegen. For me, I might as well do this as I own the REF10 already. The area I found the REF10 to provide the most benefit to sound quality was providing the clock feed to the Mutec MC3+USB, in fact this is the key topic of this thread and is moving away from the Roon AIR approach. Indeed, if you are looking to improve the performance of AIR with a switch, it might be worth having a read of the AS review of the EtherRegen. I have provided a link to this below, and if you take everything written at face value, the reviewer is stating that the combination of the EtherRegen with the REF10 is roughly equivalent to the rival Melco S100, with the Melco perhaps edging ahead.
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/u...ison-r887/
Also, if you read all of the "Audiophile Grade" ethernet switch thread, you will find a few posts from @K4680 , who has reported very positively re the Melco S100. (or skip to page 37 of the thread I linked eerier in this post.)
One thing that occurs to me is that I never tied running Roon AIR direct via the REF10 clocked EtherRegen. What has happened in reality is that after very much tweaking and optimising I have simply become relaxed and happy with my system, and the desire to experiment has diminished. This is a good thing! In fact, I started this thread over two years ago, at first I thought (or at least hoped) it would be a case of adding some reasonably good kit, and then experiencing audiophile joy. It did not work out that way, with lots of concern about if the SOtM kit was right for me and my system. I can say that I did have some buyers remorse with respect to the SOtM kit, mixed with frustration that in many ways I thought the SOtM kit was excellent. In a way it was pure luck that this issue resolved itself, with the SOtM "Neo" upgrade, and later significant SOtM firmware changes, together these made a big difference to me. A curious tail, which still surprises me, but it does provide an example as to how hard it is to get everting right sometimes. But yes, now I am happy, a mixture of experimenting, and indeed good fortune that I happened to gel with a SOtM firmware change. Although many others have stated they prefer the later SOtM firmware updates, hard to believe this makes a difference, but it did for me. After all of this, I think the REF10 clocked EtherRegen just added that little bit of "icing on the cake", as I described earlier in this thread.
So I would conclude that there are very many ways of approaching this issue. The REF10 is a fine device, but to use it just to provide the reference clock for a switch seams to be overkill to me, and certainly not a value for money approach. Consider that my REF10 now runs four devices, and the last of these runs S/PDIF / AES/EBU to the Devialet, where the quality of the clock does, in theory at least, matter. In a way this answers you last question, no you cannot use a Mutec REF10 to drive the clock of the Devialet itself (not without serious internal modification of a Devialet at least) , but using the REF10 directly upstream of the AES/EBU input is probably about as close as you can get to this. I emphasise that this is in theory, because none of us know for sure exactly how a Devialet deals with the incoming S/PDIF clock signal. All I can say is that for my system and my ears, feeding the Devialet with a decent quality signal via AES/EBU delivers the results I prefer. But as I said above, one thing that occurs to me is that I never tied running Roon AIR direct (or CI RAAT) via the REF10 clocked EtherRegen, maybe I should try this just to be sure that it does not match or trounce the rest of my overly complicated front end, you never know!
Anyway, lots to think about here, and lots to read. If you have any follow up questions I am always happy to help, as are others I am sure, both here and in the "Audiophile Grade" switch thread. Also, good luck. It is always very hard to say how well any of this stuff will work in your own system, but it is great when you get it right and you try something yourself that actually works for you.
I presume you have seen this thread?
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Wilson-Benesch
I would say that this thread has over time more or less become my system thread. More specifically, it has detailed my personal quest to find a "front end" solution that both meets my needs for functionality, and also delivers a sound quality superior to AIR or Roon AIR. This is not an easy task at it turns out. The sound quality performance of AIR has improved over time, and improved with the latest Pro generation Experts. Anyway, I always welcome questions such as yours, my view is that audio forums such as this at their very best when members are sharing views and experiences, we all have something to offer and something to learn I think, and sharing can help us all.
In direct response to your first question, yes, the most sensible location to add an EtherRegen would be between the Mac mini (A side) and the Devialet (B side). Plus, some other forum members have tried this with Roon AIR. I have linked to one of @David A 's posts below for your reference, but this link is to a 50+ page thread, so lots to read there if you have time, including posts from people who report good results from other switches, and posts from those who are cynical about the benefit of Ethernet switches. This is a controversial area, and I think it is good to have the more cynical posts mixed in with the subjective positive posts, this keeps us all grounded and curious.
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Audiophi...6#pid91326
I am using the EtherRegen with the Mutec REF10. My purely subjective opinion is that this seamed to offer an improvement over the EtherRegen alone. It is not quite that simple though, in my case I am not running AIR or Roon AIR, (or the CI Board RAAT) the Mutec REF10 is a very expensive device, and I am not sure that it would offer value for money just using it to provide the clock for the EhterRegen. For me, I might as well do this as I own the REF10 already. The area I found the REF10 to provide the most benefit to sound quality was providing the clock feed to the Mutec MC3+USB, in fact this is the key topic of this thread and is moving away from the Roon AIR approach. Indeed, if you are looking to improve the performance of AIR with a switch, it might be worth having a read of the AS review of the EtherRegen. I have provided a link to this below, and if you take everything written at face value, the reviewer is stating that the combination of the EtherRegen with the REF10 is roughly equivalent to the rival Melco S100, with the Melco perhaps edging ahead.
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/u...ison-r887/
Also, if you read all of the "Audiophile Grade" ethernet switch thread, you will find a few posts from @K4680 , who has reported very positively re the Melco S100. (or skip to page 37 of the thread I linked eerier in this post.)
One thing that occurs to me is that I never tied running Roon AIR direct via the REF10 clocked EtherRegen. What has happened in reality is that after very much tweaking and optimising I have simply become relaxed and happy with my system, and the desire to experiment has diminished. This is a good thing! In fact, I started this thread over two years ago, at first I thought (or at least hoped) it would be a case of adding some reasonably good kit, and then experiencing audiophile joy. It did not work out that way, with lots of concern about if the SOtM kit was right for me and my system. I can say that I did have some buyers remorse with respect to the SOtM kit, mixed with frustration that in many ways I thought the SOtM kit was excellent. In a way it was pure luck that this issue resolved itself, with the SOtM "Neo" upgrade, and later significant SOtM firmware changes, together these made a big difference to me. A curious tail, which still surprises me, but it does provide an example as to how hard it is to get everting right sometimes. But yes, now I am happy, a mixture of experimenting, and indeed good fortune that I happened to gel with a SOtM firmware change. Although many others have stated they prefer the later SOtM firmware updates, hard to believe this makes a difference, but it did for me. After all of this, I think the REF10 clocked EtherRegen just added that little bit of "icing on the cake", as I described earlier in this thread.
So I would conclude that there are very many ways of approaching this issue. The REF10 is a fine device, but to use it just to provide the reference clock for a switch seams to be overkill to me, and certainly not a value for money approach. Consider that my REF10 now runs four devices, and the last of these runs S/PDIF / AES/EBU to the Devialet, where the quality of the clock does, in theory at least, matter. In a way this answers you last question, no you cannot use a Mutec REF10 to drive the clock of the Devialet itself (not without serious internal modification of a Devialet at least) , but using the REF10 directly upstream of the AES/EBU input is probably about as close as you can get to this. I emphasise that this is in theory, because none of us know for sure exactly how a Devialet deals with the incoming S/PDIF clock signal. All I can say is that for my system and my ears, feeding the Devialet with a decent quality signal via AES/EBU delivers the results I prefer. But as I said above, one thing that occurs to me is that I never tied running Roon AIR direct (or CI RAAT) via the REF10 clocked EtherRegen, maybe I should try this just to be sure that it does not match or trounce the rest of my overly complicated front end, you never know!
Anyway, lots to think about here, and lots to read. If you have any follow up questions I am always happy to help, as are others I am sure, both here and in the "Audiophile Grade" switch thread. Also, good luck. It is always very hard to say how well any of this stuff will work in your own system, but it is great when you get it right and you try something yourself that actually works for you.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
