"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation

[kerkhoffd]

Alpha-Audio did a remarkable blind-test, camparing seven audiophile switches. They invited some readers to participate, and just published their findings (in Dutch).

Switches tested:

- Standaard Netgear (To get used to sound / baseline) (149 euro, 24 poorten)
- Fidelizer EtherStream (399 euro)
- Ansuz switch (1999 euro)
- Fiber (250 euro compleet)
- Silent Angel Bonn N8 (395 euro)
- SoTM – basismodel (999 euro)
- Meraki enterprise 8-poort met fiber en PoE (799 euro)

Aim was to determine wheather differences could be heard and, if so, which switch would score best in a blind-test.

For those interested (they also included some diagrams with scores per switch):
https://www.alpha-audio.nl/review/zeven-...test-blind

Nice, and thanks for sharing this!!

Reassuring to see that SOtM is at the top of the pile, even if the differences are fairly modest.

Although I never compared the base model to the version with the sCLK-EX module which I own, I did notice a pretty decent uptick in performance when connecting to a master clock (Cybershaft OP14). Then of course running two units in bridged mode (connected by fibre using SFP ports) with both clocked was another fair decent improvement.

I do however agree with the conclusions of their shootout: namely that the differences are pretty small compared to other components and tweaks, however they are clearly audible. I do find the clocking aspect very interesting however since to my ears this is where the real magic happens.

Cheers,

Guillaume

You are welcome. I am sure your setup trumps all the above Guillaume. Thanks again for sharing your experiences with us. Reading about how your system sounds makes me yearn to hear it live.

I was surprised at how different switches in the test by Alpha-Audio compared at the different price points. The best sounding solution from Guillaume is pretty pricy, and for those with a tighter budget there are some nice routes to follow it seems. The standard SoTM does great, but I think I would want to hear it next to the Silent Angel to decide if I want to spend more than double the money. Also surprised the blind test results in the Ansuz not doing too well as you would expect from the most expensive one in the test (and worse than a standard switch that costs next to nothing).

Comparing the standard SoTM (€999) and/or Silent Angel (€395) in a blind test against the EtherREGEN would give us an idea what would be the best option in the < €1000,- range solutions.