"Audiophile Grade" Ethernet Switches - The new generation

[David A]

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Anyway, the EtherRegen is now connected and working.  Mindful of the above comments, I thought I would try a truly objective test.  There has been some speculation that the EtherRegen might cure the Devialet Roon Ready issue as it runs 100Base-T.  So initially, I have connected the B side port of the EtherRegen direct to the Devialet's Ethernet port and tried the Roon Ready mode.  For the record, I have tried the Roon Ready mode with two different PC's running Roon, and in both cases I have had issues with both 24/176.4 and 24/192 files, stuttering and the dreaded "an audio file (audiophile?) is loading slowly message.  Well, some interesting news, I have been playing a mixture of 24/176.4 & 24/192 files for about an hour now, zero issues, zero dropouts, zero error messages. 
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I wonder if it has improved sound quality?  That is a question for later.

Objective test? More like a "throw it off the top of a high cliff and see if it survives" test.  :-) I haven't had problems with 24/176.4 but I have had them with 24/192 but it has sometimes taken 2 or 3 hours for the problem to show so you may still run into problems with high res content. I wouldn't rush to judgement quite yet but your experience is promising.

That test, however, is one I was going to definitely try when I get mine next month but I'm probably going to leave that test until after I've got a feel for how it works when I stream everything from Roon at the files' native resolution since that's my normal practice. I hoped that would be no issues with 24/192t but I also hope to hear an improvement in sound quality. It's great if its a fit for the Roon Ready problem but if all it does for us is fix the Roon Ready problem it's a damn expensive fix when simply changing your existing ethernet switch to a 10/100 switch should produce exactly the same result for a lot less outlay.

I'd like to see your listening impressions as soon as you feel comfortable with giving them.