Tweaks
Contents
Galvanic separation
The trick with a good network is to separate the network from the streamer. An optical link then makes perfect sense. However, there is always a piece of network cable needed to the streamer itself. Either from a converter, or from an ordinary switch. To cancel out more noise, there are special intermediate pieces for sale. Pink Faun has one. It works well.
What about ‘audiophile’ network cables? Well, it’s audible we’ve noticed. We estimate that cable manufacturers mainly keep out noise with good shielding and solid plugs and are able to ‘filter’ noise with the twist of the wire pairs. What we sometimes see is that the twist does not really meet the network specifications. That shouldn’t be a problem, but some switches don’t like long runs anymore and switch back in transfer speed. We noticed some cases with ‘audio grade’ CAT6 and 7 that couldn’t handle 10 Gbit.
At a glance
Tweaks we’ve tested that work:
- Linear power supply on a switch
- Using optical converters
- Galvanic decoupling plugs
- Use nice, preferably short, shielded network cables. Whether or not of a brand
Tweaks that are nonsense (in the opinion of the author in question)
- Use ‘enterprise grade’ Layer 3 switches in a home network (far too little traffic to benefit from QoS capabilities and processing power)
- Expensive wifi installations for stable streaming (wifi always sounds less good than cable is our experience)
- Linear power supplies on routers (in our opinion you should not connect the streamer directly to a router, but use a separate switch)
- Linear power supplies on NAS devices (won’t do anything, NAS won’t be near the streamer anyway, if installed properly)
https://www.netgear.com/nl/home/wifi/mesh/mk73s/
My compliments for the clear explanation. But do I need to purchase an additional switch, placed between the provider’s modem and the router, the satellites are connected via WiFi. You recommended using an sBooster on the RME ADI-2 FS DAC and I couldn’t believe it. That the power supply of a professional device is so poor. It’s not cheap but the results are amazing. If I understand correctly, I don’t need linear power supply for the modem or router. The satellite in the room is connected with CAT7 to the switch and connect (CAT7) to the streamer. But should I change the power supply of both (satellite and switch) to a linear power supply for better sound quality?