SOtM sNH-10G Network Switches x2 : The NEW KING of USB/Network Gadget Setup

QuadDiffuser · Dec 16, 2019

Thanks for the pointer, Abyss Man - after spending the last hour reading the last 40 pages of the forum on Audiophile Style which Rajiv started, my eyes have gone cross-eyed, but I now understand that PC-based Audio is a hornet's nest to optimize, as there are far too many components and variables. I picked up some new information on the Farad 3, as well as JSSG360^2^3^4 shielding and silver conductors for DC cables.

Abyss Man · Dec 16, 2019

My Pleasure QD. You are right, in that it is a honest's nest. To replicate as an analogue sound from a digital source does take time and money. We have to choose everything wisely and the cables make a huge difference, me personally its either Tellurium or soTm cables. Though I do have a Shunyata Alpha NR going into my Triton from the wall.

QuadDiffuser · Dec 17, 2019

I’ve ordered the fully upgraded Farad Super 3 for my SOtM USBultra as a Christmas present to myself, with a 0.5m Ghent quad (16awg x 4) Canare 4S8 JSSG 360 shielded DC cable

Darmstadtium · Dec 18, 2019

Hi
I am Karthik. Living in the coastal city DUBLIN of Ireland. I have enjoyed reading this thread. I too have 2 SOTM Switches powered by SP500
I am currently using Cisco SPF modules to connect the two switches.
I also use multiple iso CAT6 filters and the dcbl cables in my network.
Could someone please provide the link for the exact Product for the Startech SFP which Emile recommends (that they have used ) which is compatible with the switches ?
I reached out to May in SOTM asking if the startech sfp mentioned on the Taiko extreme thread is compatible and she think it isn’t.
Many thanks

Taiko Audio · Dec 18, 2019

Hi Karthik,

Welcome to the forum.

This is the SFP module referred to:
https://www.startech.com/Networking-IO/sfp/modules/1000base-zx-sfp-module~SFP1000ZXST

Abyss Man · Dec 18, 2019

QuadDiffusor said:
I’ve ordered the fully upgraded Farad Super 3 for my SOtM USBultra as a Christmas present to myself, with a 0.5m Ghent quad (16awg x 4) Canare 4S8 JSSG 360 shielded DC cable
View attachment 59996

HI QD,Nice one buddy, please do share your experience with us. I am very curious as to how it sounds and if there are huge improvements to be gained. Thank you sir.

Abyss Man · Dec 18, 2019

Darmstadtium said:
Hi
I am Karthik. Living in the coastal city DUBLIN of Ireland. I have enjoyed reading this thread. I too have 2 SOTM Switches powered by SP500
I am currently using Cisco SPF modules to connect the two switches.
I also use multiple iso CAT6 filters and the dcbl cables in my network.
Could someone please provide the link for the exact Product for the Startech SFP which Emile recommends (that they have used ) which is compatible with the switches ?
I reached out to May in SOTM asking if the startech sfp mentioned on the Taiko extreme thread is compatible and she think it isn’t.
Many thanks

Hi Karthik,
First off, welcome to the forum. May actuallly recommended going ethernet unless its a long run to the switch. CK recommends going optic though. Care to share which you find more appealing. I am looking to add a 2nd switch as well. Thank you.

Darmstadtium · Dec 18, 2019

Abyss Man said:
Hi Karthik,
First off, welcome to the forum. May actuallly recommended going ethernet unless its a long run to the switch. CK recommends going optic though. Care to share which you find more appealing. I am looking to add a 2nd switch as well. Thank you.

Thanks Guys for the welcome. I simply love this forum
reg May , she advised me the same when I reached out to her asking for advice.
In my system , after various trial and error and permutation and combination. I finally decided that the combination sotm advices on their site worked for me best. (Plz check the attached image. ) I currently use Cisco catalyst switch SFP port to connect one of my SOTM switch
I use Antipodes CX/EX as my server/renderer
I am quite happy with the sound (when my mains is not shitty that is , living next to a huge IT company has its downsides)
I did try connecting the two sotm switches via fibre , I didn’t hear any discernible difference. That being said , adding fibre at the upstream was a definite necessity in my system.
Adding the second switch probably was the biggest ‘wow’ moment my stereo ever gave me.
I am soon planning to replace the Cisco SFP port with the Gigafoil to see if it has a positive effect.
Note: I apologise if my system description is not entirely clear through my words above. When time permits I will do a pictorial representation on Visio for better representation here.For now you can check my system details on my profile.

Abyss Man · Dec 18, 2019

Darmstadtium said:
Thanks Guys for the welcome. I simply love this forum
reg May , she advised me the same when I reached out to her asking for advice.
In my system , after various trial and error and permutation and combination. I finally decided that the combination sotm advices on their site worked for me best. (Plz check the attached image. ) I currently use Cisco catalyst switch SFP port to connect one of my SOTM switch
I use Antipodes CX/EX as my server/renderer
I am quite happy with the sound (when my mains is not shitty that is , living next to a huge IT company has its downsides)
I did try connecting the two sotm switches via fibre , I didn’t hear any discernible difference. That being said , adding fibre at the upstream was a definite necessity in my system.
Adding the second switch probably was the biggest ‘wow’ moment my stereo ever gave me.
I am soon planning to replace the Cisco SFP port with the Gigafoil to see if it has a positive effect.
Note: I apologise if my system description is not entirely clear through my words above. When time permits I will do a pictorial representation on Visio for better representation here.For now you can check my system details on my profile.

Thank you for the prompt reply Karthik. My son and u share the same name BTW. Think I'm just going to go all ethernet since currently I'm running ethernet.

Darmstadtium · Dec 18, 2019

Taiko Audio said:
Hi Karthik,

Welcome to the forum.

This is the SFP module referred to:
https://www.startech.com/Networking-IO/sfp/modules/1000base-zx-sfp-module~SFP1000ZXST

Thank you

Placed order on amazon today. will report back on findings .

Kris · Dec 29, 2019

sotm x2 is still a king as far as I see but there is a new Melco s100 swich.
Not sure if someone has experience with that ?

Abyss Man · Dec 29, 2019

QuadDiffusor said:
I’ve ordered the fully upgraded Farad Super 3 for my SOtM USBultra as a Christmas present to myself, with a 0.5m Ghent quad (16awg x 4) Canare 4S8 JSSG 360 shielded DC cable
View attachment 59996

Hi QD,
Have you received the Farad 3 yet? Any rviews? Thank you and blessed New year.

Billygxx · Dec 29, 2019

Hi Karthik
I don’t understand why you would use the copper cable from SOtM to SOtM switch? What is accomplished with two switches in a row? Why not just convert copper from router to optical at the first switch and run optical to the second switch then running copper to the components? Have you tried this setup with poor results?
Are the Farad power supplies better than the SOtMs?

Darmstadtium · Dec 29, 2019

Billygxx said:
Hi Karthik
I don’t understand why you would use the copper cable from SOtM to SOtM switch? What is accomplished with two switches in a row? Why not just convert copper from router to optical at the first switch and run optical to the second switch then running copper to the components? Have you tried this setup with poor results?
Are the Farad power supplies better than the SOtMs?

Mate.
I don’t understand the science of it (two switches)
I have a super awesome dealer who lets me try stuff before I buy.
I tried different permutation combinations including connecting the two switches through fibre. it sounded good. But
The one which sounded the best to my ears and in my system was two switches in serial , through copper with ISO CAT6 filter between them.
YMMV

CKKeung · Dec 29, 2019

Billygxx said:
Hi Karthik
I don’t understand why you would use the copper cable from SOtM to SOtM switch? What is accomplished with two switches in a row? Why not just convert copper from router to optical at the first switch and run optical to the second switch then running copper to the components? Have you tried this setup with poor results?
Are the Farad power supplies better than the SOtMs?

WBF member Quaddiffusor will soon start a thread and share his view of the Farad LPS.

Since he has got a dual-SOtM switch and connected them with an ethernet cable, he will probably tell us his view on these aspects too.

QuadDiffuser · Dec 29, 2019

Abyss Man said:
Hi QD,
Have you received the Farad 3 yet? Any rviews? Thank you and blessed New year.

Yes - Santa delivered, and I’m putting it through its paces. Initial observations are that both the service provided by Farad and the Power 3’s audible performance are excellent!

Abyss Man · Dec 30, 2019

QuadDiffusor said:
Yes - Santa delivered, and I’m putting it through its paces. Initial observations are that both the service provided by Farad and the Power 3’s audible performance are excellent!
View attachment 60299

Hi QD,
Could you let us know how it compares against other LPS and in my case, the sps-500. I am very curious. Thank you sir and as CK mentioned please chime in with ur experiences regarding the 2 switch configuration. Cheers.

paulkwan · Dec 30, 2019

CKKeung said:
We tried not to use too expensive ethernet cables.
Mostly Supra cat8 ethernet cables.
Near the end of the gathering we added in a Vertere HB ethernet cable.

View attachment 59618

There were two diy desktops which could be used as Roon core/endpoint or HQPlayer HQ/NAA format.

The downstream desktop sent the usb digital signal to a SOtM tx-USBultea processor before going into a Denafrips Terminator DAC (with the new usb reception board).

The switches were either in single or dual configs to connect the two diy desktops.

The house internet and a NAS storing the music files were plugged into the upstream switch.

The main music file used for the testing was the following cello concerto :
View attachment 59619

Thx CKK for the excellent report, I read through it multiple times and keeping learning from it.
There is 1 point I don't understand, for the "desktops which could be used as Roon core", is there SQ reason not putting the music file on it, but on a NAS separately ? Especially it is a DIY desktop which should have sufficient space for this. Thanks.

CKKeung · Dec 30, 2019

paulkwan said:
Thx CKK for the excellent report, I read through it multiple times and keeping learning from it.
There is 1 point I don't understand, for the "desktops which could be used as Roon core", is there SQ reason not putting the music file on it, but on a NAS separately ? Especially it is a DIY desktop which should have sufficient space for this. Thanks.

Hello Paul,
Thanks for your kind words.
We did know that servers with internal music file storage gave much better (or easier to achieve) sound than using NAS for storage.

During the test we deliberately tested the NAS storage because :
The desktops were diy and their chassis were not large.
We found that employing HD for music file storage was better sonically than SSD and one of the best choices was the 2.5" Seagate Firecuda HD.
Therefore the internal music storage size of the server was not very large.
The owner of the room got huge amount of music files and part of his collection was in his NAS.

If you can have large volume internal 3.5" HD for music storage, the NAS should be used for backup or other uses only.

paulkwan · Dec 31, 2019

CKKeung said:
Hello Paul,
Thanks for your kind words.
We did know that servers with internal music file storage gave much better (or easier to achieve) sound than using NAS for storage.

During the test we deliberately tested the NAS storage because :
The desktops were diy and their chassis were not large.
We found that employing HD for music file storage was better sonically than SSD and one of the best choices was the 2.5" Seagate Firecuda HD.
Therefore the internal music storage size of the server was not very large.
The owner of the room got huge amount of music files and part of his collection was in his NAS.

If you can have large volume internal 3.5" HD for music storage, the NAS should be used for backup or other uses only.

Thanks for the explanation, I'm using a DIY fanless NUC style PC running ROCK, with a SSD storing music in an ext. USB box, I think I will settle on this meanwhile.
I've a chance audit the sotm switch once in a demo before. Using 1 to replace a cheap switch make a different, but I can't be sure if it is an improvement at that moment as I'm not familar with the Hifi shop environment and gear; but when they change from x1 to x2 switch in series, then the improvement is very obvious. Also audited Vertere HD ethernet once and it is quite addictive.

SOtM sNH-10G Network Switches x2 : The NEW KING of USB/Network Gadget Setup

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