Best audiophile switch
- Thread starter Frankie67
- Start date
Hi @Synaxis ,
Your explanation of the NA setup was very helpful. Where I got a bit lost was in the comparison, but no worries—it was just my interpretation. I'll check out your other videos as you and others suggested. I truly appreciate your hard work and passion for the community; that remains unchanged.
Don't think that's true for Stack Audio.
My speakers weigh 50kg each and were sitting on the large ISO-Puck 76 for the last 3 years. The two other products in this series are for much lighter loads.
My speakers wobbled a little on these, so I spoke to Stack (Hugo, I think), and he seemed an eminently sensible and soft-spoken individual, the latter being a big plus for me. He explained the product quietly and simply.
The Stack units can take pretty much any weight, I got the smallest Auva 50 (for aesthetic reasons, they don't protrude out of the aide of the speakers), they can take 275kg speakers. The larger the Auva unit, the more damping material is involved so you get better vibration dissipation.
The other reason for getting these is the threaded bolt connection.
The equipment isolators are offered based on component weight, apparently for performance reasons. I bought a box of 8 ISO-Puck mini and use them where needed.
I also bought the Stack turntable mat and more recently their record puck.
For me, the best switch is no switch at all !!!
I would ask them why the make different versions of the same items that are specifically rated for certain weights.
In my talking with them they were pretty adamant on matching the right one with the weight.
I appreciate your feed back.
In my head I already know what I'm trying to say so sometimes the full explanation doesn't make it out into words.
My videos are completely unscripted and therefore are sometimes an interesting ride in tripping over words.
I might have got the larger ones but they would have stuck out a few mm beyond the edges of my speakers.
Curiously, going back 33 pages in this thread, have you tried fibre optic cable yet?
If you're into switches (don't use one for audio myself) you might like this channel. Don't know what he's smoking, but he gets hundreds of thousands of views for videos about switches.
ServeTheHome
The official ServeTheHome.com YouTube channel. From time to time we will have videos that are part of our reviews posted here.
www.youtube.com
I might have got the larger ones but they would have stuck out a few mm beyond the edges of my speakers.
Curiously, going back 33 pages in this thread, have you tried fibre optic cable yet?
If you're into switches (don't use one for audio myself) you might like this channel. Don't know what he's smoking, but he gets hundreds of thousands of views for videos about switches.
He reviews 21 switches in 24 minutes here, with 143,000 views. Made me think he could give lessons to that guy Tom from Stereophile who looks like he's about to go on a duckshoot.ServeTheHome
The official ServeTheHome.com YouTube channel. From time to time we will have videos that are part of our reviews posted here.
I have tried fiber in several variations.
In my PERSONAL opinion, although it initially seems to do many things great, it just sounded a bit too squeaky clean and analytical to me.
That is why I liked the Telgartner Optical Bridge - it had a fiber conversion in it but retained the more organic sound.
I'm going to be doing some videos on more fiber stuff I have here, I just haven't had the time.
It does two things great:
- Provides galvanic isolation
- Sends effectively unlimited amounts of data free of any interference
So it's going to be squeaky clean, because all you get is perfect data transmission and no electrical noise injected into your hifi.
How analytical it sounds is going to be due to other components and AC power connections. I wish all decent streamers had an SFP socket, but there are several FMCs that require only 5-12v and 0.5A, so don't need an A/C connection. There has already been some discussion here:
AFTER DARK & MORE Brands Fibre Media Converter - Your opinions?
Hello all, I would like to know your opinion about this product: GIESEMANN REFERENCE SFP OPTICAL ISOLATOR PA1, it has 3 options, including one with a clock OCXC. If you have other suggestions such as Optical Network Converter, with pleasure...
www.whatsbestforum.com
Well fiber media converters create noise too - so there is no 100% perfect approach.
Having tried several FMCs, SFPs, switches and Ethernet filters I came to the same conclusion as @Synaxis (all on a high end setup with top of the line power components).
Having tried several FMCs, SFPs, switches and Ethernet filters I came to the same conclusion as @Synaxis (all on a high end setup with top of the line power components).
I have found the boxes themselves and the converter modules have a great effect on the sound.So it's going to be squeaky clean, because all you get is perfect data transmission and no electrical noise injected into your hifi.
How analytical it sounds is going to be due to other components and AC power connections. I wish all decent streamers had an SFP socket, but there are several FMCs that require only 5-12v and 0.5A, so don't need an A/C connection. There has already been some discussion here:
AFTER DARK & MORE Brands Fibre Media Converter - Your opinions?
Hello all, I would like to know your opinion about this product: GIESEMANN REFERENCE SFP OPTICAL ISOLATOR PA1, it has 3 options, including one with a clock OCXC. If you have other suggestions such as Optical Network Converter, with pleasure...
I'm no engineer, but I'd be real hesitant to call ANYTHING "perfect" and state "no electrical noise". That just seems to follow the false argument of the sheeple claiming USB and such is only 1's and 0's and you "only" have to worry about packet loss which "there is none of".
We all know how completely false that is.
Hello all,
Quick pov on my recently acquired Switch, it's the APL "ANS-MR", first and foremost I might add, that in no way, do I profess it's the best switch out there, as I simply have not heard any of the main contenders in my system, just throwing it into the mix.
Before this switch I was running a Ubiquiti switch powered from a Keces P3 LPS, with good results compared to simpler netgear and D-link switches with cheap wall wart power supply's I had tried.
I extensively looked at several switches, including the usual contenders, aforementioned Network Acoustics Tempus, Paul Pang Quad Ediscreation Silent Switch, Innuos Phoenix Net, Jcat M12, Melco S100, Waversa Reference, Ansuz Power switches, Reiki Superswitch Pro, Taiko Switch amongst many others.
I was all set to buy the Reiki Superswitch Pro combo after a more than 30 minute chat with the owner Nigel, very nice guy, very knowledgeable with all things audio and networking.
But then my friend, fellow WBF menber Joao Vieira suggested the APL switch (he is a big fan of APL) , so had a quick peruse on the APL website, custom "Lundahl" transformer, and also has a grounding post to use with my Shunyata Gemini, so this piqued my interest, as I live in Brazil, it's not like when I lived in the UK or Portugal with easy options for doing home demo's, so when Joao kindly offered to lend me a unit for a home demo with my system, I jumped at the chance,(silver version will arrive next week).
When I lived in Lisbon until a few years ago, I had heard on one ocassion at Ultimate Audio a system which included a reference APL Dac (think it was the DSD SR SE), I was very impressed, the owner Alex Peychev certainly has a well deserved reputaion has a bit of a digital wizard, I was certainly very impressed that day.
Now it's a little hard to put this into true context, because when I introduced the Switch into my system, it was at the exact same time as I introduced Shunyata Omega grounding cables in combination with my Shunyata Gemini from all of my other components, however, this combination made a very good and real improvement to the SQ, the usual plethora of audio plaudits can be attributed, but in short, a much improved lowering of the noise floor, which in turn lead to improved and clearer micro detail retrieval in recordings, tonality was another noticeable improvement which personally for me is easily the most important SQ attribute I look for in components, their is more weight to instruments.
I have been blessed to have worked and toured all over the world for well over 44 years and luckily still active, with some of the worlds very biggest recording artists (my profile photo shows me on stage one day during the lighting focus on a David Gilmour tour I did) , and have heard up at close quarters virtually every musical instrument there is to hear, along with some of the worlds leading f.o.h sound mixing engineers, so imho I would like to think I am qualified to know what a real instrument sounds like, having heard them before and after amplification in most of the worlds most revered venues.
I am a firm believer in that everything counts in an audio system, especially when your front end is digital, this includes cables, isolation feet, racks and of course cables, get this right (synergy) and it can make a profound difference, thank goodness this site has very few naysayers sprouting "It's all snake oil".
Looking at maybe getting a Synergistic Research router sometime this year to see what that might bring to the table.
Cheers, wishing a great weekend to all.
Quick pov on my recently acquired Switch, it's the APL "ANS-MR", first and foremost I might add, that in no way, do I profess it's the best switch out there, as I simply have not heard any of the main contenders in my system, just throwing it into the mix.
Before this switch I was running a Ubiquiti switch powered from a Keces P3 LPS, with good results compared to simpler netgear and D-link switches with cheap wall wart power supply's I had tried.
I extensively looked at several switches, including the usual contenders, aforementioned Network Acoustics Tempus, Paul Pang Quad Ediscreation Silent Switch, Innuos Phoenix Net, Jcat M12, Melco S100, Waversa Reference, Ansuz Power switches, Reiki Superswitch Pro, Taiko Switch amongst many others.
I was all set to buy the Reiki Superswitch Pro combo after a more than 30 minute chat with the owner Nigel, very nice guy, very knowledgeable with all things audio and networking.
But then my friend, fellow WBF menber Joao Vieira suggested the APL switch (he is a big fan of APL) , so had a quick peruse on the APL website, custom "Lundahl" transformer, and also has a grounding post to use with my Shunyata Gemini, so this piqued my interest, as I live in Brazil, it's not like when I lived in the UK or Portugal with easy options for doing home demo's, so when Joao kindly offered to lend me a unit for a home demo with my system, I jumped at the chance,(silver version will arrive next week).
When I lived in Lisbon until a few years ago, I had heard on one ocassion at Ultimate Audio a system which included a reference APL Dac (think it was the DSD SR SE), I was very impressed, the owner Alex Peychev certainly has a well deserved reputaion has a bit of a digital wizard, I was certainly very impressed that day.
Now it's a little hard to put this into true context, because when I introduced the Switch into my system, it was at the exact same time as I introduced Shunyata Omega grounding cables in combination with my Shunyata Gemini from all of my other components, however, this combination made a very good and real improvement to the SQ, the usual plethora of audio plaudits can be attributed, but in short, a much improved lowering of the noise floor, which in turn lead to improved and clearer micro detail retrieval in recordings, tonality was another noticeable improvement which personally for me is easily the most important SQ attribute I look for in components, their is more weight to instruments.
I have been blessed to have worked and toured all over the world for well over 44 years and luckily still active, with some of the worlds very biggest recording artists (my profile photo shows me on stage one day during the lighting focus on a David Gilmour tour I did) , and have heard up at close quarters virtually every musical instrument there is to hear, along with some of the worlds leading f.o.h sound mixing engineers, so imho I would like to think I am qualified to know what a real instrument sounds like, having heard them before and after amplification in most of the worlds most revered venues.
I am a firm believer in that everything counts in an audio system, especially when your front end is digital, this includes cables, isolation feet, racks and of course cables, get this right (synergy) and it can make a profound difference, thank goodness this site has very few naysayers sprouting "It's all snake oil".
Looking at maybe getting a Synergistic Research router sometime this year to see what that might bring to the table.
Cheers, wishing a great weekend to all.
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Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Well for example also a Sonore Optical Module Deluxe V2 which is considered to be a very good one, with Finisar SFPs and powered by a 4 digit Audioquest power cord on a AQ Niagara 5000. As mentioned the result is good and clean, though with an appropriate switch the result will be much more natural sounding.
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Unlikely IMO but if it works for you, that is all that matters. Not an AQ fan that could be the problem....
Well the Niagara as well as Diamond power cords are worldwide among the most appreciated and trusted power components. But no matter what brand you prefer in that regard things are the same with FMC vs switch.
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
The company offers two types of isolators:
AUVA EQ System Isolators – Designed as audio component footers, can be used with your best switch, to enhance isolation.
AUVA Speaker Isolators – Available in three sizes, all capable of supporting speakers up to 275 kg. Larger sizes offer increased vibration absorption, with the biggest model enhancing bass response. However, the second-largest size may provide better precision and clarity.
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Whether they're cheap or pricey, while optical connections can have some benefits, the power consumption of a single SFP module (and we need two!) can actually equal or even exceed that of the switch itself. Media converters, by converting electrical signals to optical and back, add some extra processing, which not only increases power consumption but also raises the system’s noise floor. This extra power draw can lead to more noise in the system.
If you choose RJ45 connections instead, you start with a lower noise floor, and Ethernet cables can add a bit of 'smoothing' or for some create a more 'realistic' sound compared to optical. This can make the sound more enjoyable and soften any harsh edges. Of course, it's a matter of preference. Both choices require careful setup, though.
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