Good mid-price audiophile switches
- Thread starter CKKeung
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CAS/network accessories is a new & juicy market.
We customers have to buy smartly.
We customers have to buy smartly.
The Silent Angel Bonn N8 is certainly mid-price, and quite superior to what I was able to achieve with Netgear and TP-Link switches:
Silent Angel | Bonn N8
www.silent-angel-audio.com
I found an iPower2 was a nice improvement over the supplied wall wart, but quality jumped with my old Welborne Labs PS-REG linear supply. A Zero-Zone 5V or equivalent supply would be an inexpensive and capable partner with the N8.
I do believe - at least in my system based on my personal tests - the concept of needing "only one very good switch" is not the way to achieve better sound.
I'm not sure I would call a $4k switch "mid-price", but I'm happy it works for you.The Silent Angel Bonn N8 is certainly mid-price, and quite superior to what I was able to achieve with Netgear and TP-Link switches:
Silent Angel | Bonn N8
I found an iPower2 was a nice improvement over the supplied wall wart, but quality jumped with my old Welborne Labs PS-REG linear supply. A Zero-Zone 5V or equivalent supply would be an inexpensive and capable partner with the N8.
I use two very good switches, because I need two switches. The Silent Angel N8 is at the network end, with my NAS, laptops and router attached. From the N8, via 50 feet of CAT8 and a LAN Isolator, I am connected to an EtherREGEN A-side, feeding a TV and Chromecast Audio, with my music player connected to the B-side.
I am using linear power supplies on the switches. Initially, I was using a TP-Link at the network end, and a Netgear at the system end, with linear power. Both switches together was worse than one alone. I find it impossible to believe that a bunch of generic switches and cheap SMPS power supplies would approach what I am doing now.
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You must be looking at the wrong switch. This is the one I purchased:
Note that these are Canadian dollars, roughly three quarters of an American dollar.
Rather than being someone on a forum that espoused theories without testing, I bought 15 switches and tried them all. I don't talk about "what I think", I talk about what I actually experienced.
If you watch the vid I used to describe this, to the posts I have put up here about this, some of the switches made it worse (Netgear, TP-Link, Cisco) and one (the D-Link) made it better. The Netgear was trash sounding and the TP-Link a bit better.
Also, did you get a 5 port, 8 port, POE or non-POE version? All these had different sounds. Which port jacks did you use on the switches? They vary in sound. Did you use any vibration control on them? This can make a difference. I know as I spent a month trying every possibility out.
I'm not sure how someone can have enough "experience" to know what is "impossible" when they have zero experience testing variables. But people are free to believe or not believe what they want.
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Has anyone found that adding an LPS to a switch can sometimes make it worse? Because I found that with my TP-Link wireless router.
Yes I have to use wireless currently, and its a step down from hard wired in sound quality, but until I get the electrician to run a port to the lounge room I am not having a 50 foot ethernet cable looping through the hallway of my house.
Anyway I use the Uptone JS-2 and found it improves the sound on everything, everything except this TP-Link wireless modem/router. It was worse. Hans Beekhuyzen also reported this, he found a lot of switches do not play well with some LPS.
Yes I have to use wireless currently, and its a step down from hard wired in sound quality, but until I get the electrician to run a port to the lounge room I am not having a 50 foot ethernet cable looping through the hallway of my house.
Anyway I use the Uptone JS-2 and found it improves the sound on everything, everything except this TP-Link wireless modem/router. It was worse. Hans Beekhuyzen also reported this, he found a lot of switches do not play well with some LPS.
All your efforts and reports using the switches have been much appreciated. But its possible using one high end 3-4k switch can resolve the issues that require daisy chaining multiple switches.
I came across an audiophile switch that takes the daisy chaining to the max but in a convenient way. It was one box that contained 4x switch modules. So at the back you loop connected one to the next using 3x ultra short ethernet cables. Cannot remember the brand?
I have one of those - it's the Paul Pang Quad. It's very, very good.
I tried just the PPA QUAD by my streamer and it is great. Then I experimented and found having additional D-Link switches in line made it even better. I also had great results adding a GigaFOIL which I tried both before the PPA QUAD and right after (just before the streamer) and it sounded best between the PPA QUAD and the streamer.
EVERYTHING makes a difference in digital. Could be positive, could be negative - but every little thing will add up.
Well apparently the Paul Pang uses D-Link DGS-105 internally, and it was the D-Link you found to sound the best in your big comparison. Was it the DGS-105?I have one of those - it's the Paul Pang Quad. It's very, very good.
I tried just the PPA QUAD by my streamer and it is great. Then I experimented and found having additional D-Link switches in line made it even better. I also had great results adding a GigaFOIL which I tried both before the PPA QUAD and right after (just before the streamer) and it sounded best between the PPA QUAD and the streamer.
EVERYTHING makes a difference in digital. Could be positive, could be negative - but every little thing will add up.
That was not the D-link that was part of the winning combination. The video give model numbers and everything.
The switches I initially tried were TP-Link SG108E, Netgear GS-305 and GS105Ev2. The GS105Ev2 sounded slightly better than the SG108E, and both improved the sound quality versus direct connection to my router. The unmanaged GS-305 was terrible, no good for audio use. I upgraded the power supplies on all. The switch at the audio system end was on a Target shelf, supported by three IsoAcoustics mini pucks. The switch at the network end was not isolated, as it is not in the sound field.
Currently I use a Silent Angel Bonn N8 at the network end and an EtherREGEN at the system end, both with linear power. Uptone Audio says the EtherREGEN actually contains two switches. The N8 and ER are far superior to the generic switches I've tried. You seem to be saying that your very basic D-link switches are better than, or equal to audiophile switches. Which audiophile switches have you tried?
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That is not what I am saying. You can reread my previous posts for clarity.
However let's be honest, there are some really crappy "high end" switches as well.
As I said before. in the US 115 voltage all the Netgears were horrible regardless of if/what high end switches were run upstream.
I also talk of power supplies and such in my review.
I interpreted the above to mean that a combo of your preferred generic switches would be better than one audiophile switch. If that is what you intended to say, then I do not agree
Hi - apologies if it came across that way. I would ALWAYS rather have one GOOD high end switch over 2 cheap ones.
However 2 or even 3 good cheap ones hooked up the way I did in the review yielded a significant improvement (***in my system) over one mediocre switch. Then, adding the right cheap switches by the wall prior to the 15' run to my streamer where I then have my high end switch and a GigaFOIL yielded a significant improvement.
I found power conditioners will affect the sound of the switches significantly and possibly make upgraded power supplies needless (***in my system).
OK, clearly I misunderstood your POV.
That is not my experience. I use Furman pro audio power conditioners, PST-8 for the network gear and Elite-15 PFi for system line-level gear. (Line level only, not power amps.) Network switch power supply upgrades have had a major effect on SQ in my system. The Silent Angel N8 with the supplied SMPS was very pedestrian, only began to shine with a linear PSU. The EtherREGEN was fussy, an iPower X sounded impressive at first but was too hard sounding in the end. A Zero-Zone 50W LPS was good, but bass was loose. A better quality Zero-Zone did the trick.
An audiophile friend with a much more costly system than me was using a Niagara 1200 but has since upgraded, with separate grounding and power conditioning systems. His upgraded power supplies and even power cords have had a significant impact on SQ.
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