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

[heebrog]

This was all along referenced to to cd played from a clocked via Esoteric G02, Cybershaft OP17, Quartzlock 10M and now Mutec Ref 10 op20 with previously DCS Pucinni and Esoteric K01 and K01x.

Tidal now does not lose or even sound better than playimg CD's.

I not longer have space for a cd transport on racks and had to finally let go of my Vinyl rig of a Kuzma Reference with Triplaner VII and a benz ebony and ASR phono to make for space.

I have not missed eithercd or vinyl since.[/QUOTE]

Hi justubes,

May I ask what music server you are using that is better than a clocked Esoteric CD player?

 

[rgmd11]

Looking to possibly purchase the REFERENCE AUDIOPHILE NETWORK SWITCH – OCXO DUAL SWITCH – PPA STUDIO by PAUL PANG to squeeze the best signal for my streamer, anyone here have a direct comparison / experience in relation to the SOTM switch, thoughts and any pearls of wisdom greatly appreciated...

 

[Kris]

Looking to possibly purchase the REFERENCE AUDIOPHILE NETWORK SWITCH – OCXO DUAL SWITCH – PPA STUDIO by PAUL PANG to squeeze the best signal for my streamer, anyone here have a direct comparison / experience in relation to the SOTM switch, thoughts and any pearls of wisdom greatly appreciated...

PP recommends stack of 2x2 swich that is called Quad !
So this would be stack of 4 swiches . Still much cheaper than Sotm.
Would be great to see comparison between PP dual swich and Sotm.

the down side of PP this is stacking without Fibre optic.
You can go with SFP fibre with 2x sotm.
But if Quad PP is better than 2x sotm with FO the choice will be simple with less pp cost.

 

[Kris]

Beeing PPA customer for a very long time I have asked few simple questions
in regards to the „ best in the world” dual switch Hoping to purchese it.
( like caps , wires and clock they use inside as well as a type of supply they added )
Just wanted to make sure I know what I am paying for.
I am very dissapointed by mr PP , who was not willing to answer any of them
I am not sure if this is the right way to treat the costumer who purchesed many things in the past
or any customer willing to buy PPA product?
Is there something I dont understand ?
surely I was not expecting that based on Experience we have with industry people we got comunicated with in the past On this forum.

 

[rgmd11]

And now another contender that I have just chanced upon the Telegartner M12 Switch Gold that also looks very interesting and Telegartner appears to be a seriously big player in Networking, read some very favourable reviews elsewhere....

 

[Kris]

Emile ( Taiko Audio) is testing it .
I agree , M12 it looks very promissing but our Korean members were not happy with it while compering to other solutions. Emile will share his experience for sure.

I am not in rush . Would love to get the best option only so I can wait.
if there is need for :
M12 gold + Startech optical SFP 80 km + Startech media converter 1G+ Sotm 2x fully equipped + Ether Regen +2x bnc + Master Ref 10mhz + few good Vertere Ethernet cables ....
I will go for it.
Just need to know if this is the right way to do it?
Justubes is one of the most experienced members in audio networking here I think.

 

[Taiko Audio]

@romaz shipped me his fully loaded Sotm switches, Uptone shipped the Ether Regen, I have the Telegartner M12 gold here, I will run some comparisons, quite sure they will all provide different presentations, not so sure there will be an overall clear winner.

 

[spiritofmusic]

If the one at 20% of the priciest one provides 90% of the benefit of that priciest one, well...

 

[Taiko Audio]

If the one at 20% of the priciest one provides 90% of the benefit of that priciest one, well...

The cost / benefit ratio changes if you consider it an investment relative to your total system expenditure

 

[spiritofmusic]

Sure Emile. But it would be a fascinating broad indicator.

 

[rgmd11]

@romaz shipped me his fully loaded Sotm switches, Uptone shipped the Ether Regen, I have the Telegartner M12 gold here, I will run some comparisons, quite sure they will all provide different presentations, not so sure there will be an overall clear winner.

Very much looking forward to your comparisons

 

[rgmd11]

One more for the count "Fidelizer EtherStream" and for a rather modest $400,

 

[ANDRESZ]

A quick question to those with the SOTM twin or SOTM/ER set up. I think many of us have spent a lot of time configuring our rigs and I ended up putting three Shunyata SIGMA NR - one at the wall pre conditioner and one on the DAC and the other the streamer. (My SOTM/ER network side is on a separate line fed by some Shunyata Alpha PC).

Given that the set up of back to back switches has been so profound on my system that has been tweaked over many years; I am wondering whether the idea of best PC on DAC and source still holds up in light of the magnitude of uplift - aka the discoveries of CKKeung. I know the proof is in the trying but I was thinking this may be an interesting concept. Perhaps the "source" is no longer predominated by the server/streamer and the dac and maybe the switches are the new "source".

Welcome thoughts from all, especially those who have had a play.....

 

[seeteeyou]

We'll get a chance to test triple-stacking SOtM twins + Melco S100 by the end of this month, or maybe next month due to Chinese New Year. Most likely we could get a closer look at where law of diminishing returns would actually kick in by comparing the differences between twins and triplets.

One of CKKeung's buddies also happened to be an owner of SGM Extreme and supposedly it's the best music server out there at the moment. If we're able to bring those twins / triplets there to do a comparison, then we'll have an opportunity to witness if those switches were playing an important role or otherwise. Emile is also testing SGM Extreme with Telegärtner M12 Switch Gold / SOtM twins / ER and let's see how it goes.

On the flip side, an owner of the Chord HMS + DAVE combo (same as romaz with SGM Extreme?) purchased his Melco S100 recently while his entry-level streamer with Toslink output turned out to be Yamaha NP-S303

https://review.kakaku.com/review/K0001204484/

It's written in Japanese so machine translation could still give us a better idea about what's being written, then I found that NP-S303 streamer should cost less than £300 and it's directly connected to his Melco N1A music server at first

https://pricespy.co.uk/audio-video/media-players/yamaha-np-s303--p4421780

He also tested £3,600 dCS Network Bridge as well as £9,500 Esoteric N-03T (prior to his Melco S100 purchase) but neither one seemed to float his boat given their costs, finally Melco S100 resulted in HUGE improvements when it's added between his N1A server and NP-S303 streamer.

Basically those DACs from Chord / PS Audio etc. should be well known to be jitter-agnostic while Toslink outputs of streamers are able to provide galvanic isolation, therefore Melco S100 must be doing something right or else the "worst" Toslink output of such a humble streamer from Yamaha wouldn't sound so much better.

Though I'd like to mention that even relatively affordable sources with Toslink outputs do work exceptionally well for Chord DACs, romaz also shared a comparison between his ~$2K modified Oppo UDP-205 and >$10K Innuos ZENith SE + Mutec REF10 + SOtM tX-USBultra trifecta back in Mar 2018

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/rev...phile-vortex-box.787020/page-78#post-14117821

Finally I also wanna point out that music servers / streamers are almost always connected to switches / routers (for the sake of remote control from mobile devices) even though we're ONLY accessing the entire music library via SATA / USB / Thunderbolt / Firewire drives that are directly connected, it's mighty interesting to learn that LAN isolators still worked despite the fact that only local drives were involved

https://www.hiendy.com/hififorum/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=131063&page=1#pid2970961
http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3019-net-isolator/#entry49193

One could only speculate what switches were able to bring to the table, though romaz already provided some hints here regarding the isolation etc.

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...reaming/page/414/?tab=comments#comment-893173

 

[Kris]

It looks like we might endup of purchesing 5 or 6 switches one day to stack them for best results !
ppa stacks 4 swiches for best result.
Plase test it if you have so many of them for evaluation In a long chain.

 

[Blackmorec]

If you need 4 switches to clean up the data stream I’d be looking elsewhere for the source of noise and jitter. As I’ve posted several times, optimizing the whole chain with low noise power supplies, extremely well screened cables and vibration control seems to bring extremely positive results. Treatment includes ethernet cables, DC cables, power supplies and vibration control for both power supplies and network components.

 

[asindc]

I've been reading this thread with interest as I am planning on building up my digital setup. Right now, I'm running a Mac Mini>>>In wall CAT5 ethernet>>>Verizon modem/router>>>CAT5>>>Cisco router>>>CAT5>>>from wall, Wireworld Platinum Ethernet, 3m>>>Cary DMS-600 DAC/Streamer. Love the sound, plan on getting the following (new items in bold):

Verizon modem/router>>>CAT5 WW Starlight or Chroma ethernet, 2m>>>SOtM sNH-106G (w/Keces P3)>>>in wall CAT5 WW Starlight or Chroma ethernet, 7m>>from wall, Wireworld Platinum Ethernet, 2m>>> SOtM sNH-106G (w/Keces P3)>>>WW Platinum ethernet, 0.5m>>>Antipodes CX>>>WW Platinum ethernet, 1.5m>>>Cary DMS-600 DAC/Streamer.

My Question: Does the quality and length of the ethernet cable from the 1st switch to the 2nd switch matter? Do I need to bother with running a Wireworld ethernet cable 7 meters through the wall to the listening room?

 

[nonesup]

Beeing PPA customer
I am very dissapointed by mr PP , who was not willing to answer any of them
I am not sure if this is the right way to treat the costumer who purchesed many things in the past
or any customer willing to buy PPA product?
Is there something I dont understand ?
surely I was not expecting that based on Experience we have with industry people we got comunicated with in the past On this forum.

According to my experience this is usual with PP

 

[Blackmorec]

I've been reading this thread with interest as I am planning on building up my digital setup. Right now, I'm running a Mac Mini>>>In wall CAT5 ethernet>>>Verizon modem/router>>>CAT5>>>Cisco router>>>CAT5>>>from wall, Wireworld Platinum Ethernet, 3m>>>Cary DMS-600 DAC/Streamer. Love the sound, plan on getting the following (new items in bold):

Verizon modem/router>>>CAT5 WW Starlight or Chroma ethernet, 2m>>>SOtM sNH-106G (w/Keces P3)>>>in wall CAT5 WW Starlight or Chroma ethernet, 7m>>from wall, Wireworld Platinum Ethernet, 2m>>> SOtM sNH-106G (w/Keces P3)>>>WW Platinum ethernet, 0.5m>>>Antipodes CX>>>WW Platinum ethernet, 1.5m>>>Cary DMS-600 DAC/Streamer.

My Question: Does the quality and length of the ethernet cable from the 1st switch to the 2nd switch matter? Do I need to bother with running a Wireworld ethernet cable 7 meters through the wall to the listening room?

Yes, it all matters. Even the DC cables from PS to switch and they‘re not even in the signal/data stream path. It seems that anything that can cause jitter or allow ingress of conducted and radiated EMI matters.

 

[asindc]

Yes, it all matters. Even the DC cables from PS to switch and they‘re not even in the signal/data stream path. It seems that anything that can cause jitter or allow ingress of conducted and radiated EMI matters.

Thanks for your reply. Aside from quality, does the length of the ethernet cable between the two switches matter?