Can an Ethernet filter improve sound?

Only if it costs a LOT! 😎

I’m sure there are situations involving power supply noise contamination of the Ethernet signal, issues between routers and DACs, etc. Some setups are more resilient. I think my MSB system, with Digital Director and Renderer is sufficient at filtering anything but an actual fraudulent Ethernet implementation.

That being said, there are all sorts of things that apparently sneak through the transformer coupled, asynchronous Ethernet connections. Most are solved with an optical link somewhere near the rendering computer.

Lots of pundits, and sellers. We all have different system/issues. Auditioning is required, in my opinion. Before I got the Digital Director, I could tell the difference in my system when I used the UpTone Audio EtherRegen and the optical segment. (Even using generic SFPs) vs plain hub with copper Ethernet only.
 
I can only speak to my personal experience. Adding an optical break and a USB isolator fed by clean linear power supplies made a significant improvement in the sound quality of my digital audio chain. I can listen all day without any fatigue. I’ve also incorporated some advanced grounding and powerline filtering to good effect, and magnetically shielded Shunyata power cords have helped too.

The optical break, USB isolator, and linear power supplies were under $200 all in.
 
W9TR said:
I can only speak to my personal experience. Adding an optical break and a USB isolator fed by clean linear power supplies made a significant improvement in the sound quality of my digital audio chain. I can listen all day without any fatigue. I’ve also incorporated some advanced grounding and powerline filtering to good effect, and magnetically shielded Shunyata power cords have helped too.

The optical break, USB isolator, and linear power supplies were under $200 all in.
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What kind of linear power supplies did you buy for under $200 and never mind the cost of the optical break and USB isolater?
 
mep said:
What kind of linear power supplies did you buy for under $200 and never mind the cost of the optical break and USB isolater?
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I built the linear power supplies and USB isolater myself. I bought ultra low noise regulator modules and a transformer/rectifier from Jameco. Three separate isolated and filtered outputs for the ‘quiet end’ of the optical break, USB isolator and streamer. About $100’all in. The optical break all in was less $100
 
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W9TR said:
I built the linear power supplies and USB isolater myself. I bought ultra low noise regulator modules and a transformer/rectifier from Jameco. Three separate isolated and filtered outputs for the ‘quiet end’ of the optical break, USB isolator and streamer. About $100’all in. The optical break all in was less $100
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Thanks. It makes sense now that I know you built the linear power supplies yourself.
 
Since I do not stream I am not at all concerned with audio level switches, etc. However, I do want the best signal I can get from my server to my DAC. The Wyred 4 Sound ISO Recovery and the DC Recovery are fairly amazing at assuring that the best possible signal is getting to your DAC from the music server if you use USB. Wyred 4 Sound They are also very reasonably priced.
 
Bones13 said:
I still have mine in a drawer from my USB days.
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And the new ISO Recovery is a fairly big improvement from the original Recovery.

The DC Recovery is to take care of issues arising from wall warts used by most of these network type devices. EJ told me that they unexectedly discovered this tech while working on their other power products. He saw the improvements and thought he could create a smaller more targeted product specifically for those items that use wall warts.
 
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