Do Ethernet cables Make a Difference

[mep]

The spinning disc sounds better than the ripped CD. Not by much, but it is better. Performance/cost is always a trade-off. In my case I opted for the Esoteric Grandioso disc spinner with master clock generator. A $60K+ investment to spin a CD might be a little bit silly to go a little bit better. Or you might be happy to pocket the money and end up with something not quite as good. Never-the-less, still a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience with an optimized network audio system.

So how much better does your disc spinner sound than streaming MP3 files?

 

[brodricj]

I could listen to Spotify all night and not be tempted to turn on my disc spinner.

 

[mep]

I could listen to Spotify all night and not be tempted to turn on my disc spinner.

Because of convenience or SQ?

 

[brodricj]

The totality of the experience.

 

[Porsche]

i fought streaming for a long time, but my burmester 151mk2 is mighty hard to beat for the money

 

[Michaels HiFi]

i fought streaming for a long time, but my burmester 151mk2 is mighty hard to beat for the money

I agree about fighting streaming for awhile. I finally gave in as having thousands of songs at my fingertips, many being versions I can't readily buy, and not have to get up off the couch to change songs is a fantastic convenience.

Plus, the display and user interface on the Rose is simply awesome.

 

[Puma Cat]

I agree about fighting streaming for awhile. I finally gave in as having thousands of songs at my fingertips, many being versions I can't readily buy, and not have to get up off the couch to change songs is a fantastic convenience.

Plus, the display and user interface on the Rose is simply awesome.

Can you turn off the display on the Rose while listening? You can do this on the Aurender N20, and turning it off results in an improvement in audio quality.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

Can you turn off the display on the Rose while listening? You can do this on the Aurender N20, and turning it off results in an improvement in audio quality.

Sure can. Same with the meters on the Luxman. And agreed you can notice a sound difference.

I keep them both off during critical listening and I keep them on for casual listening.

The other thing I do is keep the Luxman on Line Straight to bypass all tone and balance controls. That makes a bigger sound difference than the display.

 

[Puma Cat]

Sure can. Same with the meters on the Luxman. And agreed you can notice a sound difference.

I keep them both off during critical listening and I keep them on for casual listening.

There ya go.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

So I've received a variety of ethernet cables and filters and will be doing a comparison over the coming weeks. Am currently burning them all in equally.

 

[nicoff]

i fought streaming for a long time, but my burmester 151mk2 is mighty hard to beat for the money

Don't feel bad! For a long time i thought that analog was IT.

 

[Audioseduction]

For those who are interested in Ethernet cable upgrade, a less-costly alternative is to use a pair of fiber media converters, and supplement the receiving side unit with a LPS. The theory is that by converting Ethernet to fiber then back to Ethernet again, whatever noise that might have been in the Ethernet cable from the NAS/router/switch side is isolated, because fiber is immune from EMI and RFI.

For network players that use 100Mbps Ethernet ports, such as Lumin S1 / A1 / T1 / D1: TP-Link MC110CS
For network players that use 1000Mbps Ethernet ports, such as Lumin U1 / M1 / D2: TP-Link MC210CS

I myself use a pair of fiber media converters and supply power to each unit via a custom LPS. Like Peter said, it cuts out the nasty EMI and RFI intrusion from your signal. That's a GOOD thing!

 

[Michaels HiFi]

I myself use a pair of fiber media converters and supply power to each unit via a custom LPS. Like Peter said, it cuts out the nasty EMI and RFI intrusion from your signal. That's a GOOD thing!

Definitely want to cut out that noise!

After a month + of testing switches and FMC's, I've settled on a combo of 3 different switches by the wall, my PPA QUAD switch (so 7 total) by my streamer with a GigaFOIL in between. I'm trying different ethernet cables currently, and so far the Soblon ($400) is killing even more expensive cables I've tried.

Which media converters are you using?

 

[Mike]

We had bozos commenting on our switch videos that there was no noise, it was all 1’s and 0’s and couldn’t matter.
Sooooo wrong. It all matters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Michaels HiFi]

We had bozos commenting on our switch videos that there was no noise, it was all 1’s and 0’s and couldn’t matter.
Sooooo wrong. It all matters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

1000% I deal with the same idiots.

Currently someone is telling me that if you didn't do a double blind test than the results are worthless due to confirmation bias.

I explained to him I went into my test expecting NO difference between low cost switches and was surprised there is a difference. So doesn't that prove I didn't have confirmation bias? He still says there was confirmation bias. HUH?!?!? LOL

 

[Puma Cat]

We had bozos commenting on our switch videos that there was no noise, it was all 1’s and 0’s and couldn’t matter.
Sooooo wrong. It all matters.

You're exactly right, Mike.

And...it's *not* 1s and 0s. That is only how the data is encoded on the music file. The actual signal is an analog voltage, theoretically, a "perfect square wave" analog voltage, but that analog voltage square wave is not perfect, and as such, is susceptible to deterministic jitter, leakage current (specifically, low- and high-source impedance leakage current), threshold jitter, and phase noise. All of which have an impact on audio quality in a manner we can hear.

Again, I will encourage folks to read John's white paper: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...enson_EtherREGEN_white_paper.pdf?v=1583429386

 

[Puma Cat]

1000% I deal with the same idiots.

Currently someone is telling me that if you didn't do a double blind test than the results are worthless due to confirmation bias.

I explained to him I went into my test expecting NO difference between low cost switches and was surprised there is a difference. So doesn't that prove I didn't have confirmation bias? He still says there was confirmation bias. HUH?!?!? LOL

He's a frickin' idiot. And, with respect to "tests", he wouldn't know a p-value from an f-statistic.

 

[Puma Cat]

Definitely want to cut out that noise!

After a month + of testing switches and FMC's, I've settled on a combo of 3 different switches by the wall, my PPA QUAD switch (so 7 total) by my streamer with a GigaFOIL in between. I'm trying different ethernet cables currently, and so far the Soblon ($400) is killing even more expensive cables I've tried.

Which media converters are you using?

The same functionality the Gigafoil provides can be obtained by using a good fiber-media convertor with a good power supply and a good clock in it, e.g. the Sonore OpticalModule Deluxe, or the Ethernet switches from SOtM with the clock board upgrade. What the Gigafoil (or any FMC), the OM Deluxe and SOtM switch SFP port is doing is preventing the passage of leakage current. Bottom-line: there is no magic here, this is all physics.

 

[soundqcar]

......I'm trying different ethernet cables currently, and so far the Soblon ($400) is killing even more expensive cables I've tried.

Which media converters are you using?

The Sablon is a wonderful ethernet cable. I have it throughout my system.....from the router to a GigaFoil, then to an Innuos PhoenixNet switch/reclocker, then out to my Lumin X1 and Roon NUC. Can't recommend them highly enough.

 

[Puma Cat]

The Sablon is a wonderful ethernet cable. I have it throughout my system.....from the router to a GigaFoil, then to an Innuos PhoenixNet switch/reclocker, then out to my Lumin X1 and Roon NUC. Can't recommend them highly enough.

Ooh, Lumin X1! Sweet!