Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming LAN isolator anyone?

Hi, I just moved ahead from conventional audio system to the DSP system. Among many reasons for me to move ahead this direction is (better sound is of course the prime one), I wanted to free myself from "cable dilemma" from inter-connects to speaker cables, plugs, outposts, etc. and etc. although my DSP's are legacy, thanks to the Reviver (which is on its way here) I should be able to use RJ45 between MC200 DSP5200.

I can't just let go of my bad habit of "cabling" and wonder if using LAN-isolator which was initially used in medical industry to reduce errors caused by noise (as it is business of life and death) could bring good or bad or nothing to the SpeakerLink connections.

I am talking about something like this LAN Isolator RLI-1, but not necessarily this product.

Hope this is just a BS... ^^

Thank you.

I use a cat7 between 5200 left and right.
I don't know what it is, at least make me feel good.

I always trust Bob Stuart and Meridian design. That's what I am paying for when I buy Meridian equipment, and feel that if this was necessary he would recommend it or build it in.
Let go of cable voodoo and trust your ears is my advice. Just use good quality well made cables. Then spend your money on more Music. This is after all the whole point, enjoying familiar and discovering new music.
Enjoy, Chris

M have shown that they do care about such things as LAN noise. The iteration of ID40 to 41, RFI chokes on early Anniversary SL links.

It would be interesting to know if this device did make any impact on SQ.

Chang,
Thanks for the link
Robert

What I did first was to put ferrites on every connection going into the router and from broadband modem.

There is no voodoo in an isolation transformer. I would put it as a firewall on every connection not audio where you could use ferrites as a cheaper solution. But I'm actually abit intrigued, I read up on "medical-grade" LAN isolation transformers before but never got around to trying one.

What did have a good effect in my system lowering noise and edginess was exchanging all PSU's related to Gbit-switch/router network and Sooloos MC200 to higher quality ones from Teddy Pardo. That can be heard immediately not a "maybe" like with ferrites.

The problem I now have is that I have looked at some of the other products this company make. It is very hard to now take them seriously.

Really ?

I agree that the LAN isolator looks interesting, promising indeed, given Meridian's discoveries in this area, but at $200, it's not something that I'm likely to purchase to experiment with.

Will the Ultra Low-frequency Pulse Generator interfere with the neighbour's homing pigeons?

Hmmm... Hopefully someone can do the testing and share the experience... ^^ I would love to, but it is bit limited for legacy system to see the full effect.

General consensus is that when isolator is used, background gets darker (phrase used by many audiophiles) with less noise level, but may sacrifice some degree of dynamics (less lively, and filtered sound)

It may come down to personal taste, but I just can't let go of my bad habit...

An analogue description from analogue thinking... (IMHO)

Hi Cujo,

The device you listed is a LAN Isolator and whilst it may have some merits when connecting a Sooloos endpoint to a LAN (Local Area Network); a SpeakerLink connection (to your DSP's) is NOT a LAN connection, the only thing in common is the RJ45 connector and the cabling.

SpeakerLink contain these signals:

Differential Digital Audio (AES/EBU)
Meridian Comms (to DSP's)
Meridian Comms (from Master DSP)
Meridian RS232 (Tx and Rx)

All of the above are relatively very slow compared to LAN signal frequencies which this device is designed for.

Regards,
Carl

And the pinning is " a little different"...
You even can damage some when you use it on the M-SpeakerLink.

On LAN it's another story to try, but the price is out range.