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

The "grounsdside" of the GISO has a shielded plug and has to go to that side of the connection where the "earth" / "ground" is available.

The 861 has a grounded/shielded input connection, a switch typically does not have this.

So the "better" shield is the goal here and the 861 is also "quieter" in electronic noise terms as ethernet equipment.

The plastic housing on the diagram made me look a little further. The RJ45's appear to be unshielded (probably a safety feature to prevent voltage differentials if used over different mains circuits although I suspect critical medical systems might use a clean earth to prevent this) and visually looking at the web site at photos, this appears to be the case. IMHO, the Emo product looks to be a safety device rather than a device designed specifically for EMI rejection.

So, being pedantic, IMHO the Emo isolation product could appear to be a potential source of EMI ingress, albeit small. But then, a properly screened/shielded cable is a small potential source too.

IMHO, Emo isolator cleans up EMI already present on the data pairs (not screen or shield) from upstream devices rather than localised ingress. Screen and shield is totally isolated from upstream EMI as there is no connection. There is a small risk of localised EMI ingress from the unit itself and depending on whether the downstream device (ie audio endpoint) sockets are shielded or not, the downstream cable itself.

Does anyone know if the MS600 also has a grounded/shielded input connection?

Only M can know that except it is galvanic shielding.
I just would try it out, say listen in both directions.
But maybe some member of M can answer that..?

Well, I bought my GISO on Tuesday and it arrived this afternoon. Just need to try it out over the weekend...

Jeremy

Which model did you go for?

Russ

Hi Robert

I appreciate that English is not your first language (my German is no where near as good as your English and thats only when I am apparently talking in my sleep after a long night of consuming *many* local beers near Cochem) but I'm not sure on your comment about switches and grounding/shielding.

Screened or shielded network cables have an outer metal surround to the RJ45 plug. Depending on the network socket (ie switch) this is being inserted into, this may lead to different scenarios.

Looking in the network socket, you may or may not see a little metal flap either side of the socket. If present, this will mate with the metal outer of the shielded RJ45.

Sometimes a switch will have these flaps and are not connected to anything else, sometimes they will be connected to the flaps in the other ports to provide continuity through the switch, sometimes the flap will be connected (indirectly) to an earth lug (so the user can decide to provide separate ground/earth to the whole switch) and sometimes it is provided via an earthed mains connection.

Some manufacturers provide similar networking functionality in different enclosures and this can affect how shielding is implemented. For instance, Netgear do a range of switches in plastic cases where the shield/screen continuity is maintained through the switch but they also provide a pro range with identical functionality but in a metal case providing a separate earthing point for the user to bond the whole switch chassis to ground if they choose.

It would be interesting to know if people have noticed any audible differences depending on the material network switch case and whether it was separately bonded to ground or not.

Hello Ian,

yes my post was more basic not to much in detail.
What you telling is correct,simply look on the plug can tell you if the screening is there or not,BUT it doesnt mean(as you posted) that it is connected inside the equipment.
On the other side , to have a non-metall connector on a equipment, doesnt mean that the cable to that equipment is not shielded.The cable can get the shield from another equipment in the chain(the shield runs till the end of the cable).
The Giso have shielded connectors but different coupled to the earth refer their specs(arrow pointing to earth on one connector only).It is not galvanic connected,but would/could be a AC coupled/shielded.
The other story is grounding.
A equipment can have a shield,but no ground/earth.
Here in austria and also in germany the mains coming from the power station to the house and have 3 or one phase(hot) and one neutral(the second pole or cold).
INSIDE the house at the entry from the mains, the (protective)earth get connected with the ground.
Also the neutral at the power station is grounded,means its connected with the earth.
So the best thing(in theory) is to "suck" all noise away to the ground when the equipment has the proper design for that.
The shielding "receives" the electrical noise and protect inside the shield the other wires.The shield itself get grounded on the correct place where the resistance/impedance to earth is at minimum and the noise can flow down to the earth.
Doing that,the shield is a receiver/antenna for all the noise(have a greater potential as the earth/ground) and so the shield get "cleaned" and can not( in theory) transmit the noise.
A ungrounded shield protect the inner wires from outside, but can carry also a noisy shield to an "silent" equipment.
So the best way is to have a daisy chained shield that is very well grounded at on point.In the real world you have maybe different main phases and potentials as all other(non audio/PC) equipment is connected at the mains.
In my personal case i have a switch in my listening room and one cable go down to the router/modem.
The router/modem or the switch have only a two wire main plug(phase and neutral)and no metall surroundings/connections.
So to use shielded cables here without a possibility to ground the shield(no metall-plugs) have only a limited sense.
So in my case with a grounded 861 and ID40 card, the only place to ground the shielding is at the ID40 card where the network connector is connected with the earth(measured that).
So my newtwork cable is grounded then till the switch or GISO(when its in the chain.)
So the shield acts here to (very low)dampening the signal+noise inside along the cable and works outside as a faraday cage so nothing can go inside or outside.
All that in theory of coarse.
Turn the isolator and hear what sound best....

Just fitted a cat6A 10G S-FTP lead to my MC200, does it sound better? I think so.

I have a plastic cased switch here.

Do you guys use Shielded patch cables?
At �7.00 ish from Rapid Electronics, you may as well.

Thoughts, Chris

GISO also ordered last Tuesday PM and arrived today. Burn in time excepted, after 2 hours of music play, SQ of previous test is already evident.

Can tell I'm going to be very happy with the purchase.

It will be your brain that burns in, if there is any difference.

Being a cheapskate, I went for the cheap one. Mostly because I couldn't see the point of a 1Gbit connection to an ID41 that doesn't support it!