Clemburt

as you are taking the (imho the correct way of proceeding) route of investigating fixing the underlying issues rather than putting a sticky plaster over them, once you put a switch in place, would you mind disconnecting the LAN link to the rest of your network and reporting on if you hear any differences?

This is only temporary as you will loose the ability to control Sooloos via iPad etc and of course, metadata services, but it will provide some feedback on how much noise is being introduced from outside (ie internet and wifi) the confines of a standalone dedicated Sooloos network.

You may find that you want to cue up some long playlists to give an extended listening test. Depending on what your other kit is, MSR transport controls may still work to allow you to go back and forward through the queue.

As for switches, most will be fit for the purpose, but I personally like Netgear Switches and use a mix of the cheaper plastic bodied switches and slightly more expensive metal bodies prosafe switches with option of grounding the chassis - just watch out for network speeds as Netgear do a mix of similar looking 10/100 and Gigabit versions. You should be able to find a nice little 5 port prosafe gigabit switch for about �20-30 but cannot recommend an exact model as Netgear have revamped their range since I last purchased.

Meridian owner since 1992
Prime & PSU, Focal Elear headphones, Roon (ROCK 8Gi5 NUC), Explorer 1 & 2, F80. 200/203, various Sonos (via Roon).