Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Ethernet switches

I don't know about streaming video but for audio I agree with spinaltap and Silent Angel: a poor switch can generate a lot of noise. I think that good re-clocking provided by the switch also helps. But knowledge on this area of audio seems to be still developing. As said elsewhere, I also found an ethernet filter made a big difference.

A typical audio grade, single use, Ethernet Filter can work out more expensive than purchasing an audio grade switch with multiple ports.

For example, I require several ports to connect my Router, ROCK Server, plus Meridian 218 and 210.

Yes, but I think you will find that for best sound quality you need to use a good switch and the ENO filter. And yes, it is expensive but, I think, good value.

I agree absolutely for HiFi audio equipment and, for high-end AV, I would imagine the same is true.

For anyone using Sky and Amazon boxes, I suspect providing cleaner power or upgrading the power supply in the source equipment is likely to make a much greater difference.

FWIW, until 22nd December, on eBay, you can get 10% discount on the 8Switch by using the code ‘PERCENTOFF’.

This offer is via ‘hifi-madness’ (Audio Affair), or ‘chord2425’ (Analogue Seduction).

Both sellers are Meridian PP’s.

Could anybody explain, in simple terms, the differences between a so called "Audio Switch" and other E switches that have been available for both commercial and safety critical industrial applications for the last ten years.

Hector

It boils down to designs that are intended to minimize "noise" which is not something you would hear directly, like tape hiss, but the absence of which allows more musical detail to be heard. My first experience of this was with an expensive commercial switch from Cisco that was sold used for $40. One of many posters on the Naim Audio forum, where people report their experiences and speculate about the new "science", attributes this to:



Now I own an Uptone etherREGEN which addresses additional sources of obscuring "hash" which are further explained in their infamous White Paper.

In a multi-switch house, would you just need to place the audiophile switch nearest the critical audio endpoint? In my house, for example, I have a central 24 port switch in the server cupboard and then single runs out to the living room, AV room etc and in those rooms each has smaller 8 port switches.

Yes. Because I liked the Cisco Catalyst result when placed just before my 218 into theater DSP5200SE, I bought a second (also used) unit I've installed just before my streamer into a stereo DSP5000.2 system. Now the EtherREGEN is between Cisco and 218. Kind of like noise filters put as close to the network DAC as possible.

Innous joins the audiophile grade network switch club - costing £€$A Small Fortune.

Makes my EE8Switch look like a bargain by comparison.

I have an EtherRegen but the Networks Acoustics ENO which I have been auditioning for only a few hours seems to take things to a new level. Actually pretty amazing especially since it is passive. And it seems to be getting better as it burns in.

Hi David, I have been considering audio Ethernet switches, still a dark art to me, and had basically selected two finalist the ReGen and Network Acoustics, Could you please provide some comparisons and how and where in your system they were used and most importantly the SQ effect they had.