For met the biggest tweak / upgrade where the room acoustics. A thick rug and some sealing treatment made a lot of difference. That together with the right speaker placement. Both are not easy as they need a lot of tweaking. But there are some cheap ways to give it a try (blankets etc)
Lots of things can make a difference, using a netfilter or not, decoupling or coupling of your speakers / gear. Shielded power cables and the way you place your cables. Pole checking your gear and matching the results etc etc

If i'm not mistaken, the problem with Ethernet is not the package's / bits but the noise that's added by the switches, router to the signal that makes its way to the analog signal when it passes the DAC.
I always remembered one remark from a very old Elector magazin "an audio device is as good as its power supply". There is perhaps something to win by replacing the crappy switching power supply of the MS600?
You could try a cleaner power supply on the network switch if you have one lying around. There are also some "normal" better and tweak-able switches like the Cisko Meraki that can be bought for not to much money on the second hand market.
As for the purifiers, they are supposed to be designed to get rid of that noise. Some say an optical cable does the same.

It al depends on your situation, believe, hearing, taste, the depth of your pockets and how deep you are willing to stick your hands in them for a certain (small?) result, the willingness to neutrally try things and lots of other different variables.
That can make that one person says it makes a lot of difference and the other thinks its an inaudible piece off b. or snakeoil

Last edited by Rick7; 2025-07-24 19:21.
Some Meridian...