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Audiophile Network Switches for Streaming ... really ?

NRG said:
I don’t understand the reluctance to try the cable in or out test described earlier, it’s so simple to do. I messed about with my system for an hour or so yesterday having set the Squeezelite buffer to 128MB:256MB which easily cached my 60MB test track. Network activity stopped after about ~3seconds then I pulled the ethernet cable…repeated again but left the cable in…if there was a difference I couldn’t hear one. I’ll repeat the test another time with a different track.
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It is so easy to do, but for some reason it just doesn't happen, unwilling to try something new maybe? ;)

@Fourlegs take the audio out of your DAC and plug it into your phone, record it like that.
 
most hi-fi fans have an obsessional need to 'tweak' their systems.
In the good old days of vinyl, you could experiment with different turntables, tone arms, cartridges, styli. Then the esoteric tweets like adjusting downforce, weights to hold down the record...
Then along came digital and all of a sudden what could we tweek when everything sounded the same regardless?
But now we're happy because astute marketing persons are able to convince us that different coloured boxes sound different, bits of wire sounded better if they had fancy names like LCOFC. Wires always sound better the thicker they are ?
Let's all just admit the main reason for 'upgrading' is the fun of doing it, regardless of what it does to the actual sound. ;););)
 
Fourlegs said:
We are glad to have your assurances with regard to your system but we only have your word for it. A few years ago I received similar assurances from another person about his system together with his view of what mattered with digital front ends and associated connected network based on his knowledge and expertise from a lifetime of working with commercial ethernet networks. Then I heard his system (at a wam show as it happens) and let’s just say he had an inflated expectation bias regarding his assessment of his own system and a failure to realise that what he had dealt with during his professional life was not the only thing that mattered when it came to maximising the sound quality of audio systems.

Also it is easy to fall into the trap of inverted snobbery when looking at some people’s hifi and whilst I am sure you would never let yourself do that you do seem to concentrate quite a bit on how much other people have spent on their HiFi compared to how little you have spent.

My friend that visited a couple of weeks ago brought his £25,000 Oladra streamer. It is a pity that when buying it that he had not realised he could get the same sound from a system where the whole digital front end cost only £2k. It is also a pity that when we were swopping different switches in and out with his £25k streamer that he had not realised that the other advantage him merely replicating your £2k digital front end is that it would have been completely immune to any such fine tuning.

I am sure your system does sound good but I think you are completely mistaken when you state that any of the rest of us are struggling with the sound of our systems. That misses the point that what we are doing is fine tuning the sound of our systems and maximising the sound quality. None of us are ‘struggling’ as you put it. There is a difference between something which sounds bad (such as the one I mentioned above) and a system which already sounds good but which has the potential to sound even better with a few tweaks. Some of those tweaks can be cheap and others might be very expensive but the whole essence of what @TheFlash and others are discussing is making already good sounding systems sound even better. The tweak that I did was to buy an admittedly expensive PhoenixNET after hearing what it did in my system. My system sounded great before and the only reason I tried it was because I was intrigued by what others had been reporting. Every now and then I do try taking the PhoenixNET out of the system and whilst the system does not then sound broken I much prefer the sound with the PhoenixNET.

My friend who has just bought the £25k Oladra was not struggling with his system when he had a different streamer but having tried the Oladra he decided that the improvement in sound quality was worth the extra money. Others with different pressures on their available money would undoubtedly come to a different conclusion but having heard the Oladra I can understand why it is selling like the proverbial hot-cakes.
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Then it must be true, I'm away to m'box in the corner. :)
 
@Fourlegs, you're not seriously criticising someone's technical networking expertise on the your opinion of how their hifi sounded when placed in a hotel room? Surely you've heard mismatched rooms at hifi shows before, even when setup by company's with days to get it right and loads of tuning equipment o hand.
 
I just struck me that I haven't heard any moaning from people that live edit 4K material on NAS units over routers and switches. A crap router would definitely add noise on the screen. Or maybe there are even more expensive gadgets for them?
 
I'm looking forward to my entirely functional and adequate lunch. Which I shall accompany by an entirely functional and adequate cup of tea.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Yes, but if you measure the tea, maybe gas chromatography or something, it will measure identically in both cases. Won't it?
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Depends - plenty of evidence that tannins tend to stick to rougher surfaces, so a perfect bone china cup could allow more tannins onto the tongue....

Of course, could also be one of many possible biases :rolleyes:
 
zippy said:
But now we're happy because astute marketing persons are able to convince us that different coloured boxes sound different, bits of wire sounded better if they had fancy names like LCOFC. Wires always sound better the thicker they are ?
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I still have the original Din cables that came with my Quad boxes .... pure bell-wire territory and no mistake.

Amazing that Quad could produce such first-class audio for discerning audiophiles back then while hampered by such clearly inferior wiring. ;)
 
Zombie said:
I just struck me that I haven't heard any moaning from people that live edit 4K material on NAS units over routers and switches. A crap router would definitely add noise on the screen. Or maybe there are even more expensive gadgets for them?
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Actually if you pop into the typical AV forum you can find just such trite discussions taking place as this one ..

'my new super deluxe CAT9 cable with gold plated (plastic!!) terminals made the colours much more vivid, the blacks much deeper, ... blah blah blah ' :rolleyes:
 
miktec said:
Oh gawd - has the 'inverted snobbery' cliche reared it's slimy little head ...

Only a matter of time I guess :rolleyes:

Where's Alan Sugar when you need him most :D
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Arguing about cables and boxes is one thing, but getting into the well-researched realm of British tea, things can get nasty!
 
miktec said:
Actually if you pop into the typical AV forum you can find just such trite discussions taking place ... blah blah blah ' :rolleyes:
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"This film was so much more emotionally engaging with the £1000 switch."
That's expected, but I meant the pros. The guys that actually work with such things.
 
Silent Angel, having realised that network switches are one of their best sellers, have now released the NX model for a mere $3500.

If they come, they will build it.
 
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