Just adding my comment from Gustard thread here as I think it belongs to this thread
I have TeraDak T-S 211, Ethernet Media Converter, with me for some time but reason why I didn't put any feedback here as I was thinking of doing an A-B comparison with router however as soon as I got this unit I connected it to my streamer and donated the long STP cable, which I was running, at office. I should have kept it for few more days with me to be able to do comparison but I have an overall idea of the device now since I have been using it for close to 2 weeks.
My Headphone rig is
Roon on NUC -> Metrum Ambre -> Sonnet Pasithea DAC(via I2S) -> EC ZDS -> HD800s
and I am low level listener i.e I never crank it up with headphones.
Background -
I never had any issue with my chain. It is as musical as it can get and 800s is just magical out of ZDS. No brightness at all. I know strange thing to say for 800s. One of the reason for me to get FMC is to isolate my listening gear from router and hence from any kind of surge. As you recall around end of Dec we had storm in NY and although I did switch off and plugged out my audio gear but I forgot to take out ethernet cable and switching off router is not an option so I left my system vulnerable. Although nothing happened this time but was luckily that there was no lightening or power surge and what better way to do it then to introduce Optical cable. This was my no.1 reason to get FMC. Since I was already satisfied with how my system sounded so all I was hoping for was no degradation in SQ and that would be enough for me.
Inside Box-
So TeraDak came with a FMC as well and Fiber Optic SC-SC cable (although you can ask for SC-LC cable during order) however I already had mine delivered from Amazon as I needed more then 3m that TeraDak sent me. So if you need 3m or less then one delivery from TeraDak will have everything you need. I ordered mine with OCXO clock as I am believer of good clock in Audio. However it may be an overkill for me as my Streamer Ambre anyways re-clock signal with high quality clock but a jitter free signal being fed to streamer is always good and TeraDak is priced right as its is FMC + Clock + Transformer in built with power conditioning to reduce EMI etc.
Do note I am using 5v LPS from UpTone Audio to power the FMC on dirty side however TeraDak said there was no need to use LPS at dirty side but I had one unused ,which I forgot about and found few days back, so I used it.
Sound Impression -
Now coming to sound, as soon as I played first song , I was happy. There was no brightness at all and hence this new chain didn't bring any brightness with it. However I didn't get any day and night difference in SQ and it may be because the DAC and streamer are already good in rejecting any kind of noise and jitter. But over a period of time I notice one thing and that is background instruments have more weight in their tone and hence music sounds more musical
and sometime it feels background instruments are coming out of some void. No noise at all. At least in my chain the sound is never bright. Sound is wide and deep with good layering, not something TeraDak brought in my chain but something TeraDak didn't take away as well. I wish I could A-B now. May be will order STP cable from Amazon.
Although I must add before adding FMC in my chain I did experience my system sounding bright every now and then. May be due to power or may be due to my mood but since getting power conditioner and adding FMC, I never have this experience of bright sound so it was something to do with power during storm and busy days. Now if dirty power was coming from ethernet then at least FMC is getting rid off it.
Final Suggestion-
It's priced right. $251 with slow shipping, OCXO clock and Optical fiber cable. It will have have an impact in system with streamer not great in rejecting noise via ethernet and with suboptimal clock.
I have TeraDak T-S 211, Ethernet Media Converter, with me for some time but reason why I didn't put any feedback here as I was thinking of doing an A-B comparison with router however as soon as I got this unit I connected it to my streamer and donated the long STP cable, which I was running, at office. I should have kept it for few more days with me to be able to do comparison but I have an overall idea of the device now since I have been using it for close to 2 weeks.
My Headphone rig is
Roon on NUC -> Metrum Ambre -> Sonnet Pasithea DAC(via I2S) -> EC ZDS -> HD800s
and I am low level listener i.e I never crank it up with headphones.
Background -
I never had any issue with my chain. It is as musical as it can get and 800s is just magical out of ZDS. No brightness at all. I know strange thing to say for 800s. One of the reason for me to get FMC is to isolate my listening gear from router and hence from any kind of surge. As you recall around end of Dec we had storm in NY and although I did switch off and plugged out my audio gear but I forgot to take out ethernet cable and switching off router is not an option so I left my system vulnerable. Although nothing happened this time but was luckily that there was no lightening or power surge and what better way to do it then to introduce Optical cable. This was my no.1 reason to get FMC. Since I was already satisfied with how my system sounded so all I was hoping for was no degradation in SQ and that would be enough for me.
Inside Box-
So TeraDak came with a FMC as well and Fiber Optic SC-SC cable (although you can ask for SC-LC cable during order) however I already had mine delivered from Amazon as I needed more then 3m that TeraDak sent me. So if you need 3m or less then one delivery from TeraDak will have everything you need. I ordered mine with OCXO clock as I am believer of good clock in Audio. However it may be an overkill for me as my Streamer Ambre anyways re-clock signal with high quality clock but a jitter free signal being fed to streamer is always good and TeraDak is priced right as its is FMC + Clock + Transformer in built with power conditioning to reduce EMI etc.
Do note I am using 5v LPS from UpTone Audio to power the FMC on dirty side however TeraDak said there was no need to use LPS at dirty side but I had one unused ,which I forgot about and found few days back, so I used it.
Sound Impression -
Now coming to sound, as soon as I played first song , I was happy. There was no brightness at all and hence this new chain didn't bring any brightness with it. However I didn't get any day and night difference in SQ and it may be because the DAC and streamer are already good in rejecting any kind of noise and jitter. But over a period of time I notice one thing and that is background instruments have more weight in their tone and hence music sounds more musical
and sometime it feels background instruments are coming out of some void. No noise at all. At least in my chain the sound is never bright. Sound is wide and deep with good layering, not something TeraDak brought in my chain but something TeraDak didn't take away as well. I wish I could A-B now. May be will order STP cable from Amazon.Although I must add before adding FMC in my chain I did experience my system sounding bright every now and then. May be due to power or may be due to my mood but since getting power conditioner and adding FMC, I never have this experience of bright sound so it was something to do with power during storm and busy days. Now if dirty power was coming from ethernet then at least FMC is getting rid off it.
Final Suggestion-
It's priced right. $251 with slow shipping, OCXO clock and Optical fiber cable. It will have have an impact in system with streamer not great in rejecting noise via ethernet and with suboptimal clock.
