I will begin by reiterating that I am not a networking expert, but I have been doing a lot of reading on the efficacy of so-called audiophile ethernet switches, and from what I have read it seems all the "benefits" from the design are theoretical. In practical terms, none of the design improvements should have any impact on the content of packetized data. Just because there may be measurable artifacts that can be filtered out or replaced in the ethernet signal, this does not mean it will have any impact at all on the audio data contained inside the packet. But, being the skeptic I am about such things, I await reviews by real-world users and measurements from technicians.
To paraphrase Henry Kloss, "not everything that can be measured matters."
I will begin by reiterating that I am not a networking expert, but I have been doing a lot of reading on the efficacy of so-called audiophile ethernet switches, and from what I have read it seems all the "benefits" from the design are theoretical. In practical terms, none of the design improvements should have any impact on the content of packetized data. Just because there may be measurable artifacts that can be filtered out or replaced in the ethernet signal, this does not mean it will have any impact at all on the audio data contained inside the packet. But, being the skeptic I am about such things, I await reviews by real-world users and measurements from technicians.
To paraphrase Henry Kloss, "not everything that can be measured matters."
Again, it not the data in the packets that is at issue. After all, any protocol that uses TCP is guaranteed accurate data delivery. Like USB, it's what comes along with the data that is the issue. Using audio-grade caps makes no sense. Finding ways to reduce the noise passed along with data does make sense.
That's not what Kloss said. Quite the contrary, the entire quote goes "Everything that matters can be measured, but not everything that can be measured matters." So no audiophoolishness, please.
That's not what Kloss said. Quite the contrary, the entire quote goes "Everything that matters can be measured, but not everything that can be measured matters." So no audiophoolishness, please.
I'd rather ignore Kloss and go with "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." or similar.
Perhaps Kloss had some new measurement techniques?
Maybe he was talking about speakers.
... As Henry Kloss once said (if you don't know who he is then Google is your friend): "Everything that can be heard can be measured. Not everything that can be measured can be heard."...
That's not what Kloss said. Quite the contrary, the entire quote goes "Everything that matters can be measured, but not everything that can be measured matters." So no audiophoolishness, please.
I'm going to second what Ableza and Winders are saying based on my networking experience. If you have a problem like what Pietro found then there is a poor design or defect with your networking device. Winders is right on about TCP unless you run into timing/lag issues that your ears can notice. See the wired article I posted earlier for a take on that by Sonos.
Where I think everyone could really benefit is some sort of open-source project or protocol RFP to make wireless headphones not so awful by taking advantage of 802.11ax (wifi) in say the 45Ghz or 60Ghz bands. These are low distance frequencies that transmit a short distance suitable for a headphones application but have enough bandwidth for ALAC or FLAC high res files.
Unfortunately, solving the wireless transport of hires audio data via wifi instead of Bluetooth doesn’t address the issues of amplification, DAC, and battery life associated with wireless headphones. By that I mean imagine how heavy a pair of LCDs would be with a quality DAC and Amplification. And each time you bought another pair of headphones you’d buy the DAC/Amp and wifi parts again.
Mainly I think most of us will remain better of with wired headphones for a long time yet. I’m just frustrated that Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone and most of the other devices are copying or will copy soon. And to make matters worse I strongly suspect that Apple wants to eliminate all ports on iPhones in the future leaving us with no means but Bluetooth for audio. First they have to further improve wireless charging; and we can only hope that something changes before then on wireless audio or that the physical efficiency constraints of wireless charging prevent such a move.
One 'trick' is to insert an optical link between the source (computer or router/switch) and the ethernet based digital audio converter, that then feeds the dac.
This is a simple and relatively inexpensive solution (less than $150) and completely electrically and electronically isolates the source side from the distribution side.
In my system one end connects to my computer and the other feeds into my AOIP digital audio converter.
There is no switch/router/hub of any kind, as it’s a straight path with only one source and one 'end point'.
This may not apply to your setup, but an optical link completely breaks the ground along with the electrical/electronic connections from one end to the other.
This was a refinement and improvement that was easily noticed.
And yes I modded it even further, but this degree of isolation, one end from the other, was a step up in SQ.
I did absolutely have no problem at all.
My SQ was very very good as it was. Various people here can attest to that.
It simply got a very eetsypeetsy bit better.
One 'trick' is to insert an optical link between the source (computer or router/switch) and the ethernet based digital audio converter, that then feeds the dac.
This is a simple and relatively inexpensive solution (less than $150) and completely electrically and electronically isolates the source side from the distribution side.
In my system one end connects to my computer and the other feeds into my AOIP digital audio converter.
There is no switch/router/hub of any kind, as it’s a straight path with only one source and one 'end point'.
This may not apply to your setup, but an optical link completely breaks the ground along with the electrical/electronic connections from one end to the other.
This was a refinement and improvement that was easily noticed.
And yes I modded it even further, but this degree of isolation, one end from the other, was a step up in SQ.
The optical converters have their own issues adding noise as they are powered by some sort of power supply which is usually an SMPS. Frankly, you are better off with a switch like the Netgear GS108 with the DC negative from the SMPS grounded. Ground noise and ground loops aren't a problem with Ethernet as long as you don't use STP and stick with a UTP. 100BaseT and GigE use transformers to filter and isolate the signals sent from device to device so most of the noise is eliminated. The high impedance noise is what makes it through the transformers so you have to make sure you have a switch that does not pass it on or at least reduces it so much it doesn't matter.
I did absolutely have no problem at all.
My SQ was very very good as it was. Various people here can attest to that.
It simply got a very eetsypeetsy bit better.
As I suffer from Tinnitus it probably masks any high freq noise I might hear. Maybe I'm immune? Anyway if it makes you happy that's all that counts and if it helps someone else improve their system I'm all for it.
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