Router and Ethernet Switch suggestions

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pulled this morning my trusty, good, old 10/100 PaulPang switch from the chain

was good 'till I only had a NAS and Mac mini plugged into it but since I started using Roon and an Aries as endpoint... it wasn't holding up anymore

 

replaced, for the moment, with a plain vanilla Netgear GS105E gigabit but, even though I'm powering it from a good LPS (as everything else)... must confess I'm feeling "a bit nervous" LOL!

so while leaving everything the way it is... I'm looking around

 

Paul Pang now makes a gigabit switch and I've also seen this one by Jcat which looks the same as the AQVox

re the Jcat vs AQVox it's not about price, just... so far my "don't buy from companies which go a long length about describing how their stuff does sound but say almost nothing about how it is made and why" has always proven right and both AQVox and Jcat's "technical description" look exactly the same

 

Paul Pang too now says quite a little about his mods plus... the switch he is using looks an old and discontinued model

 

oh, and... all of the above are 8 ports but 5 is more than enough for my needs (and available space)

more ideas/suggestions?

[pl_svn]

Funny! I thought I was crazy when I ordered a second D-Link DSG-105 switch to experiment with a battery powered daisy-chain...until I saw this on the link you shared to Paul Pang's website.

[ATTACH]33752[/ATTACH]

My wacky experiment suddenly turned into plain vanilla! 

I'm doing something similar here (but with just one PPA switch: the one connecting "audio devices") plus optical isolation between the two switches

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ok, two days after pulling that PaulPang 10/100 switch and... I can't really say I'm missing something

(even though I'm still nervous about using a "non audiophile" switch LOL!)

 

It's a long time since I started powering the switch itself (plus all the stuff it is connecting) from some (good to truly great) LPSs

back then, when I did, I "thought" there was indeed an improvement and a greater one than going, afterwards, from a "non audiophile" switch to the Paul Pang so... :-|

 

think I'll keep (... for a while ) everything as it now is and try, instead, powering also the FMC and switch north of the "audio zone" ones from better PS. Don't think it is worth going LPS there too: maybe... just try iFi iPower?

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hhhhmmmm... I'm keeping all the grounding (and properly phasing) voodoo for when, some years from now, I'll hopefully move to the countryside and set up a "controlled" music room taking care, from the ground up, also of all the wiring/grounding stuff

 

In this building where I have no idea what others might be doing with their grounds... =:-|

(already using isolation transformers for pre and power amplifier. plus the LPSs for everything else)

 

If was to spend $1000 on a grounding box... I'm sure a microRendu + LPS-1 for my secondary (headphones) system would bring a much greater SQ improvement

And I'm already pretty happy with the main (speakers) one :-)

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had the very same impressions as you when i switched (pun intended) from a plain Netgear gigabit switch to PaulPang's 10/100 one (now discontinued). only difference is... that one was "just" €150 shipped

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15 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Nervous? As in audiophilia nervosa? Or is this a metaphor for a sound signature?

 

totally forgot about that 

 

still on a plain non audiophile switch since and... (attached image  )

definitely was just audiophilia nervosa

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no one is even sure it will be a switch. should however be "something ethernet related"