Jump to content
IGNORED

SOtM sNH-10G - SOtM’s first network switch


Recommended Posts

I ordered my 10G switch with everything except the external clock input and have been listening for 4 months now.

So far various connection schemes have produced varying results with my WiFi bridge, STi5 and uR.

All 3 straight into the 10G with Ethernet was a step up from my dual PPA ZyXEL switches.

I ordered a pair of the Sonore oMs and extra SFP modules to try optical isolation into the 10Gs SFP ports.

Getting the oMs to link up with the 10G was a challenge with the STi5 and uR, different connection sequences are required by each to get them to talk. I also added a GigaFOIL between the wifi bridge and the 10G.

This was another step up, the sound field became wider with more detail retrieval, but the bottom end had a bit less energy.

The current connection scheme is back to back oMs on the uR, GigaFOIL on the WiFi bridge and EMO filter on the STi5 and all connected via Ethernet to the 10G. 

The sound field narrowed up ever so slightly, the detail retrieval is still there but the bottom end is much better and there is more warmth in vocals. Streaming Qobuz has never sounded better than it does now has for me, it equals files on SSD. 

I am extremely happy with my playback utilizing HQPlayer.

I think that I read somewhere that the 10Gs SFP ports are not as maximized as its Ethernet ports or that the comment was that the performance of the SFP ports was undetermined.

The only other variable that I might try, if the disposable funds are there, is adding back to back oMs on the STi5.

Thought about the oR via oM vs direct into the SFP ports but thats even more expense.

So many paths to try..............

 

 

 

  • HQPE 1.4/1.5 MHz 20 Bit PCM
  • Streaming Qobuz or playing files from external SSD
  • Surface Go 3 i3 Tablet with HQPlayer Client
  • ISP Cable Modem -> Ethernet -> Sonore opticalModule 
  • Sonore opticalModule  -> 20m Fiber -> Sonore opticalModule -> Ethernet -> Managed Switch
  • Managed Switch -> Ethernet -> Sonore opticalModule Deluxe -> 5m Fiber -> Sonore Sig Rendu SE Optical ( HQPlayer NAA )
  • Managed Switch -> Ethernet ->Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i9 Optical ( HQPlayer Embedded )
  • Sonore Sig Rendu SE Optical -> USB -> Holo Audio KTE May
  • Holo Audio KTE May -> XLR -> Goldpoint SA1X/47 -> XLR to Decware ZBIT -> RCA to Decware ZSTAGE25 -> RCA to Decware SE84UFO25 -> Avantgarde Duo Omega Horns with Townshend Audio Ribbon Super Tweeters
  • Decware SE84UFO25 -> Speaker Level to Jensen IsoMax Balanced Converter -> XLR Rives PARC -> XLR Avantgarde SUB225s
Link to comment
7 hours ago, ehoz said:

Yes

I personally also find without the 10Mhz clocking, the sound was fine and had more accuracy than ocxo clocked triple switches i used.

 

With the 10mhz and double switch was  just a tremendous, huge difference.

 

In clocking, even the clock cables with makes alaso a rather imporrant part of the final sound. With your flavour of linear supplies, costs can add up up rather quickly, but the bottlenecks just keep vanishing no matter how good ones gear is after the switches. Of course, giid ethernet cables are critical.

 

I have never had the evox cap, but have boutique film caps proves to be excellent. I believe the likes of Jupiter Copper foils, Duelund, Vcap teflon are just fantastic.   

 

Get one part wrong and the sound could collaspe, take it slow and hang in there to find the right synergy and the improvements with the Sotm will be very rewarding.

 

 

Link to comment

Thanks @justubes

However I feel that this has become a never ending game of cat and mouse. You spend money and then you need to spend some more money and some more money to get that elusive bump in SQ. However this is just my system, my ears and my experience.

The SoTM switch i have had everything but the EVOX caps and cost around $1500. At this level I am not willing to 'hang in there'. If i dont hear a SQ difference then that product is not hanging around in my listening room.

I wait eagerly for etheregen,.

Link to comment
On 9/21/2019 at 11:37 PM, auricgoldfinger said:

 

The SQ of both the switch and master clock can be significantly improved by better power sources.  Skip the SPS-500 altogether (it's not very good) and look for something like a Farad3 or SR4.  Get a good silver DC lead made from Neotech 16AWG solid core silver wire for the Farad3 or the Paul Hynes silver lead which can be ordered with the SR4

HI, thank you for the advise boss. I am currently using Neotech 16awg solid core OCC silver cables for all my DC cables. I will get the Farad 3 soon. My PC is Tellurium  Black so I think I am covered on that front. 

Link to comment
9 hours ago, ehoz said:

Thanks @justubes

However I feel that this has become a never ending game of cat and mouse. You spend money and then you need to spend some more money and some more money to get that elusive bump in SQ. However this is just my system, my ears and my experience.

The SoTM switch i have had everything but the EVOX caps and cost around $1500. At this level I am not willing to 'hang in there'. If i dont hear a SQ difference then that product is not hanging around in my listening room.

I wait eagerly for etheregen,.

Hi ehoz, if you cannot hear a diiference after adding in the soTm switch, if its me I would thank my ears. LOL. If the soTm switch didn't do anything to up your SQ, truth be told, I don't see how any other switch is going to make a difference on your setup.

 

Maybe your digital line is already top notch that any switch is not going to make a difference. 

 

 

Link to comment
37 minutes ago, ehoz said:

Maybe - or maybe I need complete isolation with a linear power supply at 1/3rd the price 

The only way u can get complete isolation is if the PS is battery. Both LPS and SMPS have their pros and cons. LPS are usually slow, it would have to be engineered well like the PH to be quick enough for the transients. SMPS are fast but are not as quiet, unless they are well filtered. I am not an expert, but maybe someone here can enlighten us if I am wrong. Good luck buddy.

Link to comment

@ehoz I have to say that you don't need all the tweeks and everything that people are saying for this product to work. My switch with sps-500 power supply, no fancy caps or silver cables, provided a big step up in sound quality. I had previously tried various switches but had settled on a direct connection to the PC as I found the switches degraded the sound quality. The SOTM switch improved the sound, adding more body and realism. It was a bit poor for the first few days though so perhaps give it a bit more burn in but if it's not working for you after a week or so then give it back. The tweeks people mention are to get further improvements, but the product doesn't need them to work.

Link to comment
40 minutes ago, Traildog said:

@ehoz I have to say that you don't need all the tweeks and everything that people are saying for this product to work. My switch with sps-500 power supply, no fancy caps or silver cables, provided a big step up in sound quality. I had previously tried various switches but had settled on a direct connection to the PC as I found the switches degraded the sound quality. The SOTM switch improved the sound, adding more body and realism. It was a bit poor for the first few days though so perhaps give it a bit more burn in but if it's not working for you after a week or so then give it back. The tweeks people mention are to get further improvements, but the product doesn't need them to work.

Hi Traildog,

The upgrade to the Evox caps, silver wires and the ebs has brought my entire soTm gear up from awesome to what's this I'm hearing level? Of course, my DC cables are also Neotech 16awg OCC solid core silver and my PC is the tellurium Black. But ya, it makes a huge difference to what's in the chain, but saying that, I agree with you that straight out of the box, the soTm gears can sound crappy (in my case, it was just awesome straight out of the box). As you so rightfully advised, let it settle in and then make the call to either keep it or dumping it. 

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

The RB4011 looks like a good companion for the SOtM:

1. it has an SFP+ slot so it's future proof
2. it has the same cpu as their 13 port RB1100AHx4 model, which is the successor of my RB1100AHx2
3.
maximum throughput should be similar to the RB1100AHx4 as they share the same cpu, so 7.5Gbit
4. it's completely passive cooled, so it tends to run a little hot - the whole case acts as heatsink
5. it has a DC input, so you can use any linear PSU with it, and most linear PSU's will handle it's amperage requirements

 

Max power consumption without attachments = 18 Watts  


image.thumb.png.6f6ad2d3c8bca16c3d51d3b6e1d52397.png

 

The only drawback is that you need network skills to get these up & running. It's not plug & play. The thing is wide open from factory, so you need to lock down the firewall rules when connecting this to the internet. It has a web gui, a windows gui and a command line mode so you don't need to learn all the commands from scratch.

If you have linux networking skills, including good knowledge of iptables, this thing is very easy to setup.

Designer of the 432 EVO music server and Linux specialist

Discoverer of the independent open source sox based mqa playback method with optional one cycle postringing.

Link to comment

For the Microtik, there's also a difference with and without a decent PSU, and this one is the router between my modem-only cable ISP setup (so just a docsis modem without wifi / NAT) and several internal VLANs.

So even when the SOtM switch is in between the Microtik and my music server, cleaning up the PSU of the router still has an influence on the final result.

image.png.c62a206526b3158342bf6548363fb31e.png

Designer of the 432 EVO music server and Linux specialist

Discoverer of the independent open source sox based mqa playback method with optional one cycle postringing.

Link to comment
  • 7 months later...

hi all

 

am considering the SNH-10G, and am new to fiber.

 

SOtM website says "You will need to use the converter and module for SFP connections with the sNH-10G, here you can use the single mode lc to lc duplex cables and these type of products...."

 

question: does it have to be a single mode type or can i use multimode transceivers and patch cable?

Link to comment
  • 5 weeks later...

Has anyone encountered compatibility issues with the sNH-10G and HQPlayer?  I'm having an issue where HQPlayer playback will pause briefly, then start, then pause, then start, etc, consistently.  I've isolated it to this switch.  Swapping it out for any other switch (I have several) resolves the issue.

Link to comment
On 5/27/2020 at 3:08 AM, Roasty said:

hi all

 

am considering the SNH-10G, and am new to fiber.

 

SOtM website says "You will need to use the converter and module for SFP connections with the sNH-10G, here you can use the single mode lc to lc duplex cables and these type of products...."

 

question: does it have to be a single mode type or can i use multimode transceivers and patch cable?

Hi Roasty,

 

maybe you’ve got yourself fixed up with SFPs etc but just to say I’m happily using multi mode TP Link gear with my SOtM switch. I didn’t see any specific guidance on the SOtM site about what format to use and there’s lot of discussion around about what’s best. I didn’t do any comparisons with single mode but the multi mode gear was cheap and easy for me to implement as a toe in the water.  For what it’s worth I’ve no regrets and there was a clear sound improvement. 
 

cheers and let us know how you get on

 

Calum

Link to comment
4 hours ago, Calum said:

Hi Roasty,

 

maybe you’ve got yourself fixed up with SFPs etc but just to say I’m happily using multi mode TP Link gear with my SOtM switch. I didn’t see any specific guidance on the SOtM site about what format to use and there’s lot of discussion around about what’s best. I didn’t do any comparisons with single mode but the multi mode gear was cheap and easy for me to implement as a toe in the water.  For what it’s worth I’ve no regrets and there was a clear sound improvement. 
 

cheers and let us know how you get on

 

Calum

 

Hi Calum

 

I got in touch with May from SOtM and she suggested to stick with a single mode setup. So in the end, that's what I did, got some sfp modules and single mode cable and everything is working fine for me. 

 

 

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...