The Linear Solution OXCO router

[Blackmorec]

57 minutes ago, TheAttorney said:

 

I had a dyslexic moment in my earlier post, but I can't find a way to correct it now. I meant to type DIR-869 and 879. Both are outwardly identical and both user guides are dated early 2016, and neither appear to be current models, although still sold from some resellers. But the 869 user guide clearly describes the accesspoint and extender mode (e.g. screenshot below), whereas the 879 guide merely alludes to it.

 

 

A switch won't do what I need, as in the setup as below (I don't know why the upload quality is so poor, the original screenshot is fine).  

Another way of connecting my broadband modem on the right long distance to my hifi stack on the left would be to use powerline adapters, and I immediately discounted those on sound quality grounds.

 

EDIT: Sorry about the extra links below. I can't seem to delete them. Still in a learning curve with this site's editing function.

 

Adrian didn't expand upon his point about OCXO router being better than OCXO switch + non-audiophile extender, but it made sense to me: If the super clock and p/s and other benefits apply equally to the router and wifi parts as they do for the swtich parts, then that has to be better than having just a quality switch that is compromised by the noise etc of poorer quality extender. That's jus an assumption - I don't know for sure thet the super clock does apply to all the router functions.

 

Quote

 

 

Just click the diagram and it’ll open a new window with good clarity.

 

I face a similar problem. The internet comes into the house at the corner of my lounge and my HI-fi is on the other side of the house across a staircase. 

I tried a Wi-fi solution in the form of Google Orbi but wasn’t really happy with the results. A senior Virgin engineer suggested a Powerline Wi-fi adapter, which I was very sceptical about. He left one to try. I used it to bridge across the staircase. I then take an Ethernet cable from the Powerline adapter to an AQVox Switch SE which ‘denoises’ and reclocks the stream before passing to my server. 

I was amazed at the quality....frankly I can barely tell the difference between the Powerline adapter and a long Ethernet cable plugged directly into the back of the Virgin modem/router.  Seems that unless your wi-if is solid and running at high speed, a Powerline may well be a better solution. 

 

Long term I’ll probably run a Cat 7 outdoor cable to my hi-fi room but for now the Powerline is giving sensational results (considering what it is and how it operates 

[Blackmorec]

Some more feedback. 

 

Like BigAlMc, I treat my incoming internet like an unwanted stepchild, until it arrives in my hi-if room, after which its treated like royalty. A Virgin SuperHub3 with freeby SMPS links via a Maplin’s cheap and cheerful 1.5M cat 5 Ethnet cable to a Netgear 1000 Powerline extender, the receiver end of which is hooked up via 10M of Synergistic Research Active Ethernet cable to a AQVoxSE. 

 

I reported earlier that the Power line 1000 gave excellent results. Still true. Considering what I’m putting the signal through (cheap twin and earth with multiple twisted junctions and all the 240V mains-borne crap), the AQVox and Zenith SE perform miracles to produce incredibly involving, highly detailed music. 

 

I am certainly interested in improving the upstream handling of the data stream, so the Linear Solutions OXCO Router could be very interesting. With LS’s dual rail LPS I could also replace the crappy Virgin SMPS on the Superhub3, while simultaneously powering the LS router. 

 

Like TheAttorney, I couldn’t help feeling guilty about the Powerline and all the crap it was both putting up with AND putting into the household mains ring it was on. To this end I replaced it following Cornan’s recommendation of 2 TPLink RE650 Wi-fi extenders....the first, linked to the Virgin router via the  2.4MHz band to provide all my wi-fi devices with better connectivity and the second, in my hi-fi room, linked to the router via the 5MHz band and to the AQVox with an Ethernet cable, with all wi-fi transmissions disabled,  providing a clean, fast, uninterupted data stream to the hi-fi.  The result was, as expected, a step up in sound quality. Voices became more ‘human’, more focussed and more tangible in space, with greater layering of the soundstage and an increase in low level detail.  To ensure the results were only due to the Powerline to Wi-fi extender changes I maintained the 10m Ethernet cable link, even though i now require only a 1.5m Ethernet cable.  So I believe I can now say that while the Powerline solution worked perfectly well, Cornan’s RE650-based 2 wi-fi extender approach is clearly superior. 

My next step is an LPS for the AQVox (I’ve picked a Sean Jacobs designed DC2 + cables for that job) and then look at the router....either replacing the SMPS with something like a DC2 or replacing the  entire router section with an LS OXCO and replacing the virgin SuperHub3 (modem) PS as mentioned above. 

Comments and feedback as always very welcome