PSA - how to directly connect NAA to HQP without bridging in Windows

[Miska]

Uh oh...

 

People, regarding Ethernet cables... Just remember to use UTP cables (ones with plastic connector housing) when connecting to NAA. Do NOT use STP cables (ones that have metal on connector housing), because this will likely break the ground isolation we want from the Ethernet (being otherwise transformer isolated). We generally don't want Ethernet cables to make ground connections between the networked devices. This is one of the main points for using Ethernet and NAA.

 

Unfortunately all audiophile network cables I've seen are STP type, so unsuitable for NAA use. I use plain standard CAT6 UTP cables (costs about 10€ for 2m piece).

 

Correct type of cable:

 

Incorrect type of cable:

 

[Miska]

3 minutes ago, Sevenfeet said:

Seriously though, this hobby is one of the most subjective pastimes I've ever seen.  It makes some sports nuts seem quite tame by comparison (and I'm one of those two having played Div I basketball).  And yes, we debate endlessly for decades on the merits of audio presentation.  And I do not pretend I know the eccentricities of what this circuit does to that analog signal path.

 

But I've worked for two different well known technology companies over the last two decades.  I've worked intimately on data networks since college.  And I'm pretty comfortable in my earlier thesis.  My point was say, stop spending your valuable time, energy and especially hard earned money (since it's completely moot) and worry about something else.

 

One of the reasons for NAA to exist is to allow galvanic isolation over high speed asynchronous FIFO buffered transport. Since for example USB by specification doesn't provide galvanic isolation, Ethernet is used as physical media because of two reasons:

1) Copper Ethernet is transformer isolated by the specification

2) There is various optical Ethernet networking gear available that provides even more isolation

 

This is not related to transferring bits around as such, this has more to do with analog electronics engineering.

 

In addition, building things on top of networking technologies provides various advantages, such as many-to-many connections, while USB is limited to point-to-point. So for example any HQPlayer computer in the house can access any NAA in the house. One can use even WiFi links if needed (missing cabling, etc).

 

P.S. I personally don't use point-to-point multi-homed Ethernet connections, I see no reason to do so and it is painful as things get complex and not designed to be used that way. I have now 6 switches around the house on the same network and NAA's and HQPlayer computers around the house too. And things work fine on the network.

 

[Miska]

1 minute ago, Sevenfeet said:

This advice isn't specific for audiophile networks.  Virtually all home and office twisted pair cabling should be the unshielded variety since that's the specified standard for 10/100/1000 base-T networks..  Shielded will work in most cases (short distance) but you can run into trouble in some cases.  Shielded is mainly used for specific circumstances in data centers.

 

Yes, that's what I've been repeating several times. When people ask me when they can use STP, my answer is generally that within a normal machine room 19" racks that are carefully grounded to a common ground using at least 4 mm2 copper wire and all equipment is powered through 3-pin IEC power from common power feed.

 

Certainly not for long distances, because it creates danger for large ground currents / voltage potentials (reason why there is the transformer isolation by design).

 

[Miska]

Latency of a switch is practically fixed amount, so it really doesn't matter in the typical switch figures. It could be 100x higher and still wouldn't have impact. In most cases, NAA would work fine over 4G/LTE internet connection too (given enough average bandwidth).