Article: SOtM sNH-10G Network Switch Review

[JohnSwenson]

8 minutes ago, mansr said:

Yeah, right. Did your wife in the kitchen notice it too?

I was listening to headphones, how could that happen?

 

John S.

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, mansr said:

Yeah, right. Did your wife in the kitchen notice it too?

Give us a break. 

[jtwrace]

1 hour ago, Jud said:

 

But notice: The measurement hasn’t happened yet.  And even after that, we’re left to ponder the question of how significant/audible it might be.

@Jud

 

Been about 4 yrs now. 

 

 

[rickca]

36 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

So back to the drawing board.

Sorry to hear it didn't work out.  I really hope the new board does the trick.

[plissken]

51 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

The pulling the plug thing is what actually got me looking into this.

 

A while back I had a prototype of one the streamers on the bench feeding a little inexpensive DAC ($110) feeding some inexpensive Senheiser headphones($69) when I accidentally unplugged the Ethernet cable and the increase in sound quality blew me away. There was about 1 minute of music stored in the streamer so I got 1 minute of REALLY good sounding music.

 

So yep, pulling the plug DID make a big difference, but it wasn't a "test", there was no expectation involved.

 

John S.

 

 

Sorry but your response needs picked apart. I want to point out this tidbit 'had a prototype of one the streamers'. I see a whole slew of issues in that statement WRT to all the possibilities, namely design errors, that could have defeated reasonable measures a DAC designer took to insulate their product from noise.

 

With so much of your efforts in highly buffered I/O systems and knowing how they work it never occurred to try it before?

 

My Emotiva DC-1 seems impervious to the systems I have had it connected to when it comes to testing the upstream noise possibility.

 

[Jud]

22 minutes ago, plissken said:

My Emotiva DC-1 seems impervious to the systems I have had it connected to when it comes to testing the upstream noise possibility.

 

I am sure this is true, but I was so sure it was coming that I had to smile, my friend.  

[incus]

17 hours ago, plissken said:

 

 

Sorry but your response needs picked apart. I want to point out this tidbit 'had a prototype of one the streamers'. I see a whole slew of issues in that statement WRT to all the possibilities, namely design errors, that could have defeated reasonable measures a DAC designer took to insulate their product from noise.

 

With so much of your efforts in highly buffered I/O systems and knowing how they work it never occurred to try it before?

 

My Emotiva DC-1 seems impervious to the systems I have had it connected to when it comes to testing the upstream noise possibility.

 

So the noise of your Emotiva is greater than anything that's come before it? Interesting.

[Superdad]

35 minutes ago, incus said:

So the noise of your Emotiva is greater than anything that's come before it? Interesting.

 

Yeah, well @plissken paid $300 for his marginally built DAC with $0.50 master clocks, and $2.00 opamp output stage, so its not much surprise that nothing upstream can be heard. 

[plissken]

39 minutes ago, incus said:

So the noise of your Emotiva is greater than anything that's come before it? Interesting.

 

Or the flip side, which is most DACs, that in properly implemented, standards compliant systems, they filter out any up stream noise.

 

I've offered to setup an Intel based PC with Prime 95 and run it headless driving your DAC and see if you can tell when Prime 95 is presenting a load and when the system is otherwise nominal with something just Tidal being the main, interactive, application.

[plissken]

7 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

Yeah, well @plissken paid $300 for his marginally built DAC with $0.50 master clocks, and $2.00 opamp output stage, so its not much surprise that nothing upstream can be heard. 

 

I've also access to the RME interfaces... but lets look at it this way:

 

Let me remind everyone you are the one that disappeared at What's Best Forum when you initially said you would blind A/B your own ISO Regen product in your own home when someone was going to purchase air fair.

 

What DAC do you use 😉

 

I don't know what's worse: My faith in my $300 (I purchased second hand but basically new in box) or your lack of faith in your DAC and your product, er I mean ears.

[plissken]

BTW I specifically chose the DC-1 because it could act as a pre-amp and I have a BT receiver in the RCA inputs for my wife to stream from her phone.

 

Happy Wife , Happy Life.

 

 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, plissken said:

Let me remind everyone you are the one that disappeared at What's Best Forum when you initially said you would blind A/B your own ISO Regen product in your own home when someone was going to purchase air fair.

 

Knock it off Pliss. First of all, what someone misconstrued as an invitation to my home never was.  I have blind A/B'd our products many times in my own home.  The ISO REGEN did not even exist when the aforementioned exchange occurred.  And my decision to stop participating in that forum had nothing to do my not inviting hostile parties to my house.  I simply had no further interest in arguing with close-minded people.

 

In case you have not noticed, there is a very wide market with plenty of competition and companies (including my own) offering 30-day, money-back guarantees on products that produce better signal integrity before the DAC input.  Don't you think if such products were useless and ineffective the market for them would have dried up long ago?  [That's a rhetorical question, I already know your answer and could care less what you think. ]

 

1 hour ago, plissken said:

What DAC do you use 😉

 

Holo Spring Level 3.

 

1 hour ago, plissken said:

I don't know what's worse: My faith in my $300 (I purchased second hand but basically new in box) or your lack of faith in your DAC and your product, er I mean ears.

 

Dream on buddy.

[plissken]

Just now, Superdad said:

 

Knock it off Pliss. First of all, what someone misconstrued as an invitation to my home never was.  I have blind A/B'd our products many times in my own home.

 

The thread is still public. Soon as Amir offered to fly out and ask the nearest city you up and like a fart in the wind disappeared.

 

I know you are used to spinning things....

[plissken]

Who here would like to perform a blind test were I ship them a PC with Tidal and Prime 95 on it. They can connect to their setup  and I can remote manage the PC and turn Prime 95 on and off and see if you can track.

 

Chris?

[mav52]

What a cluster of a thread. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

24 minutes ago, mav52 said:

What a cluster of a thread. 

Some people just can't resist.

[LowMidHigh]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Some people just can't resist.

 

It takes one to know one. 

[thyname]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Some people just can't resist.

 

‘How can they? That’s their raison d'être

[The Computer Audiophile]

I include myself in that group of “some people.” 😁

[thyname]

Just now, The Computer Audiophile said:

I include myself in that group of “some people.” 😁

 

‘So do I 😉

[incus]

19 hours ago, plissken said:

Who here would like to perform a blind test were I ship them a PC with Tidal and Prime 95 on it. They can connect to their setup  and I can remote manage the PC and turn Prime 95 on and off and see if you can track.

 

Chris?

I've tried to explain to you many times already that your "experiment" proves  nothing. The logic of it is entirely faulty. There is, in fact, no logic to it. But you don't seem willing to engage on the level of logic. You are dead wrong about what is being heard under the two conditions you are comparing. So do I want to indulge some glitch in your cognitive reasoning by attaching a device of your making to my private home network? Excuse me if I decline.

[plissken]

6 hours ago, incus said:

I've tried to explain to you many times already that your "experiment" proves  nothing. The logic of it is entirely faulty. There is, in fact, no logic to it. But you don't seem willing to engage on the level of logic. You are dead wrong about what is being heard under the two conditions you are comparing. So do I want to indulge some glitch in your cognitive reasoning by attaching a device of your making to my private home network? Excuse me if I decline.

 

You are making absolutely no sense. I'm employing others logic that they can tell the difference in a computer running say 120 processes vs 100 or under some minimal vs heavier load. I find it best to beat the subjective audiophile with the generic zip cord of their own logic.

 

What it does prove is subjectivists are all talk.

 

It's not a device of my own making. It's an Intel NUC with a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro X64. Hardly something conjured up with duct tape and bailing wire. But you make what ever mountain you want out of a mole hill so you can bravely run away.

[Ralf11]

re:   "120 processes vs 100 or under some minimal vs heavier load"

 

I am still waiting to just see the posts on Bill's mac thread about which processes should be turned off to increase the SQ.

 

 

on a not so related topic, "30-day, money-back guarantees on products"  makes it very easy to run your own blind test

[incus]

1 hour ago, plissken said:

You are making absolutely no sense. I'm employing others logic that they can tell the difference in a computer running say 120 processes vs 100 or under some minimal vs heavier load

I thought we were talking about the SOtM switch and pulling an ethernet cable? Not sure how we got onto processor loads. I have no opinion on this either way.

 

Switch in vs. switch out - that I have done numerous times blind -- just as I have done master clock vs. no master clock, generic CAT5A vs. SOtM dCBL CAT7,  etc. And I can guarantee even you would hear the differences I continue to hear over and over, verified by notes taken from previous such tests, etc.. This is into both my Chord Qutest and my Holo Spring II KTE. 

 

You seem to think I want to spend money. Or that I'm such a sucker I just end up doing so delusionally. I have no desire to waste money on something that doesn't work. I can't tell you how many DACs I auditioned to get to where I am now - how many phono cartridges, how many tonearms, how many amplifiers - I could bore you to death with how the Holo plays nicely with the system on my desktop but not nearly as nicely with my speaker set-up and vice versa with the Qutest, even though they are fed by the same server/switch combo, implying a large degree of system-dependent synergy, etc. But according to you during all the listening tests I've done over 20+ listening and recording music I've fallen into a delusional state each and every time. In the end, I guess I choose the delusion.

 

Now back to the switch. It is sounding REALLY GREAT right now as I write, clocked by the Mutec REF10. A liquidity to the mids that I find intoxicating. Front row seats for Holly Cole. Bass that gets into your gut. All bathed in such an effortless light - timing is just everything, isn't it? Very nice indeed. And a definite and obvious and repeatably demonstrable upgrade over my previous Aqvox switch.

[ChrisG]

On 2/12/2019 at 1:35 PM, plissken said:

 

The thread is still public. Soon as Amir offered to fly out and ask the nearest city you up and like a fart in the wind disappeared.

 

I know you are used to spinning things....

You forgot to mention that Amir was kicked off his own website for being an a**, luckily, for some, Chris is a bit more tolerant here.