The EtherREGEN thread for various network, cable, power experiences and experiments

[Nicoben45]

I would not say that in a system with full Entreq wires and grounds...  not for the bits of course, but for the grounds. Is your Entreq picture just for fun?....
But to be honest, I personnaly use a small Belkin cat5e form my Waversa switch to streamer, that make the music flow naturally with more air in the top end than all 200 to 800$ ethernet cables I tried (sotm cat6 / cat7, acoustic revive....). The Belkin has here proved to be a little more liquid, less harsh sounding than other general purpose cat5e or cat6... 
https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-A3L791-S/#

 

And when I read some use the supra cat8 that is a bottleneck, and then make a jssg360 shield next to this bottleneck.... I am very surprised   Maybe the good side from etherRegen to streamer won’t be sensible to shielded ethernet cables, I’ll see that in january, with the Waversa Smarthub / etherRegen comparison  But don’t forget to put a small cat5e near the Supra, because this ethernet cable is only good when you have nothing correct to make the ethernet road clean, it round off sharp angles in a noisy network, a coloring power to summarize.  When the road is clean, try to simplify, it cost nothing and can reveal some real transparency if the audio gears and room can give that of course.

[Nicoben45]

Yes I suspected that of course (but didn’t look at your great setup). 
That said, the advice to try a simple Belkin cat5e still works (even if the Ref5 is not the least colorfull preamplifier that we can use 😜).

[Nicoben45]

Basic Usb power banks are not engineered to be noise free and to have low ripple and so on...  sure it sound different, but better may not be the best word in this case. Battery can be a really good choice, but in association with the good electronic circuits to make it silent and precise. 

[Nicoben45]

You may use some Duelund dca 16 or 20 oiled tin copper wires, simple and good sounding choice.

[Nicoben45]

I played with a Cisco Meraki 220-8 this week, tried it as an « audiophile switch » and results are pretty bad with the internal smps (upfront sound, warm and simplified). With or without an other audiophile switch in the chain this kind of choice show how smps can corrupt network audio results. Removing the internal smps for a LPS1.2 was a big upgrade for this Meraki, with qualities than can be reported with a good audiophile switch, except it still lose some good meat on the bone at the end.

[Nicoben45]

With a simple (and surprisingly good sounding) small Monoprice Cat5e cable, the SQ goes a bit further with the use of Telegartner connectors (high quality metal connector but unshielded cable) instead of the factory plastic ones. Maybe vibrations and benefit of metal shield a the switch, but without a shielded cable.
 

Of course removing the shield of a good cable at the switch end connector is great (protected with plumber teflon or thermo jacket), but some unshielded cable tests can be worth the test time or small money engaged, in my humble opinion.