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

[lmitche]

28 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

Yes, I'm very happy with what I'm hearing. I have this nagging curiosity about whether a well shielded cable without the shield tied to ground at the connectors will do a good job, particularly upstream of the ER, so I'm trying the Ghent. But that's as expensive as I go.

So the grounded shields on the Cat 8  cables made me ask which device had a path to ground in various parts of the chain. It turns out on the server side I had two power supplies with ground shunts, so I removed one and SQ improved, not hugely so, but a nice jump.

 

Tomorrow I'll remove or swap the shunt on the other supply to determine if no shunt or if the placement of the shunt is best in one spot or the other.

 

Eventually I'll jssg360 the cat 8 as well.

 

It never stops.

[lmitche]

15 minutes ago, Nenon said:

My experience on cables / power supplies.

I have a first batch etherREGEN, which has been running non-stop ever since I received it. 

 

The power supply definitely makes a difference. LPS-1.2 is an improvement over the stock SMPS here. Charging the LPS-1.2 with another good LPS (JS-2 for example) is even better. I am using a different LPS, which I find to be even better in my system. The point is - the ehterREGEN scales with better power supplies, and that is easy to hear. 

 

DC cables also make a difference here. Not as much as power supplies, but they do. I've tried a bunch of different wires / cables. The one that sounds best in my system is this one: 

 

It's actually quite shocking how much of a difference power supplies and DC cables make on network equipment. I made two identical cables - one with JSSG360 shielding and one without. And I did A/B comparison with them connected to my cable modem. I could clearly hear the differences when streaming Qobuz (no difference for local files). Let me repeat that - my cable modem! Two identical cables with different shielding! You don't have to believe me on that one. I would not believe you if you told me that. But for some reason it is easy to hear in my system. 

 

I have over 20 different transceivers, including the Startech and PlanetTech ones Emile recommended. Most of them are left overs I did not buy. But I haven't had the chance to compare any of them yet. And I have a JCAT Signature LAN cable coming my way to test. 

 

 

Great to read that you share the same crazy SQ observations from JSSG360 shielding on DC cable. It is indeed hard to believe.

 

My Planetech SFPs arrive on Friday. I am very curious to hear the SQ impact, if any.

 

 

[lmitche]

On 6/18/2020 at 12:10 AM, PYP said:

 

In my system, it seems like a week is needed for just about anything new to settle in fully (ethernet copper cables included).  Don't know why.  The JS-2 LPS took a couple of weeks.  Just my ears and my system, etc.  I'm not suggesting that the SQ was bad during the settle-in time, but that to get the full effect it took more time.  

 

Strangely, months after adding the Sonore oM and JS-2 to the well settled-in eR, the system has reached an even higher (spooky real) level.  Just all came together one day and was unmistakable.  Really wish I could understand why.  I was contented with what I had and wasn't expecting anything further, but then it was like a lens focusing.  I'm always a believer that we subjectivists might well be fooling ourselves sometimes about the extent of a particular change and that one can't discount the expectation bias, but when something happens over time and without any expectation, that is as close to "proof" as I'll get that the recent changes (starting with the eR) are real.  

Perhaps a Roon update occurred in this period?