As surely as night follows day, threads at the lunatic fringe of networking inevitably end up with blind testing.
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Thanks for your reply,.but instead tell me which routers you tested against each other instead of speaking in riddles.
That is the purpose of this thread…
Hi…
Questions for Those Who
Have Tried This…!!
• How important is
the router for
the soundquality,.this
whether Wi-Fi or
connection with
ethernet-cable is used.?
• Which router do you
recommend who have
tried,.have the best
soundquality.?
• Which LPS do you
recommend to that
router you recommend.?
Anything else that I should
think about.?
In other words,.I am asking for concrete answers from those who have tried and tested this,according to above.
ALSO:
• There is a difference in the sound quality if you,.who have the option (chuko connector), turn the connector 180 degrees in the wall socket to your router.
• There is a difference in the sound quality if you replace your SMPS with a good Linear powersupply for your router.
• There is a difference in the sound quality if you optimize your ethernet cables to and from your router.
AND,.different routers maintain different quality levels of their internal components, audio boards etc etc.
So the likelihood that it could affect the soundquality should definitely be there…
IF,.everything is Installed and Optimized with “Attention To Detail”
Whaoo 
I don’t know what happened to
the layout when I posted above
longer post.
Not pretty or easy to read.
Edited for you Peder.
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It’s a night and day thing!
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Thanks 
I added a Farad 3 LPS to my EE8 switch and the results were quite significant. I haven’t tried an LPS on the router, though if I did I would likely go for the Jays Audio LPS25VA as it’s sensible money (as I’m sceptical as to the benefit as the Farad 3 should be effective in isolating noise to the streamer?). The router is the Internet providers standard unit.
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My router is the latest BT one on full fibre broadband.
My experiences are as follows:
-
It matters what you put it on just as much as any other piece of kit.
-
A LPS from MCRU made a substantial improvement over the BT SMPS.
-
An EE switch made a substantial improvement.
Before anyone weighs in and starts disputing that any of this can make any difference please don’t bother. I don’t care. My reply is to the question of the OP who will take it or leave it.
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My router is also the latest BT one on full fibre broadband.
I can confirm that running BJCat 6a was a significant upgrade to the cheapo stuff I was using. As was the inclusion of the EE8 switch. I found that playing with the last metre of ethernet cable from switch to streamer made a huge difference. Tried BJC, Audioquest Vodka, Chord C-stream and Catsnake. My preference is in the order listed and settled on Catsnake.
I’ve had less success with linear power supplies. I’ve tried (at the last count) around six ranging from £80-£2,700 and found that all of them sounded less organic and natural than the standard SMPS supplied with the switch. Strange, I know!
I was recently contemplating what the effect on the switch might be if I were to use a heavy duty rechargeable 5v battery. I remember doing something similar on a headphone amp many years ago and it was a massive improvement over SMP’s and LPS’s of that era? It should eliminate any power supply noise and show you how transparent the switch really is. I guess you could do the same thing on the router short- term to find what effects the PS is having? Not sure if there’s any technical reason why this won’t work?
Again, these are my findings on my system and all the usual caveats apply!
4 Likes
maybe not so strange:
Comparison with battery supply makes sense - also removes ground plane coupling.
Hello 
…
Thanks for your concrete answer based on your own experience of trying and listening…
Very Interesting,.what you write about the router also being sensitive to what it is placed on.
In this thread,.it should not be questioned what someone else has arrived at by testing, trying and listening in their own music-system.
Instead,.we briefly report our own practical experiences/results around the topic of the thread .
A little personal history:
I had the privilege from November -22 to March -23 to play with lots of fiber and network equipment at home, designed for the best soundquality for music-systems.
It was equipment for approximately £7200 in today’s Swedish exchange rate.
BUT,.in the middle of March I was beaten in the middle of the day in central Boden (my hometown).
It caused several injuries,.including to my hearing.
Now,.after about 6 months I have been able to start listening to music again, which is the best gift I have ever received.
So,.before I was abused, I had installed fiber in the house,I had ADSL before.
The fiber installation made a clearly noticeable difference in the sound quality (as many have previously written about here).
BUT,.the router was changed to a fiber router at the same time,so how much the new, more modern router possibly contributed to this soundquality increase is hard to say.
Now that I can listen to music again,.I have resumed my exploration and optimization of the “streaming-system” described a little earlier in the thread.
A lot remains to be optimized around the router itself,.BUT…the router itself should also have a certain importance.?
As I wrote before,.better internal components,better audio-boards etc etc…
Yes,.it affects other “hifi equipment” in a mostly positive direction,so why wouldn’t it affect a router…??
My findings were the exact opposite - and we have the same BT router and EE8 switch! All my ethernet cables are Chord C- stream though, so maybe this might be relevant.
I found that the MCRU LPS had less glare, less edginess, the pitch notes was easier to hear and musical phrasings just became more explicit. The sort of improvement one can expect from a better source component. This was before I introduced the EE8 switch - which took things even further. It’s really curious that you found the BT SMPS to be better than a number of LPS. Perhaps mains quality could have some bearing? Have you thought about trying an audiophile SMPS such as the Russ Andrews one?
I thought about a LPS for my EE8 switch but the instructions say that a SMPS is supplied because no LPS could be found that was fast enough. Presumably you haven’t noticed any downside to the LPS you use?
I’ve not messed around with a linear power supply on the router yet just the switch, so can’t offer any real comment. I think that you can voice your system with either power supplies or cables and this may be why we get so many conflicting views. The balance of my system is, to my ears, perfect and any small change seems to throw it out. I find it really hard to improve it but dead easy to screw it up!
That’s interesting that you say your LPS eliminated the edginess as I found changing the Chord C-stream to Catsnake did exactly the same thing. I love C-stream for its musicality (bit like Naim Lavender) but up loud it all got a bit glassy/edgy in the HF. The Catsnake added loads more depth and cleaned the HF considerably, much like Superlumina does.
The last LPS I tried was the Farad 3. It sounded very nice but slow compared to the standard SMPS. The company that supplies them were quite happy for me to have it on a 20 day trial.
So sorry to hear of your nasty experience - I hope you will make a full recovery very soon.
I agree that the router in this context is a part of the audio system, just as any other component is. As such it can be expected to respond positively to the things that we all know and accept improve hi-fi components.
Of course there are no ‘audiophile’ routers on the market to my knowledge. Actually I’m quite surprised that no manufacturer has introduced one - perhaps a modified standard one from an established manufacturer.
My router sits on a little home-made stand with two 2cm thick acrylic shelves. The router on the top shelf and the EE8 switch on the bottom. The LPS for the router has its own separate little acrylic stand. This works weel and sounds better than a stand I originally made using bamboo shelves. If I had room I would definitely buy a Quadraspire or Apollo shelf for the router, switch and LPS. But alas it just wouldn’t fit in.
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Hi…
When you have tried different Linear powersupply’s,.have you checked that the center hole has been Live,or Hot as some say.
This is important to consider when comparing.
When I started evaluating SMPS against LPS,.I started with this one a little simpler in the picture below.
I heard immediately that it was better, but at the same time a bit restrained in the musical presentation.
BUT,.24 hours later I had no reason to complain 
,everything in the musical presentation delivered better.
My experience is that,.everything must be connected AT LEAST 1 hour before evaluation is done.
You can hear differences right away,.but after about an hour or more makes a big difference.
This applies to everything,.even cables…
How so? In my fifty odd years of interest in hi-fi I’ve never once bought a piece of hi-fi equipment as a result of measurements on it or after double-blind testing of it.
I’ve always chosen it as a result of ‘direct auditioning’ using just my ears. I guess I must have made an awful lot of errors doing it this way! Curiously though Ive never attended a demo at a dealers where double blind testing was suggested or where I was handed a spec sheet of measurements and invited to make a choice from those.
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When you have tried different Linear
powersupply’s,.have you checked that
the center hole has been Live,or Hot as
some say…?
I clarify with a picture what I mean should
be Live or Hot on the DC-connector.
I must admit I’ve not checked them all but relied on the manufacturer to have wired them correctly.
I’m not suggesting that the LPS’s are inferior. All the ones I tried sounded very nice but not as overall engaging as the standard SMPS. There was definitely a ‘speed’ difference. I found the LPS’s slowed things and made everything sound a bit safe. It was as if the music lost its tension. Hard to explain but easy to hear.
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