Best Router For SoundQuality

Streaming Audio
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That is the point. How does one know if a SMPS has a good spec?

From a company like Chord Electronics with the Qutest DAC or the Chord Company with the EE8 switch I am happy to accept that what they supply is perfectly OK.

But these are specialist audio companies, concerned of course with sound quality. They will not supply SMPS’s that spoil their products performance. Which is not to say that improvements can’t be had with ‘aftermarket’ supplies but that’s another story and not a route which I’m in any way keen to pursue for various reasons.

The concern for me is more with SMPS’s supplied with non-specialist equipment. In my case that means my BT router and ONT box. I’ve no way of knowing how good or bad these are, except empirically. I’ve already replaced the router SMPS with a MCRU LPS and it’s much better. Perhaps a good quality SMPS would have been better still or at least as good - but how do I know which one? At least a good LPS for audio use is almost guaranteed to sound better than a general use cheap SMPS from BT.

I replaced the medical grade SMPS supplied with my Melco with the Plixir LPS on the strength of various reviews that claimed it gave a very worthwhile improvement and also because Melco endorse it. Again maybe a very good quality SMPS would have been better - but how on earth do I find that? There is little or no interest amongst the reviewing fraternity in SMPS’s other than to say that they all bad news.

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Hi :slightly_smiling_face:…
No,.I don’t believe otherwise :wink:,.I Suspect,that the router may have some significance based on what I wrote in my posts in the thread.
That’s why I opened the thread to possibly get other people’s experiences.

It’s also all about how careful you were when installing and optimizing your music-system.
If,.for example, you have set “Live or Hot” incorrectly from a powersupply to a device, the possibilities of hearing any differences are drastically reduced.

There are many posts in the thread now,.but no one has directly compared different routers under equivalent conditions.

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I only tend to believe if the brand publishing so that I can read the spec, then to see the noise/ripple on my ‘scope.
Hence I have more confidence in my FRIWO units. They’re not perfect but so much better and electrically more robust than the Netgear and Cisco units I’ve measured.

I’ll respond to you with the same question…
Why do you think the Chord supplied SMPS is good, because they say so …. or that they advise only to use the supplied unit?
Do you know the BT unit is bad? they too recommend to only use the supplied SMPS.
I suspect product protection plays a good part in this.

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Simply because I think it’s unlikely that they would supply something that was bad, as it would degrade their product’s performance and presumably they wouldn’t want that. They would want their product to perform as well as possible at a given price point.
My assumption is that being specialist audio companies they care about these things and that they would have looked into it all thoroughly before marketing anything. Their SMPS’s are printed with the company name on the back - whether that means they are just ‘badged’ or whether it means that Chord have designed them or had some input I don’t know.

I know from listening that the sound is excellent so I assume that the supplied SMPS must at least be perfectly adequate. How much better the performance could be with a better supply, either SM or linear I have no idea and no great interest in.

No, not at all. I only know that the MCRU LPS sounds much better. If it had sounded no better or worse - which TBH in a way I was kind of hoping for, then I would have returned it and just used the BT SMPS. Cheaper, more compact and less costly to run.

Regarding BT’s stance on this. Yes I was a little concerned that I may be violating their terms and conditions by using a non-BT supply. Therefore I contacted them. It took a little while to get their representative to understand exactly what I wanted to do and why. However he eventually understood and said that if I could source a supply that I thought provided better performance than the supplied SMPS then I should go right ahead. No problem at all and I would in no way be violating their T & C’s. I got him to send me an email confirming this, which I’ve kept, just in case.

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And @Innocent_Bystander .

It has taken 6 months to get better,.I thought for a while that I would never be able to listen to music again, it was that bad.
But now,.for about two weeks, I have started listening to music again.
You realize how much hearing means when something like this happens,.the first time in my life I’ve been physically attacked and I’m 60+.

It turned out to be a 35-year-old man under the influence of drugs who, completely unprovoked, attacked me with full force.

AND,.this happened 5 m outside the entrance to Boden’s largest grocery store in the middle of central Boden.
Also,.it was full of witnesses who saw this who were on their way in or out of the store.

The police came and arrested the guy, investigation is ongoing, but everything is on surveillance cameras.

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Both those answers are correct … in different contexts!

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Very sorry to hear this happened to you, it must have been very upsetting and hard to overcome. I hope you can recover fully everything you had before.

.sjb

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That’s awful, Peder, hopefully you’re able to fully recover. All the best.

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added ifi audio LPS “ipower elite” successively to router AND fiber box, and each time I had very noticeable sonic improvements, much tighter bass, and overall definition.

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Did you mean to write:
[…] a short cable from the switch to the streamer

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I changed my ISP cheapo ageing PlusNet Hub One router for a new TP-Link AC2100 router - that made for a positive improvement all round. I then swapped the cheapo wall-wart PSU for an iFi Elite to the TP-Link, again, another uplift in transparency. Just recently i changed the standard supplied wall-wart PSU to my EE 8Switch for a Farad Super 3 linear - WoW, lovely uplift! Everything really coming together as one big whole. Was it all worth it? Yes it is, expensive, but then what isn’t these days?

My next move is to upgrade the DC cable and internal fuse for the Farad Super 3, the next level up.

P.S. I feel real sad to have read of your horrific incident Peder :cry: I have experienced something similar to myself in the past and the psychological long-term side effects it can have can on you can be really devastating. I wish you a speedy recovery and hope your hearing returns back to normal. Enjoy your music Peder :heart:

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They are the best type of friends! :grinning:

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@PJL I am interested in some further comments on this if you would? I have BT fibre and the latest hub, I use an IFFI plug SMPS that cost about £100 and seemed to make a small difference yo the sound. I actually use one on both the fibre box and the router. I say it made a small difference as I am not sure! I stripped out all of the battery back up stuff at the same time.

My router is inconveniently placed on top of my home alarm box at the moment. What have you tried in terms of placement and what did you find if you don’t mind me asking? A cheap upgrade could happen here :grin::grin::grin:

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Hi :slightly_smiling_face:…

Here we definitely share the same opinion,.that an LPS for fiber box and router gives a better soundquality.

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Hello :slightly_smiling_face:…
Nice,.you are the first in the thread to give your opinion on possible differences in soundquality between two routers.
You confirm my feeling,.that a router can have an effect on the sound quality.

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Hi,.and good morning.

Totally agree…
Spending time with fanatical music and hifi people is “the spice of life” :grin:.

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People must spend hours and hours faffing and firtling with multiple router and cable combinations followed by which linear PSU. :roll_eyes:
Do they actually play any music at all? Or just test tracks?

As somebody who is seeing the end of being able to listen to music I think if I had that amount of time I’d be listening to album after album. :thinking:

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Hi :slightly_smiling_face:…
The first part of my post is a comment on @HungryHalibut 's post.
I see that he deleted his post,.but since I already wrote it, I’ll post it :sunglasses:.

I wrote:
'Spending time with fanatical music and hifi people is “the spice of life” :grin:."

That includes what you bring up.
BUT,.regardless, it is the fanatics who “break new ground” develop and come up with new ideas to take this and other interests forward.

I consider myself a fanatic,.I always want to take my interests as far as possible.
Like this with the topic of the thread,.the possible importance of a router for better soundquality…
Yes,.I already asked that question in 2016-17 to @Simon-in-Suffolk , I didn’t get an answer then,so I’m now raising the subject again.

• Back to commenting on Guinnless post…
It is perfectly possible to be interested in both things at the same time,.music and routers :wink:.
I listen to an incredible amount of music,.and have now after 6 months of “convalescence” been able to start doing it again, for which I am incredibly grateful.

I also arrange from time to time “Live-events” with various local and regional artists,.and love to work with large sound systems for outdoor stages.
It provides a valuable contrast to music systems for the home environment.

In my case,.through decades,I have acquired a great deal of knowledge and experience when it comes to installing and optimizing music systems…
BUT,.I still learn something new from others all the time, this through all the “hifi friends” who are part of my network.

They also include traders, importers, distributors and constructors…
We are in constant contact and share experiences,.but also send products to each other for testing.
This is inspiring,.and actually contributes to increased music listening, not the other way around.

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Indeed. The same could be said of all hi-fi and related equipment.

You make a fair point. When one reaches a certain age, and without intending to be morbid, one begins to realise that time is finite. How one chooses to spend it, and not to waste it, seems to become ever more important.

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Hi Steve. Let me say firstly my ideal solution would have been either a single Quadraspire or Apollo rack shelf on spikes. But there just wasn’t room - so a much more compact home-made solution was required.

I tried various bamboo chopping boards of different thicknesses and various spikes/cones from Amazon. There was a distinct improvement vs the router just sitting on the floor. However I was never completely happy. I couldn’t seem to rid the sound of a persistent bass bloom.

I finally settled on 22cm sq. 2cm thick acrylic shelves. I have two of these. The top one has holes in it and I have four thick acrylic bolts through these to act as legs. So it forms a
small acrylic stand. Router on the top, EE8 switch on the bottom. It is supported on three Peek plastic cones. This sounds very good to me, without any obvious nasties.

I obtained the acrylic on-line, cut to size and 4 holes drilled as required. Total cost including bolts and Peek cones around £200 IIRC. If you use thinner acrylic, say Icm thick, this would be sigificantly cheaper and probably just as good to be honest.

I’m curious about your use of IFi supplies. I tied one to begin with but none of the supplied DC plugs fitted the BT router. The DC plug on the BT SMPS is an uncommon size and virtually impossible to source. So I had to buy a spare BT SMPS, cut off DC lead/plug and send it to MCRU for them to use on the LPS. I haven’t got around to trying a LPS on the ONT box yet.

So are you saying that one of the plugs supplied with the iFi SMPS actually fitted your BT router? If so that’s most curious!