Eero 7 Pro Mesh Wifi for isolation

[MangoMonkey]

Just got back into the ‘game’ - the hifi game that is after a very long hiatus. The system in my new home has never sounded better - but decided to tweak around a bit.

Long story short - this is how I have it - with excellent results!!!

Comcast Cable into Arria Router, hooked to an Amazon Eero Pro 7 Endpoint (that acts as a router). This goes into a basic BrosTrend Switch, and the UnitiCore, and a Roon Nut device is also plugged into the switch. (Amazon.com). Cables are all BlueJeans 6a, with some ferrite thrown on for good measure. Ifi 12V amps throughout (except for the switch - which takes usb-c which I don’t have - and probably a different voltage too), and the Roon Nuc also takes its own standard plug. Powerstrip is the Tripplite isobar ultra, a consumer grade sub $100 unit that has surge protection, RF filtration etc.

Here’s where it gets interesting.
For complete isolation, Got a mesh (Eero Pro7) Endpoint in the living room, on the otherside of the room as the WiFi. This is plugged into a TrippLite Isobar Ultra AV (10 socket) power strip with RF filtration, surge protection etc etc..

Got a 16ft Cat6a cable going to the Hifi, from the mesh switch, but into a EE. Ferrites on it again. From the English Electric to the ND555, got a Chord Epic Streaming Cable, again with a ferrite on it.

Noise floor way down, even compared to what I had earlier.

Reason I tried this as an experiment -
Earlier, I had the ethernet traveling from the switch through the wall into the living room - and I’m pretty sure it was picking up all sorts of gunk and noise - which would then be taken care of by the audio quest cinnamon cable to good effect - but I definitely needed that cable - and the bluejeans with ferrite wasn’t enough. Using the mesh system that I have at home anyway means I can bypass the cable picking up stuff as it snakes its way through the house.

Next question is - do I need the EE switch in the middle - or can I just hook up the bluejeans into my ND555 directly. it’s a 15ft run - so can’t do an expensive cable..

In any case - the fundamental logic here is the following - it’s not about bits and bytes - all that is take care of anyway. its all the other random noise traveling on the wire that gets its way into the ND555 despite everything else and needs to be minimized.

I had done a similar experiment 7+ years ago with a Nest mesh system - and it definitely had made things worse back then - the Nest itself injected bad stuff - and I didn’t have fancy switches in the middle…

[marcusman]

Similar setup for me but with Eero 6 Pro and I have two of them wired together for ethernet backhaul. If you have a minute I’d recommend you try the EE1 Plus from Chord/English Electric. Hard to explain how much better it makes streaming music. I did have to special order from Hawthornestereo.

[MangoMonkey]

@marcusman - ah - so
Instead of
Meshing it, use Ethernet for back haul and keep everything else the same?

[marcusman]

Yes sir, that’s what I do. It really speeds up Internet traffic. I can’t recall ever having a dropout (expect when I’m up late and the automatic updates happen).

[MangoMonkey]

Do folks usually do a lpsu with the ee?

[marcusman]

Like most things in Audio, some do, some don’t. I use a Farad Super3 and think it’s amazing. You can check out this thread as it runs the gamut..

Stuck a Linear Power Supply on My Switch - Blimey!

Specifically, I have replaced a iFi iPower X (SMPS) on my EtherREGEN with a Farad Super3 (LPS), and flippin’ heck, what a difference. Dare I say it, black box upgrade territory for comparatively little money. Just more of everything, space, realism, tone and texture. I would say everything is more relaxed (slower), and timing is slightly different from the iPower, which was a little ‘faster’ for want of a better word. PRaT has improved in the small amount of time I have been using the Farad, an…

[PhilippVH]

Mainly for my own interest: have you compared with running WiFi directly into the ND555?

[MangoMonkey]

Haven’t / I can try that next.

[Geko]

I’d take your time and try to listen to a few linear power supplies the “some do, some don’t” is spot on and there’s a reason for that. The standard SMPS on the EE is very, very good in its own right and it may take a special LPS to dislodge it. I’ve tried 12 LPS’s on mine and only found one that is significantly better. Unfortunately, the one that’s better is old and no longer made. I’ve also found it’s the smaller LPS’s that tend to be best. The bigger they are the slower they sound and that messes with the timing. General thinking nowadays is that a well designed SMPS can be better than the equivalent LPS, so they’ve no longer got the same stigma attached to them that they use to have.

[DiggyGun]

@Geko

General thinking nowadays is that a well designed SMPS can be better than the equivalent

An example of this is the new Linn Utopik SMPS power supply.

DG…