English Electric 8 (again, sorry...)

Streaming Audio
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I’ve read all 2,522 posts in the previous thread (phew!) which is now closed, so couldn’t ask the following there.

Has anyone demoed the EE8 and not liked it? I am wondering if I am in a group of one…

I saw many positive posts which piqued my interest to demo one. Five days in and to my ears high frequencies sound damped and muted and low frequencies sound lumpy and stodgy compared to my cheap and cheerful Netgear GS108. It sounds artificial and has sounded that way since day 1.

Those that do like it, do you have it on the same mains spur as the rest of your kit? My demo EE8 is down one end of the room connected to standard mains supply, feeding the ND555 via an 8M AQ Cinnamon cable. The rest of my kit is connected via a dedicated mains spur.

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Interesting… mine is the other end of the room on separate but standard mains supply linked to Nd5xs2 and innuos zen mini via 5m designacable catsnake 6 and it was immediately more sparkly and spacious with more authoritative bass.

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Mine is plugged into a different socket in the room and sounds outstanding!

I have liked mine since the time I plugged it in, can not explain the improvement in sound to my ears but it works for me.

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I’m using one. Sky Q router into Cisco 2960 then 30m length of Designacable CAT6 feeds EE8 which is plugged into a dedicated supply single socket. Chord Music Ethernet to ND555. Cisco into EE8 better than 2x EE8 IMHO.

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Mine’s on the household ring main.

I’d guess (in the absence of physical data) it’s down to individual ears/situations, as I experienced none of your symptoms. But that’s not a crime, so hand it back and know you gave it a try.

I can honestly say I heard any differences after it had run in, either.

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So, what is 100101010101011000110110110110110.……… supposed to sound like anyway?

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Paid for mine within 15 mins of hearing it. Perhaps worth trying another just in case it’s faulty?

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I can’t hear any difference, with or without the EE8, but I bought it anyway. Why not?

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I added my EE8 only 2 days ago so it’s still brand new. Even though, the improvement was instant and very clear. Sharper and larger imaging, tighter more dynamic bass, cleaner crispier heights and a more silent background. Quite impressed.

Last night I replaced the stock wall wart for an iFi Power X SMPS as mentioned by @jmtennapel too. The same sonic improvements turned up yet another notch or two. I already have an iFi powering the ISP modem/router further upstream. Subjectively the improvements there were comparable to adding the EE8. Amazing. These little iFi power supplies are a serious bang for the buck.

Note that I only added the EE8. It didn’t replace a switch so I have no comparison with other switches.

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The job of a top quality switch is to remove extraneous 0s and 1s to get as close as possible to 101010, the reference value.

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Given there’s no analogue circuitry in it, I’d be very surprised if it was faulty, particularly as it is brand new.

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Not questioning you buying it - it’s your money so entirely up to you how you spend it :grinning:

To my ears it’s worse and paying money to make my system worse would be rather unusual course of action!

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Please - let’s not go down the path of whether digital equipment can/can’t make a difference. Not the intent of my post and I think this has been debated elsewhere many times. Thanks.

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No. My kit is on a dedicated spur & earth. The EE8 is on a standard wall socket some 10ft away.

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Have you tried the ER? I think this one has many positive reviews?

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I have a FS108 (older one with the linear wall plug), Cisco 2960 and EE8. All ‘sound’ slightly different to each other if used as the main switch. If the GS108 works best for you then I’d leave things alone and just get on with enjoying that fine system…

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Yes, this may be next on my list.

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I know several people here at Naim whom have tried one and decided not to keep it their system…

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Yes, a fine suggestion but then I like fiddling :grinning:

From a box perspective I’ve already reached my end state.

However a couple of months back I made a Burndy change and was surprised by the uplift. I also trialled a Musicworks G3 mains block. I already have a dedicated mains spur and was using a not cheap MCRU mains block so didn’t expect the G3 to be significantly different. How wrong I was!

This made me realise that if attempting to max out your system you need to pay attention to all the details not just the main things like boxes and cable dressing. Which is what led me to trying the EE8.

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Interesting, thanks Clare. Do you know what they did end up with?