English Electric 8Switch

Any view on the rumoured price increase?

Iā€™ll wait for second hand 8 switches to appear when Chord introduce their Ā£2k reference version at some point.

Others have already and this has been a winner for Chord so they probably will .

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Well yes there are already expensive switches out there - thereā€™s one from Innuos that has got rave reviews but it is X 4 or more price of 8Switch

Anyone upgraded the power supply of the EE 8Switch ? I have read all the comments about Chord saying they tried linear ones and they did not improve the sound. Yet Silent Angel now have a linear PSU specifically designed for the Bonn N8 unit on which the EE 8switch is based so it makes you wonder whether Chord are correct. Surely Silent Angel would not release a linear PSU and advertise it as matching the Bonn N8 if it made the N8 sound worse ?!

They might do so if it made no difference, though.
Sorry for being triggered by this once again, but if Chord is not right and cannot identify sound improvements in their switch, why again are we buying a 500 euro switch from them ?

I donā€™t disagree but whatā€™s the bet that Chord will eventually re-badge the PSU and sell it alongside the 8switch? if that happens what then do you make of what Chord previously said?

I donā€™t know :slight_smile: I hope I can laugh it off. None of what Chord writes makes much sense, for cables or switch, and I still gave them my money. In the case of the switch, I just thought either it makes no difference or a positive one and the money was peanuts in the grand scheme of things. I guess thatā€™s how much of the hi-fi economy works

EE16 ā€¦Has anyone made a comparison to EE8?

Itā€™s the same Meni, but with 16 ports.

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I`m not sure your answer is correct.

The 16Switch is a two-zone, dual power supply, 16-port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) device which has been optimised for music and video streaming. The 16Switch brings the proven benefits of the 8Switch to larger networks and features 2x independent rows of eight high-quality Gigabit Ethernet ports, which can be used as two independent eight-way switches or connected and used as one 16-way device.

Copied from the Chord site.

I donā€™t get it :slight_smile: So these are optionally two independent networks? I.e., like a layer-3 or layer-4 switch, approaching the capabilities of a router?

Itā€™s stacked (like some of the Paul Pang models), which presumably means you can daisychain the two units but have just one casing. What, if any, difference this makes to the sound quality is another matter, but daisychaining can make a positive difference with some switches in some systems as several of us on the forum and elsewhere have discovered (with the Cisco and EtherRegen for example).

I think @Michaelb is right, but I am not sure. What I understood itā€™s that you can have separated switches for video, pcā€¦and for audio, in one box, with no interferences between the two.

Yes, but this seems to mean that it would not be a layer-2 switch, like regular simple switches are, e.g. the 8switch. Those create separate collision domains for each port, but each port can reach all other ports uninhibited.

If the 16-port creates two ā€œindependentā€ 8-port switches, the connection between these groups seems to operate at a higher network layer such a layer-3 or -4, and traffic can be controlled between them. At least thatā€™s what I would understand. This seems like it would be closer to a managed switch like the Cisco that is used so much, which can distinguish between different types of traffic and can have rules for how to treat them.

Once again I am unhappy about the Chord website. There are well-defined networking terms for different switch capabilities, just use them!

I have no knowledge to argueā€¦šŸ„ø

Not looking to argue, Iā€™d just like to understand and Chord is making it intentionally difficult once again! :slight_smile:

Here whatā€™s is said about the Bonn n16:

wo Isolated Zone for Network Traffic Isolation

N16 LPS has two isolated zones for network traffic isolation. Physical isolation avoid ethernet traffic intereference,so that the most critical audio player to get rids of unwanted network traffic.

Silent Angel Forester Technology Inside

To have stable, low noise, fast response power source, N16 LPS is equipped with Silent Angel Forester linear power module. By using fully symmetric circuit (in both transformer and circuit), this Forester linear power module provides two isolated power sources, that meets the high frequency loading nature of switch circuit and clock circuit, feeding two separated 8 port switch modules.

Isolated Silent Angel TCXO Modules

N16 LPS isolates the clock source for each network zone. It has two well-powered TCXO modules for two isolated network zones, so that the TCXO can get rids of the power noise from switch circuit.

Flexible Mounting Options

With included rack mount brackets, N16 LPS can be mounted to a 19inch rack and consume 1U in height. Or you can use the included rubber pad to place N16 LPS on a flat and solid surface.

There are two typical scenario for N16 LPS to fit in your network environment:

1 - Fully isolated zones.

2 - Two zones in series.

Thank you. The applicable parts would be:

N16 LPS has two isolated zones for network traffic isolation. Physical isolation avoid ethernet traffic intereference,so that the most critical audio player to get rids of unwanted network traffic.

1 - Fully isolated zones.

Unfortunately, neither really means anything in networking tech terms :slight_smile:
I would really appreciate if companies selling networking equipment would stop with the mumbo-jumbo. Ethernet does not work by magic but by cold, hard specs and implementation. They know very well what their gear is doing and not doing. Just say it!

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Was there any consistent conclusion from people who have tried the 8switch? Iā€™ve read quite a lot of this thread, but donā€™t feel wiser. I should confess that an 8Switch turned up yesterday and Iā€™m currently comparing with my Cisco 2960 with Designacable patches. Initial impressions are not that favourableā€¦ so wondering what othersā€™ experiences have been?