well I do understand. I have an LG TV connected to my Chord 2qute DAC through optical, so there’s no electrical connection.
I was previously using wi-fi - but when I finally connected the LG through through ethernet, everything just sounded more muscial, like you said, this is it…
Not sure why or how, but it’s a definite change.
just one of these “cannot explain” things in hi-fi?
still though - the EE with the LPS1.2 is much more expensive than the EE?
I’m not convinced that those iFi iPowers are up to much. Perhaps more importantly, I’ve noticed people selecting them based purely on the voltage rating, with complete disregard for whether or not they can provide adequate power. The 12V version only puts out 1.8Amps, which is certainly below the requirements of many routers.
I seem to remember checking the amperage and voltage ratings carefully when I bought it, and asking for advice on here.
To be honest it may be fine and may be better or no worse than the stock psu, but I was getting a few connectivity problems a few months ago and one thing I changed was putting the original psu back on the router.
There was no audible dip is SQ so I have left the iPower psu off for now.
This is an interesting thread, which I’ve tried to read a lot of.
I am fully of the view that one needs to listen and make a judgement, and if I get an opportunity when my new system is set up I may well do so. Measurements tell you only so much. I tried some 8c’s which measure well but which didn’t sound great.
However, as a physicist, I am still struggling to understand what difference a switch can make. The cabling sends a digitally encoded stream into the streamer, whereupon it is decoded. Errors are corrected by the decoder, and so the numbers sent from the Tidal or NAS server are recreated in the streamer.
This is clearly bit-perfect, since computers chat to each other all the time.
So, it seems to me that the only thing that can be different is that the boxes themselves produce less noise and/or less EM interference with the analogue parts of the process, and so will produce a different and probably better sound.
The problem with this theory is that a long cable from a standard switch would do the same job only much better, by removing the switch from the room…
Do people hear differences on different days, when the route from the Tidal server is different? Since no-one comments on it, I would doubt it, but surely the principle is the same.
I am not denying people hear a difference - I have not tried it and so don’t know if I would or not. I wonder if that difference is psychoacoustic, or real. If it’s real, I’d love to hear a sensible reason for it. I’m not trying to annoy people, but I am scientifically sceptical… If you have a reasonable explanation for this, please do share it…
If the difference was minimal, we could wonder if it’s psychoacoustic effect, placebo, influence…
But the difference may be big, a box upgrade, like xps dr, if you go from a cheap switch to an audiophile switch with a good linear ps. I am not exaggerating.
It’s not only a box ( physical box) difference. Some technical aspects that no one here knows, but try to demonstrate the contrary, and also principally a difference in the clock, and isolation from noise.
But I’m not a believer in witchcraft So ‘nobody knows’ isn’t too helpful. I mean, putting it on bread that has been blessed by a druid might help, and if people hear a difference then I believe them, but I’d still like to know why.
What about all the switches on the way from server to your house? Do those make a difference? How can computers talk to each other without errors if a switch makes a difference?
I think the difference is that the signal in a digital system has content - which can be extracted. In an analogue system, the signal IS the content, so any changes are changes to the content.
Hence I’m still interested in why. For those who hear a big difference, can you try adding a much longer ethernet cable and putting the old switch back in - it might make a larger difference…
Nobody knows isn’t helpful, indeed. It’s the problem, because, as they can’t explain, they prefer to tell that it should not make differences.
There are some network and computing specialists, but not audio network, which is a different domain.
Long Ethernet cable: it’s one of those theories. I tried and find that short path sounds better. At least for me and some here.
The equipment and cables and electrical networks and EM noise that is closest to your dac makes the audible difference.
So as well as the digital signal you have WiFi noise in your router; EM noise entering your dac from the various electrical cables that feed the connected equipment inc router, switches, server, streamer, etc.
bits are bits, but there is noise/EMI and timing which affects.
For example, on my LG TV which is connected to my Chord DAC through optical, which has no electrical connection, sounds much better on ethernet than wifi.
No idea why, but that’s what I hear.
There’s no lag, dropouts, delays, on wi-fi on my TV. But clearly something else is going on with ethernet…
I have given up on seeking any explanation, I just now hardwired to ethernet all my audio and video devices at home and go on with my life enjoying them.
Maybe, just maybe switching off the Wi-fi on the LG TV creates less interference with my Chord/Naim system?
Maybe it’s my imagination? Maybe it’s a placebo effect,
But for sure the ethernet is much, much faster than wi-fi… is that it?
@Analogmusic, @Pete_the_painter, do you really mean hardwired, as in opened the boxes and soldered cables direct so as to avoid plug/socket imperfect or oxidation vulnerable contact surfaces?
It does sound like an excellent idea from the sound quality point of view, though more so with interconnects and speaker cables, even mains cables (as long as there is a protective fuse somewhere), but beyond most people, and would invalidate guarantees, and fiddly if/when ever you want to move things or change boxes.
Or do you simply mean you use wired (Ethernet) network connections not wifi? That has always seemed the more reliable approach, however some people say that if the wifi is stable, and the streamer/player’s wifi connection is designed to minimise adverse effects then wifi can sound better than Ethernet because it blocks the noise and noise filtering associated with switches and cabless.
It’s the latter for me, I have always found (and thought) that hardwiring them that way was more reliable plus I always thought it was most manufactures recommendation.
I listen to a lot of music, and since joining this forum have questioned lots of things about my system(s). The big question is always how to squeeze that last bit of goodness out those black boxes. I’ve played and compared CDs, my rips through my Uitisever - network, and directly into my 272 and even compared some against hi res files (they generally sound the best) the difference in SQ to my ears generally is minimal to non existent. I don’t stream music from outside sources, I just listen to my music so I think it’s different for me. A streaming dac to me is one way of getting my music throughout my house. I’m sure I might be able to find tweaks here and there but I’m a set and forget kind of guy.
I read these threads out of curiosity hoping to learn something but to be honest I just get confused. However these switches interest me and maybe worth the upgrade.