I’d do it for sure if funds allowed, no harm!
I’m a telecoms engineer by day so know these things can and do make a difference from both a listening perspective and a more scientific and analytical point of view.
I know whenever I go to my local friendly Naim dealer we typically have a sit and listen to stuff through their Melco setup vs the off the shelf Netgear kit they have there.
They make Ethernet switches as well now (S100), made sense given what they were doing already with their media server products.
I can’t argue that the sound output is different, whether it’s something I like and enough to invest in the kit that makes those changes from Melco is another thing but it does make a clear audible difference and in most cases is preferable.
I think there remains a case for Naim to evolve their networking offering along the lines of what other high end manufacturers have implemented. You have I2S over HDMI for example which could be an output from a new Naim DAC, input that to a new Uniti Core which has internal removable flash based storage and an optimised bridge to the Ethernet domain then on to your router but with the local playback and bridge between audio processing and data networking conducted in a more controlled and optimised manner.
Linn’s Exakt technology is another example in that case using standard CAT5/6 cabling but using that to transport the Exakt information to control the system performance and tune a source to a speaker accordingly.
I’ve recently acquired a Linn Selekt DSM that supports this and it can be setup in a mixture of ways including using Exakt from an LP12 using a Urika II phono stage to a range of active speakers that are tuned and space optimised in combination with the use of standard CAT5 cabling to connect everything.
One thing i have noticed with the EE 8Switch is that the differences between Ethernet cable are even more so. For instance the full loom BJC 6a sounds a lot better than it did on any of my four Ciscos. On them i found the full loom a little lacklustre and dull sounding. With the EE 8Switch the BJC6a full loom makes much more sense. The vodka now can sound a bit bright, still good but a little edgy, this was never so on any of my Ciscos. I’m finding the EE switch more revealing with the cables.
Three of my old/new stock Ciscos were the blue type. I have a a new/old stock white one too, which has hardly ever been used. None have ever floated my boat like this little EE8 is. Everything is just clearer and more revealing, very similar to the old olive systems but with a touch more refinement. Anyway it’s just what i’ve looking for. Thanks
Out of curiosity, and assuming you haven’t got rid of the old cisco kit by then, would be worth swapping one back in a few months in to running the EE switch and do a listening test to see where the EE sits relative to the cisco, not suggesting you’d go back to the old setup but would be interesting to hear your thoughts after you’ve tuned your listening to the EE signature.
Yes sure, no doubt in my spare time in a few weeks time from now i’d also be interested in how that goes. I’d also be interested in cascading the Cisco in before the EE8, where only the NDX 2 would there be connected. As i say i’ve probably had over a good year with Ciscos, so have gotten used their signature by now. Still early days yet with the EE. So far though all positive, unless the burn in process radically changes anything, i’m sticking.
With the EE music hangs out of the speakers in a more three dimensional way, this coupled with better decay of the notes can be quite beguiling and trancy.
Regardless of the peppering of skeptical commentary, if you’re happy with it and can absorb the investment cost then that’s a happy ending in my book.
I can still send it back and be refunded for up to 30 days of purchase. Luckily i went with a very reputable dealership who are very understanding and a pleasure to do business with.
However i doubt very much i will be using that facility as i’m pleased with the outcome right off the bat.
Who’s going to be first to open the case of the EE and post pictures here? 
Not me, mine’s only two days old. In any case, i wouldn’t unnecessarily remove the lid of any piece of audio electronics unwittingly. Most fastenings are done up with a torque driver to a specific torque, including the lids themselves.
This is a crucial point.
We tend to have (unconsciously) high expectations when a new bit of kit arrives, so when we plug it in the different sound is often labelled as better.
But until the kit has been tuned into for a week or three, then removed, then put in again the first impressions should be considered provisional.
That maybe true and some people suffer with expectation bias more than others, i normally don’t. I pretty much know what i like from the outset and living with an active system many years ago, fine tuning NAC A 5 cables, taught me a lot. There is no doubt in my mind and my ears that a EE 8 Switch let’s through more music in the correct way than a Cisco 2960 does. I’m even starting to think that quite a few folks here are under a spell with the Cisco and need to try other solutions to hear the differences. I was never happy the Cisco (in all it’s configurations) right from the off and my yo-yoing around and quickly upgrading was evidence of that.
If you look back through the threads quite a lot of folks with the Cisco 2960 were never quite happy either, that i think was when all this tweaking (cascading) mania started happening. Now, those who have moved on from that seem quite content, from what i’m seeing anyway. People are just reporting positive feed back, none of this cascading which cable this or that? nonsense.
Interesting to know how you can be sure you are don’t?
After all, as a subconscious thing it is something people aren’t aware of having any effect on them, and IIUC it is not uncommon for people to believe they are immune, when they are not…
Quote of the week
I expect I don’t either…
Contrary to what Stephen writes above about people being unhappy with the Cisco, I’m not one of them. I’ve had mine for nearly four years. It sits under the sideboard and never gets thought about. Perhaps if people had paid the new £600 price, or whatever it was, they’d hold it in higher esteem. I don’t doubt that the EE sounds different and it may indeed be better. But that doesn’t mean that those living happily with a Cisco, a Netgear or whatever are somehow missing out and therefore ‘need’ to jump on the boutique bandwagon. The EE thing is getting a bit too evangelical if you ask me.
I’ve got simple Netgear switches and don’t think the need to race out and spend hundreds on these expensive switches that seem to be more about marketing than music.
I bought EE 8 switch out of curiosity. Sent it back two weeks later. I was hoping for a better sound. But I guess I’m there already. 
Expectation bias ? Is that something you would find on a Nakamichi cassette deck?
Undoubtedly! (Selectable - and on top models dial in how much you want!)
Glad that’s sorted out then.
Now where were we…
FWIW - i always somehow preferred the music from my CD5Si than i did from my ND5 XS 2, even though my head kept on telling me - “ND5 XS 2 must be better as it’s twice the price”. Same with my NAIT XS 2 & 5Si. The baby NAIT (to me) is the more enjoyable amp. With NDX 2 & SN3 though, there is no doubt in my mind who holds the crown here. This is not expectation bias, this is ‘knowing‘ what one likes & prefers. Big difference.
Wasn’t a Cisco 2960 over twice the price of a EE 8Switch new? 