After extended listening with Cisco/EE alone or in combination, I’ve settled on EE alone as the most enjoyable for me.
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Absolutely agree …the right step
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EE/Chord say that you don’t need an LPS because they don’t sell one.
If I recall correctly the EE is a modified Bonn Silent Angel.
And iirc there is a dedicated LPS sold by Bonn as an upgrade to the ‘switch’.
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The basic switch is made by thunder-data from China. Indeed, they sell it themselves as the Silent Angel N8. The OEM version has a nicer case. Besides the 8switch there’s also the Nuprime Omnia SW-8.
Nuprime are very upfront about the provenance of the switch, Chord are somewhat less forthcoming…
Which is not to say it’s a bad switch…
Mine has arrived… it’s been running about 48 hours and there is a general improvement in SQ, I would say especially on streaming. Waiting for an AudioQuest cinnamon cable to match all my other connections now.
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Here is a tip from me. Blue Jeans Cat 6a is a lot better than Cinnamon and far cheaper too. Why not give them a go?
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Indeed. In fact I have found that, in certain positions in my system, the low cost CatSnake 6a (with floating shield) ethernet cable outperforms the rather expensive Audioquest Vodka.
What seems to be the case however, is that the same cable can perform differently in different systems/environments. So maybe the way to go is to start with the well regarded cheaper ethernet cables, and see if you can borrow the more expensive streaming cables.
Experimentation, if you can be bothered, can be very worthwhile.
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Nigel and @anon4489532,
Appreciate the thoughts which unfortunately happened too late as all ordered already. Hey ho. It all sounds really good already so even if it’s just a tiny increment I’ll be happy.
Almost time to just sit back and enjoy it. Just the Matrix 2 power block arriving on Monday, and then enough!!! Lol
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Really…? 
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And is the Silent Angel the only that sold with an optional matching LPS upgrade?
I would consider first the equipment itself i.e. switch (and potentially router, access points). Then the power supplies to the equipment. Look at Ethernet cabling, filters once everything else is good.
Otherwise, some of the “effects” of the different cables will be just in the different ways they modulate noise. Better to remove the as much noise as possible at source and then see what effects remain.
Yup! Lol… this year I’ve changed everything bar my Hicap and Focal speakers, and those are only 2 Years old. Every other box and cable has changed… time to enjoy the very wonderful effect it’s had. 
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I haven’t seen an official N8 LPS upgrade. However some dealers offer their own packages with 3rd party supplies, they don’t seem to promote the line “the SMPS is all you need” to the same extent as EE/Chord.
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This makes no sense at all, they are not just saying that you don’t need one but they chose the one they did because it is better, they could just as well have chosen another one.
And don’t say it’s a price thing, it’s Chord. They and their customers are not strangers to the “this is great but if you pay double …” game
Suedkiiez, as @Chag pointed above, the EE is the same as Silent B8 switch, and is even made by Silent Bonn. Just the casing change.
Silent Bonn, the original designer of the EE , recommends their optional lps for it. If Chord doesn’t do it, it’s an advertising reason I think.
Yeah, and it’s making them sound like they don’t know what they are talking about. I said this already above, if I go to the EE site and it strongly says X, then I pick a dealer from the same site and the first thing he says is no, the opposite is true, it makes either Chord or the dealer sound clueless or dishonest. You should not expect lower standards in the hifi market than for any other expensive equipment you buy
I’m sorry but this is getting a bit silly. What Chord say and what a Dealer says can actually be quite different - why on earth does this mean they don’t know what they’re talking about? Different views, that’s all.
Does it make Naim sound as if they don’t know what they’re talking about because my dealer prefers non-Naim cabling (and I agree with him)?
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I found this interview with Alex Crespi of Uptone Audio by the San Francisco Audiophile Society:
Interview contains his views on power supplies as well.
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I think you might find that the PS in question is the one that Chord had already identified as being best. Also, as we’ve covered before, it’s not just a different case.
They say an LPS is unsuitable. Their upstream provider says the opposite. Their downstream dealer says the opposite. Just does not make sense to me. I use quite expensive Sarum T cables because I like them, but is it good business for them that when I read something on their website I better doubt it?
The PS thing is not about preferences