English Electric 8Switch

As you posted on the Screen Freeze thead :grinning:

Ok, whatever, but I have to say it doesn’t bother me at all. I’m really happy with my 8Switch as it is, out of the box, standard ps. It’s also not in any way causing me to question why I use a Music streaming cable.

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Can’t see anything wrong with that or contradictory to what I wrote here

Re: dealers knowing better than the manufacturer

I am also happy with my EE and the stock PS, as I wrote further up several times. This is not about that. I would also have no problem with them saying that the SMPS is fine for most, but if you want the absolute best here is the LPS upgrade. Would not be different from them selling Epic and Music cables. This doesn’t change that there is a disconnect between statements and also experiences that is unfortunate, and I don’t think the attempts to explain it with marketing etc are convincing/sufficient. I just think it’s a riddle, don’t see what’s wrong with questioning what is going on. But anyways I already said, before the discussion was restarted, that whatever, I can live with it only bothering me if nobody else cares. It wasn’t me who restarted it by replying to me

I’m not saying here that the dealer is always right and that the dealer is always wrong in the other thread, so I still don’t know what your problem with it is

But they’re not even addressing the issue you’re having, are they? Why would they, it’s only been on the market for less than a year. It’s early days yet.

Chord (and their marketing) simply state that they tried both types of PS and preferred SMPSs based upon listening. This particular SMPS was selected at a price point they felt was reasonable when the switch was being developed. Since it launched, there have been, quite naturally, various attempts by 3rd parties to improve things. All quite normal.

I had a chat with them at Bristol when it was launched and they were adamant that their SMPS delivered better performance than the LPSs they tried. They did also say that it was perfectly possible that there may be a better power supply available in the future.

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Switches require high speed power supplies so we could not opt for a linear power source due to their speed limitations.

On the website

And:

This clean supply permits an optimum quality network signal, driven by high-accuracy TCXO clock technology.

And I thought my terrier was the king of not letting go…

G

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I wonder if actually Suedkiez has problems in getting asleep at night, with such questionings :rofl:

Am I not allowed to reply to replies made to me? I said more than once I don’t really care so much, but I admit that I do find it quite annoying with the nonfactual statements and handwaving, so yeah I will reply to them if posed to me.

IMHO if we are serious about hifi such questionings are quite normal. Or maybe you want to ask the question in the ethernet cable thread. Here we have a well-regarded manufacturer stating something very clearly about their own product and everyone from hobbyists to professionals says that they know better. Not everyone can be right at the same time.

The problem here is no one is able to prove convincingly one way or another, and all judgements are subjective based on personal expectation and preferences.

I find it amusing to say the least that someone or some folks even have multiple ER or EE or CISCO switches in tandem. I say we all live in a mad world.

Money should be spent on something sensible!!!

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And there is no problem with that either, if we are talking about sound quality. If we are talking about things like marketing, product pricing, or technical specifications given by the manufacturer, there is not much more to say than “yeah it’s odd”, instead of blaming me for pointing out that explaining it away with, e.g., “but Chord cannot say that there is something better” is not convincing in the hifi market or Chord specifically, or that their website contradicts other statements which e.g. they may have made at some hifi show. These are simple facts, get off my back :slight_smile:

Don’t take me seriously, was just kidding. Someone last night called me silly :chicken:. I hope he was kidding :laughing:

:+1: I hope we are all aware that even in the somewhat heated debate I’m sure everyone is in it in a jolly way, I certainly am even if I don’t add emojis every time. It’s not a life and death thing, and it may be normal in hifi, I just don’t think it’s a good state of things and haven’t been convinced otherwise. As a Chord customer I suppose I am allowed to say that it’s confusing to me

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I’ve been investigating new stands for my speakers. I spoke to one about the Solidsteel and they said they were very underwhelmed. I spoke to another and you’d think it was something that would change the world. The EE is no different really. It’s entirely possible that an external supply can improve the EE but as Chord don’t supply one they cannot possibly endorse one particular thing. Maybe one day they will supply something, at which point it will become the go to thing. So I don’t think Chord saying one thing and dealers another is an issue. It’s just a logical outcome of the way things are.

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I am getting tired of this :slight_smile: I have repeated more often than I care for that there is a difference between not recommending one and stating outright that “we could not opt for a linear power source due to their speed limitations.” It’s a new product, if they had chosen so they could have supplied one, maybe as an option. They sell lower-range and higher-range cables, they let you send them older Sarums and upgrade them to T spec, I see nothing preventing an upgrade for the switch if they thought it’s better.

Maybe the difficulty in the discussion comes from getting different things mixed up all the time

  • SQ difference yes or no (and why, and related questions like does it matter on a different circuit than the hifi, etc.)
  • The way they present it on the website and contradicting statements from entities related to the switch or Chord
  • The innocent musings about why they write what they write
  • The larger and complicated topic of why so many backyard hobbyists in hifi think they know better than any manufacturer how to improve their products, be it Chord, Rega, Naim, or whoever. I don’t want to go there :slight_smile:
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An LPS for the EE switch would be another box that needs to accommodated. The little wall wart that comes with it seems to do the job quite nicely.

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Yes. And? :slight_smile: (ample emojis from now on)

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Not much more to add really - neat little switch, neat little PSU. Having not added much to this thread since the early days of getting an EE switch and adding my impressions I’m amused to see it’s gone the usual way that these threads seem to go.

Carry on :grinning:

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