In real world terms £250 is still a lot of money. It can buy you some essential white goods for example.
It’s amazing what this hobby does to you. I think almost nothing of spending £475 on a used Chord mains lead, but I’d think twice about spending it on anything essential for the house or a bill contract for example.
Think we’re at cross purposes here. You suggested adding extra elements to a streaming chain is pointless. But there are ND555 / Statement owners here with multiple switches in their streaming setups…
Clearly it’s possible to worsen SQ by adding extra gadgets, but I’m not convinced by your claim that ‘simpler is better.’ It may be sometimes; I prefer to fiddle around & trust my ears.
I mentioned Qobuz only because if I’d taken your advice, I’d still be listening to native Tidal – which doesn’t sound as good on 1st gen streamers, IMO.
Apologies for drift; back to topic.
Absolutely true. In hi-fi it’s difficult to maintain any sort of rational perspective on spending. If something’s better one just wants it - no matter what!
There’s a review up with measurements over at Alpha Audio . net
Decent enough review. I like that they have measurements.
I confess to being a little ignorant re home networks and have a couple of questions. Not sure if an EE1 would be of any use in a wireless mesh streaming set up given the breaks in the system may eliminate noise from the router ?
Currently stream Qobuz via a wireless broadband router connected directly to a BT home Wi-Fi mesh disc as lead to a mesh network in the house consisting of several mesh discs. Also have a Naim Core attached to another mesh disc via a cheap net gear switch then yet another mesh disc as a receiver directly attached to Naim streamer.
Could a device like the EE1 benefit this system if say placed between the last mesh disc and streamer ( not sure if this disc could introduce noise in itself) also wonder if a EE 8 switch would help but if so where in the system would be best.
Great question. Personally I think it would some. I use Eeros at my house. My plan and setup is similar to yours and when/if I buy one this is the first place I’d like to try one. Probably best to experiment. I have a PS on my EE8 so hopefully it won’t generate too much noise.
What have I become…
Ongoing auditions over the last few days. Small differences, but some patterns begin to emerge. I’ve now standardised the comparison process following some advice from my dealer on how to better compare the cables (i.e. play a couple of songs on mute to empty/refill the streamer buffer before comparing with the same song).
This way it became clear that the amazon ethernet cable does add some noise compared to the audiophile ones. And thankfully I could take some cables out of the game early on. A clear list of preference/performance from best to worse so far is (EE1 is mentioned wherever it is used):
The connection is from my ISP router to ND5XS2 via one of these combinations.
So Shawline, Atlas and simple CAT6a are out.
Ongoing comparisons are/will be among the following:
A) Chord Clearway (5m)
B) Chord Clearway (5m) → EE1 → Nordost Blue Heaven (2m)
C) CAT6a cable → EE1 → Nordost Blue Heaven (2m)
I am not trying Nordost on its own as it’s too expensive to get a 5m version, so there is no point.
Comparing A vs B for the last 2 days. The differences are quite small if you are not noticing, I might even be entering placebo zone here. I get the sense that the Nordost smoothens/clears the sound more. But I also feel that the sound becomes a bit too polite, less engaging…
Of course I might be imagining all this, so take my comments with a pinch of salt. If I don’t reach a clear and repeatable conclusion I will stick with just a Clearway, as I cannot justify the extra spending otherwise.
It doesn’t help a lot that the PMCs are still running in as it seems, even though I have them playing for 4-5 months already.
To make things worse, I will pick up a Cisco WS-C2960-8TC-L tomorrow and add it in the chain… 
. And I will change my ISP (and thus the router) on Thursday 
. Hopefully I will manage to keep my sanity after all this. Getting at the point where I will be glad to run out of things to optimise in the system, so I can just enjoy all of it in 2024! 
I presently use the Chord Clearway Streaming Cables and have found them to be the best of the ones I’ve used over the years.
Compared to some, they are not that expensive.
DG…
Indeed, the Clearway Streaming cable on its own seems to be the best choice, especially considering the price. I do think that the Nordost extension (+the necessary EE1) add a bit of warmth/sweetness on top, but the price difference is huge to justify it.
I’ll see how the Clearway fares on its own tomorrow with the Cisco (doesn’t hurt to try for 30 euros).
And on Friday I’ll enlist a couple of “blind” ears to figure out if I am imagining all this or not!
I simplified my streaming guddle back to a Cisco 2960 and Chord C-Streams. It’s so easy to get into an additive chain mentality where improvements, if indeed they are, are miniscule.
G
Think I will be trying an EE1 soon. I use a BT mesh disc system which I assumed with my lack of systems knowledge could act as some sort of cut out for noise transmission from a router. As an experiment I recently replaced the plug in wall switching power supply on the final mesh disc that attaches via cat 5 to my Naim streamer with an iFI power supply and the sound changed immediately…. Certainly more definition and better bass control, so possibly noise added to disc signal by its own crappy power supply. Now I need to decide if an EE1 post last mesh disc can add extra improvements on top! 
I think there’s still some headroom. 
Just when it seems you’re running out of things to optimise, Big Brother will tempt you with newer, shinier, more optimal solutions for the things you thought you’d already optimised, but hadn’t.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news 
"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate "
There is no hope once you enter the Naim Forum, is there?? 
An update after a week of trials. Yesterday I got a Cisco WS-C2960C-8TC-L for €30. I was planning to get the WS-C2960-8TC-L, but the sample the shop had was broken, and I got the C version instead.
Last night I had some friends over; once they were properly inebriated 
, I made them listen to 3 options:
A) Atlas Equator (3m) → Cisco → Chord Clearway (5m)
B) Chord Clearway (5m)
C) Chord Clearway (5m) → EE1 → Nordost Blue Heaven (2m)
The consensus was that the Cisco was killing the music: completely dry sounds with no power. So the Cisco experiment was short-lived 
.
(B) and (C) were close, with preferences varying over the two. On a second (sober) listen this morning, we finally we reached the conclusion that (C) improves the soundstage, adds clarity and “sweetens” the sound a bit. So even though the price differential is huge, I bit the bullet and went for that… You live only once and so on…
So all the cables are done and dusted and I can hopefully return to my sanity in 2024!
Regarding EE1 itself, I wouldn’t take it on its own just for the sake of it. But as an enabler for adding a last-mile expensive cable, it makes sense.
I think your dealer is making things up to sound knowledgeable. Even if buffer emptying is a thing, just starting a different song would have the same result.
It would indeed. However in my case I was trying to compare the same song back-to-back while my auditory memory was still fresh. In that case the song can keep playing from the streamer memory even after I disconnect the first ethernet cable.
So my approach was to play one song, then change cable/mute the amp/play (in fast forward) a couple of different songs and then unmute and play again my reference song. Just to be on the safe side!
So I’ve finally broke down and purchased one of these. Initial listen is positive but I’ll wait a bit before deciding if it’s a keeper or not.
Interesting to hear. Do you have other filters to compare too?
