Oh god, I shall stop reading that thread…I see pointing another Cisco and diamond to buy. May your test be negative !
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@frenchrooster,…I also hope so…
.
But considering Darkebear’s and Xanthe’s descriptions earlier,.I think we hope too much.
I’d be surprised,.if it doesn’t get into buying one more Cisco.
It is the cable-question that feels more uncertain.
/Peder🙂
Just had a look at the MSRP of my Cisco switch (2960L-16PS-LL) - $1545!
I paid $155 off of the big auction site and see them around in the $325-400 range. But holy-moly it had better be a good switch for that price! I do think it sounds better than my blue/gray 2010 2960-8tc that cost me $35.
I don’t think Cisco do a wall bracket. I just bought some random brackets from ebay that were the right size, and lined them with some soft foam.
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Brilliant thanks for the advice and pic will be able to hide it behind the unit now, very helpful.
The one I have under my desk I did the same though without brackets - just a few long screws around the edges and they hold the switch nicely in place (mine is rotated 90 degrees).
Yes it does - I tried several and settled on AQ Cinnamon for now as giving what I like.
It is only a short 1.5m length as both switches are in my HiFi room - one is 2940 the other 2960 feeding HiFi. Even the table or not mattered I found and I put my 2960 feeding the Melco on a home-welded tripod table to free-run the Cat6 lead to Melco off-floor. Then the 2960 connected via AQ Cinnanon to 2940. The cinnamon controlled the bass which was wanting to get too out of control at very low frequencies - it did it very well.
Why - how - don’t know.
DB.
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A switch allows the separation of all your devices connected to it, so feel free to connect everything to it it makes sense. It makes no difference how you connect to the ports if you are not using PoE. Further the 2960 by default does group traffic management so you will see benefits in your home network efficiency by adding everything to your 2960 if your other switch or router doesn’t support multicast group snooping.
If you ever decide to daisy chain the Cisco switches, then I find there is benefit to connect the switches with link aggregated Ethernet … that is multiple Ethernet connections between switches… it can help improve inter frame timing, and throughput… though I found of more SQ benefit for legacy streamers, however you will to configure the switches to support this.
This is how I currently setup my switches.
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Well you are paying for software licences in the switch that you almost certainly won’t be using in your home network.
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Hi, I noticed those ferrite clamps on the ethernet cables, have they improved SQ in your experience?
I have an Apple TV running off my Airport Extreme and I left it there assuming it could introduce noise or other undesirable characteristics by connecting it to the 2960. Is that not the case?
Oh, I’m aware of that. I was just pointing out that of you want a 2960 Catalyst, need fanless, gigabyte, and more than 8 ports (using mine for whole house and office), there’s deals out there to be had. I looked for a long time (the 12 port models were rarer and pricier for some reason) and thought $155 was a pretty good deal for a one year old model with all the bells and whistles. Better than $2k for an audiophile switch. Now the gigabyte models have even come down more in price it seems.
The Uptone etherRegen seems poised to wipe the competition off the mat at $640 - once you can get one. For now I’ve opted to go down the fiber conversion path (by the same designer at that) so not a product for me - yet. Will be interesting to hear feedback and comparisons.
Hi Xanthe good to meet you at hq … what setup do you use for room correction… could you possibly start a new post…so this great thread is not hijacked… I would like to ask a few questions…cheers
To be honest, I bought a bunch of different ferrites a couple of years ago, and my initial impressions were positive, so I now just habitually stick them on pretty much everything. Since then, I haven’t really tested them.
I once had an Open Reach engineer in the house trying to troubleshoot a problem, and he commented that my line seemed to be electrically very quiet. He spotted the ferrites, and suggested that maybe they were helping.
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Nope will be fine… if you have some dodgy device with say a suspect CE marking attached to your switch, you can always put ferrite clamps around the suspect devices mains lead, patch leads etc. Use the radio test to see if anything really is suspect, and if a device appears unusually bad, then best discard it.
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@Darkebear,…Thanks,.interesting.
My Cableoholic-friend has a AQ Diamond,.and I have one.
So we start the test there,.with the same cables (AQ Diamond) between Streamer to Switch1, and between Switch1 to Switch 2.
Then it will be AQ Vodka from Switch 2 to Router.
It will be very interesting,.to test this with two Cisco 2960 in the music-system.
/Peder🙂
Simon can I just stash my cisco switch behind my tv unit so its hidden (side on so the AC comes out on the right and ethernet ports on the right), or will this ruin the integrity of its function? Does it need to be isolated? (also not touching the floor/lying vertical sideways on - feel like im disrespecting it the way i have it shoved behind the tv unit side on right now!!) Guessing its not ideal but if its not a big deal to its operation or safety… struggling to find space for it in all honesty… Sorry for all the questions.
Yeah it starts to get absurd. I already can see people posting with system picture with a whole Fraim filled with switches…
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@BertBird,…I certainly agree,.but at the same time,I have great respect for @Darkebear ability to evaluate the details of a music-system when he testing.
He thinks about,.and really explores all the details when he tests.
And when even @Xanthe,.with the knowledge she has,get the same result,.there seems to be something interesting in this with two switches.
What is interesting for you BertBird is,.if my test today confirms Darkebear’s and Xanthe’s experiences.
Is it enough with a Cisco as the first switch,.and then have a Melco, Anzus or Uptone closest to the streamer.
Then we know,.that the most important cable is between Streamer-Switch,then maybe it does.
But it will be a later question/test.
Anyway,.it’s going to be an interesting afternoon/evening.
For we will also test a new USA-cable between Streamer-DAC.
And a prototype on a new Swedish powercable…See picture below.
This powercable is not available on the market yet,and the manufacturer wanted us to take and listen to it.
According to the manufacturer it is better than a model of Anzus powercable.
And it costs just £ 290:-,.so it’ll be exciting.
The name of the cable is not disclosed yet.!
/Peder🙂
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No problem at all, it’s not fussy.