Ethernet Switch and Cables Mania

[Guinnless]

Wow! My ND5XS has never sounded so good.

[Mike_S]

Now it just needs a 555PS👍

[frenchrooster]

@Simon-in-Suffolk, what do you think of cascade Ciscos in the chain. Have you tried to use 2 ciscos after the router like DB and now Peder.
Or maybe 3 or 5?

[Peder]

Have you tried to use 2 ciscos after the router like DB and now Peder.

@frenchrooster,…It’s been an intense listening-night,.so I’m a bit tired in my head.

I should take an espresso and just watch TV for a while.
But to tell you a little,.more will come later.
We were eight who listened,.and everyone was in agreement when it came to dual Cisco’s…much better.
And on the 1 to 10 scale,.all of us were between 5 to 6.

/Peder🙂

[Mike_S]

Have you tried to use 2 ciscos

[Simon-in-Suffolk]

Yep I used to have three, now have two… not one iota of difference in terms of SQ.
But best connect using aggregated Ethernet (Etherchannel) which is what I use, for optimum performance of best possible inter frame timing on busier networks, that does provide true Ethernet SQ improvements on busier networks as opposed to RFI noise shaping.
Many larger configurations will use at three layers; core switches, distribution switches and edge switches. The 2960 is typically an edge switch.

If daisy chaining two or more 2960 then you’d be wasting an advantage of configuring them using etherchannel… this is where you bond two or more patch leads into a single lead. I leave at default source MAC address load balancing,

[Mike_S]

You should try 4.

[Mike-B]

We were eight who listened,.and everyone was in agreement when it came to dual Cisco’s…much better

Did you have all STP ethernet cables connecting the 2x Cisco shrouded ports & the same to the streamer & NAS, that raises the question is how many earth (ground) points did you have on the network.

[Darkebear]

when it came to dual Cisco’s…much better.
And on the 1 to 10 scale,.all of us were between 5 to 6.

On a longer listening I’m finding all my music is much easier to access and get into with he extra switch in the Ethernet chain. There is a lot lower noise around transients I’m finding - big drums do not get extra bloated fullness - everything that starts and stops in the music is not now surrounded by a fuzzy halo that I thought was just the way it was before until it dropped-away. Live music recordings - especially old ‘difficult’ non-hifi-impressive ones but musically good but not excellently recorded concerts sound completely different - faster and more immediate; they have some raw less-than-perfect recording quality, but the effect of it is now not that obvious as the music is much more accessible.

So it is more reminding me of upgrading several Powerlines cables in critical HiFi boxes - and a bit of what the Super Lumina speaker cable did to drop noise-floor in my system.

This does seem to be a reduction of injected noise I’m appreciating.

DB.

[greekspec2]

If you like the AQ Diamond then try Vertere Pulse HB it’s the best one I’ve used when I had my system, now it collects dust since I sold my complete system off. Personally the Vodka has an excellent value.

[garyi]

You should try it with 8 switches.

Post a picture.

[ChrisJH]

Hi Simon,

I was very interested to read this: “that does provide true Ethernet SQ improvements on busier networks as opposed to RFI noise shaping”.

Is this ethernet SQ improvement only for streaming applications that use unreliable transport protocols instead of progressive downloads via TCP (or similar) or is something else going-on?

Thanks,
Chris.

[frenchrooster]

Do you have a lot of equipment connected to your network DB? as several pc, tv and other media ?
Maybe a lot of traffic in a house creates a lot of noise, so two switches are more useful.
I have only the tv / phone connected to the router. So not a lot of traffic.
However I may one day try another Cisco or even another switch like the Uptone.

[Mike-B]

@Henryski, hi again. your questions on anologue circuit grounding is in the wrong thread, this thread is about ethernet & networks setups. Try to delete these posts to tidy this thread up.
I will reply to you on the other thread where you also posted the same question, “WOW best £50 upgade” (or similar) Problem is I’m travelling at the mo, I will revert later depending on when I get the business done

[bailyhill]

When using dual Ciscos, I have a question about the location. I have my Providers router, and about 15 feet of cable away, and another room, on another floor, I have my streamer. Should the two routers in cascade go at each end of the 15 foot run and then a short run to the Provider Router and to the streamer—or from the Provider Streamer with the 15 foot cable to the Cisco1 with a short cable to Cisco2 with another short cable to Streamer?

Second question, if using one Cisco and one lets say EtherREGEN, where would you put the EtherREgen?

I will try this in time, but wondered where to start and what to listen to.

[Xanthe]

No idea, I put in two switches because it was convenient for my physical layout, not for SQ reasons!

[frenchrooster]

I feel something is weird with these 2 cascade switches. There must be something else to set up differently to reach the same results.
Maybe a better switch or better power supply on the cisco.
I hope never having to install two Cisco with another pricey cable.
I am waiting for the results of the Uptone switch vs Cisco.

[kmolds]

This is what I did, just for sh$ts n giggles:

Router

• 1,5 m cat5e cable

Switch 1

• 10 m cat7 cable

Switch 2

• 1,5 m cat5e cable into NUC with Roon Rock
• 1,5 m Chord C-stream cable into ND555

Both same type Cisco 2960. It made a difference, I have no idea why. I am sure a 10 meter Chord Music would sound better than two Cisco switches, but I don’t feel like spending 40.000 euro to find out.

[Peder]

but I don’t feel like spending 40.000 euro to find out.

@kmolds,…I can understand this .

And we agree with you,.it got better with dual Cisco’s.
It’s a cheap upgrade,.considering what a used Cisco costs.
What you choose for cable between Cisco1 and Cisco 2,.you decide of course yourself.

But @Darkebear are right,.the cable between Cisco1 and Cisco 2 matters…

Peder:

You both have described what cable you have between Switch 1 and Switch 2.

But do you think,.or even more interesting,have you tried,.if the cable between Switch 1 and Switch 2 has any significance.

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.

I’m waiting to get some inspiration,.to be able to report a bit more from our Listening-evening yesterday .

/Peder🙂

[charlesphoto]

Of course we haven’t even started on the poE aspect of some of these switches - if one is going to use multiple it may well behoove one to use poE models for even better sound quality. I’m going to pick up a cheap ($25) Cisco 2960PD and try it out.

And/or using SFP transceivers and fiber, esp for longer runs between switches which is what I’m doing in the office and a first version Unitiqute has never sounded so good.