if i have the opportunity to listen to the melco switch and find that it betters considerably the cisco catalyst, it will be the most important for me. I am not interested by the measurements .
What ever floats your boat. But except the fact that if you get that switch you will be hoping for an improvement. It will be shinier and more expensive than the one you have, so you will have massive expectation bias. You are exactly the audience companies like these are appealing too.
You will hear a difference.
You will purchase it.
You will tell us all how great it is.
There will still be no evidence what so ever. Its like painting a motorbike red and saying it âfeelsâ faster.
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But isnât that what FR is advocating? Demonstrate the product and accept the scrutiny of the listener, which should be true of any hi-fi supplier.
I certainly didnât ask Naim to prove what I was hearing when I demoâed the 552, 500 or any other of the many products Iâve bought from them over the years. Why would I? I listened, I judged and I decided whether it was worth spending my money on. Quite simple.
Are you still a cook, Gary? If so, do you have to prove what something tastes like before a customer orders it? Iâd imagine not, yet youâre judged on what it tastes like once theyâve eaten it.
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itâs your point of view Garyi, not mine⌠It will be the same as with cisco switch. I tried it, compared it to my past netgear, and found the improvement substantial. So i bought it.
But itâs not always an improvement. Some months ago my dealer told me that i should absolutely try the entreq products. I tried, liked some aspects but found also negative ones. The entreq returned to the dealer.
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Well, this is a hobby where reviewers casually go on about five figure speakers being âaffordableâ so why not? One more reason I went with the likes of Sonore and Uptone for my streaming back end. Sonore especially make zero claims about the sound quality of their products, and rely on their stellar reputation instead. IMO one can get great sounding HiFi without going to these extremes, though streaming network and server upgrades can make a significant difference (analogous to TT cartridge?) but one doesnât have to break the bank, just be smart about it.
French, I would consider the Uptone switch over the Melco at 1/3rd the price, unless you actually need all of those ports. Of course it appears to be sold out until early spring at this point, but actual real world sound quality impressions should be coming through very soon (keep an eye on the AS forum).
Charles, i was speaking generally. I have no intention to spend 1k or 2k on a switch for now. The Uptone can be upgraded by a linear ps, so additional cost.
However i stay open on these products and may try one in the future, probably more the uptone which can be returned. Not the cisco.
I doubt i will see the cisco switch at a dealer place in FranceâŚ
Well, according to Uptone, no need for an LPS, but weâll soon find out. Iâm perfectly happy myself with main, whole house Cisco 2960L-16PS switch (an $800 switch I picked up for $150) that feeds a pair of Sonore opticaModules (that do need power supplies). I also use an old 2960 as an FMC for my office UQ with fiber connection to the SFP port on the main switch. All work and sound great. Everybodyâs value for money is different - personally, I can think of a myriad of things Iâd rather spend $5k on (hifi and non-hifi) than a cable, but for others this might just be a dayâs wages so not a big deal.
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my next purchases will be more better speakers, or melco n1z or eventually nd555.
Look the whole point of this hobby ⌠is to enjoy it, some things do make a substantive difference. You can criticize Russ ⌠but he has a fair return policy ⌠the same with Aqvox. I respect - dealing with companies that are that confident. I take your point with scientific claims - they need to adhere to the standards. All I can say - regarding my switch purchase - it exceeds the performance of a set of fully run in super lumina din to xlr cables by a long margin and is almost as much as another box upgrade.
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So do you have one Sonore opticalModule that converts from ethernet to optical and the other converting back to feed a short ethernet cable into your streamer/DAC? And the point of this is to isolate the downstream elements from the noise of your router and switch?
And why donât they need power supplies? Do they have them built in?
Hi,
So, yes, I have a pair. the first is fed by a short Cat 6 cable from the Cisco main switch in the closet downstairs; it shares a rail on an HDPLEX 100 LPS; fiber cable up through the floor to the receiving oM which is powered by an Uptone LPS 1.2 (this power is the most important - first oM not so much) which then goes to the microRendu via a Ghentaudio Cat 6a, then USB into DAC V1. Eventually I plan on getting an opticalRendu, at which point I can cut out one opticalModule and go fiber straight into the oR.
The idea is to not only isolate, but also reclock the signal (each oM has a Crystal clock). Huge, not even subtle (like consumer FMCâs) improvement. Albeit at a price, but such is everything in audio. Also, for many, fiber cable is much easier to route than RJ45.
Keep in mind you will have the best results with an optical bridge if you can keep the power circuits of the sending and receiving ends separate.
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Yeah, my last purchase/trade was speakers, and that made a bigger difference than almost anything.
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Hereâs my entire two systems. Looks boggling, but Iâve also listed which circuits things are plugged into, cables, etc. Might help some, confuse others. It helps that we live in a 1909 wood house, so easy to route cables etc if need be (even on the outside of the house).
SERVER CLOSET:NUC 7i5BNH with Roon ROCK, internal SSD for storage (ZeroZone 12V on the NUC)>Cisco 2690L-16PS switch>Sonore opticalModule>fiber (HDPLEX 100). Supra MD-06 power strip. {Office Circuit}
LIVING ROOM:Sonore opticalModule (LPS-1.2) {TV circuit} >Ghent Audio JSSG Cat 6a cable>Sonore microRendu 1.4> (Sonore UltraRendu>Ghent Neotech 7N solid JSSG DC cable) {20amp dedicated circuit) Uptone USPCB>Naim DAC V1>Witchhat DIN>Naim NAP 110 {both dedicated 20amp circuit}>Chord Rumor 2>Audio Physic Compact Classics.
OFFICE: Cisco SFP port to Cisco 2960 SFP port>Naim Unitiqute V1>NACA5>KEF Ls50â (near field post mounted - sound amazing - one of the few joys of working from the home basement).
Cables: AQ Cinnamon RJ45, Melco Opal RJ45, basic cat6, Ghent Audio, Naim stock AC cables with Wattgate or HifiKing Plugs.
Out of interest what switch where you using prior to the Aqvox?
A little Zyxel gigabit switch on an ifi psu.
I guess you get most of your music from tidal etc?
Hey thanks Charles
Very interesting set up.
When you say: âHuge, not even subtle (like consumer FMCâs) improvementâ - you mean the uplift in SQ (e.g. from lowered noise floor) was huge compared to the exact same system without the optical bridge?
Or huge compared to adding a consumer fibre media converter?
And you have Naim DACs and amps but no Naim external PSUs?
The reason I ask about external Naim PSUs is because they obviously lower the noise floor by allowing the Naim box to operate without the noise-generating internal PSU being switched on. So for those of us who have external Naim PSUs the positive effect on noise floor of adding an optical bridge might be significantly less. Does that argument stack up?
BTW, an old schoolfriend of mine is quite a well known photographer - https://robertwdavies.uk/ in case his work is of interestâŚ
I swopped 2 x 8M of 15 year old Chord Rumour 2 for 2 x 3.5M of brand new factory terminated Chord Epic with Ohmic plugs this year.
I loved the Rumour 2 and intend soon to swop it back in and have a listen again.
The Epic is better shielded IIRC. From what I can recall, the Epic sounds more neutral and has a better definition of bass, but is a tad deader, heavier and less âsweetâ.
To be fair to Melco, the text quoted by SJB was from an interview so some of the context may be missing - itâs hardly misleading advertising though. I would have thought if Melco had developed this device to address a particular issue they had found with their players (when in network mode rather than direct mode) then they must have some objective evidence of the benefit rather than just subjective. It would be nice to see some of that in the data sheet.
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