Is there a particular CISCO 2960 that people are using?

Streaming Audio
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Hi all

Having read much talk about the CISCO 2960 I thought I may investigate myself. However there seems to be so many models under the 2960 I am somewhat confused.
Can anyone offer some advice please.

Cheers

Popeye

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The 2960C-8TC - L seems to be the preferred model here but iirc, you should be okay with any of the Catalyst series. I have the 2960C-8TC - S and it works perfectly.

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WS-C2960CG-8TC-L
Gigabit on all ports.
Used exclusively for my music system.
Works great. No complaints from me.

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Same as mine.

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I have two 2960G (gigabit). One is used just for the hifi (NDX2 and a NUC for Roon) and the other is used for my office network (which has gigabit NICs on several devices), although the two are connected together.

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This is the one I use too (2960C-8TC). There is some conjecture that the 10/100 is the one to get rather than the gigabit one (model numbers with ‘G’) port isolation and clocking being the reason for the SQ improvement, but I don’t think this has ever been validated.

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With regards to using a Cisco switch, i have just purchased a used Catalyst C 2960G 8TC L. I’ve tried it out on my laptop and it works. My understanding is it hasn’t had a factory reset. Is it really necessary to do a reset in this scenario ? I’m worried about buggering things up to be honest. But if need be I’ll buy a console cable. I’ve seen a guide on here how to do it.

Finally, my older Cisco model has one gigabit port, one of the dual purpose ones on the right. I’m a bit confused by this. So it’s recommended to connect my Sky Q gigabit router in here, but as all the other ports are 10/100, will it effectively be transferring over fast ethernet or gigabit speeds to the other ports? I don’t need gigabit speed presently, but just curious to know.

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Yes. Sky Q into gigabit port of your old switch, then any port of that switch into one of the 2960 uplink ports (the ones on the right), then use the regular ports on the 2960 for your audio gear, streamer, Roon device etc.

(Several assumptions made in giving this advice and omitted from the reply for simplicity…:slight_smile:)

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No need for a console cable, just hit the reset button on the back. It will then work like an unmanaged switch.
If you want management functions just look for the many guides that show you how to set this up online.
Cisco website is a good place to start but navigation can be tricky
Try here…

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If it has one or more VLANs setup, then you’ll need the console cable to clear them.

Note that not all suppliers of secondhand Cisco switches understand this.

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Thanks guys.

I didn’t notice a reset button on the back? I did what is apparently a partial reset by pressing down the mode button on the front.

Not sure about how it was configured before.

Maybe ill get the console cable after all to do a full reset?

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If it works, I wouldn’t bother. If a previous user has configured it to suit their use, hitting the reset button is unlikely to be enough, and you will need to console in.

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Depending on where you are, there are several people on this forum who have Cisco (or equivalent) console cables and one of us may be prepared to help you out.

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Cisco 2960 WS-C2960-8TC-L V02 8 Port Switch in my network. Works very well ime.

G

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I always wondered if the hard button reset was sufficient to reset a configured switch so as not to have to use the console. Good to know.

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if it works you need nothing to do. Just enjoy the music. All the different configurations don’t change the sound. It’s for other uses.

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I heard both the 10/100 version and the gigabyte version in my system and I couldn’t hear a difference. I opted for the gigabyte one as it also performs other duties for the tv and nas.

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I have both types and swapped one for the other. I heard no difference. Then again I heard little difference to the cheaper unmanaged Cisco it replaced in the first place.

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My first was a
Cisco Catalyst ws 2960 C 8 PC-L

Then I got a new one
Cisco Catalyst ws 2960 CG 8 TC-L

As a sound no difference but the Gigabite is clearly better and more silent, it warms up maybe a little more

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Oh gosh Andrea don’t say that here or 100 people will junk their 10/100 catalysts and there will be an ebay run on the gigabit models. Personally as a user of a 2960C-8TC I think the magic is in the ones with a ‘T’ in the name … :slight_smile:

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