I recently took a punt and purchased a LHY AS6 switch, here are some initial thoughts.
First impressions are positive, things are coming along nicely. Vocals seem to be more palpable (not “pushed” forward) but having greater presence with more space around them then i had before. You also hear finer details with better clarity, you don’t have to strain to hear sounds and details deep into a mix. The best bit for me is that there seems to be a greater authority and realism to the music that can really grab your attention; also It can certainly present bass though it’s not bass heavy. So far i’m very pleased with how things are going.
The construction is top notch too, it is very well built and quite substantial for such a small unit.
Given that a switch by itself has no sound to it, what’s the rest of the equipment that this was connected to? That’ll give us an idea of the impact of this switch on the noise shaping that the streamer has been programmed with. Also - Ethernet cables used, and topology how this was connected to the wifi router the modem etc will help understand how much noise and network this switch had to contend with.
And what did you have in place before this? Since the sound qualities you mentioned are probably not absolute but in comparison with what was there before it.
Fair points raised. My network chain was -
BT S/H2 - supra cat 6 - netgear gc110 /ifi power connector - 15m fibre - qnap qsw 2104 with uptone js2 lpsu- sablon ethernet to grimm mu1 & sablon aes to dcs bartok.
It’s now BT S/H2 - supra cat 6 - netgear gc110 - 15m finsar attached optical (which had a significant positive impact) - AS6 -sablon ethernet to mu1 & sablon aes to the bartok.
(The bartok is connected to the switch with supra cat 6, but i don’t use it for streaming)
I added the finsar about 2 weeks ago which as i said had a very positive impact (cleaner sound better separation and low level detail and now the AS6 has built on this. Like you said, a switch doesn’t have a sound, but it must be reducing noise so that the dac has an easier job.
I need a switch with sfp ports as the fibre runs around the edges of the room for practical purposes, less intrusive so that ruled out the EE. The other benefit is that i have removed a box (the js2 lpsu).
Good to hear your initial thoughts on the as6. As always with these things it takes a while for the product to settle before you can evaluate fairly. Anyway, enjoy the process!
I’m very curious whether its a candidate to compare against the EE8. The EE8 is a great little switch for the money - I like the way it subtly adds a bit of warmth to the sound.
For what it’s worth, on another forum where people have compared the two the general consensus is that the AS6 is a good update on what they described as an already great switch.
I had two SW6 chained via fibre and was very happy. Then i upgraded to a Buffalo Switch (the version that is used in the Melco but costs only 300$ and replaced its power supply with a linear one) and the new AS8, also chained via fibre. I was surprised how much the sound improved in depth and separation.
What are the details, does the switch support IGMP snooping ? In which case it should be optimal for home streaming. If not I wouldn’t really touch it as it won’t be avoiding actual network group addressing noise from streamer non subscribed multicast groups. With home automation multicast is increasingly used.
Many switches have good quality serial clocks now.. and from what I have seen many of these so called audiophile switches have a very cheap and basic switching chipset… this one might be different hence the query on the actual switch spec, rather than how sleek and glitzy it looks.
I have used my LHY AS6 since beginning of may. I have my DIY fileserver (running GentooPlayer (audio-optimized Linux), Minimserver and SongKong) on the Isolated port and the Eversolo T8 streamer using Finisar SFP’s, connected via fiber. And the JPLAY controller via the ISP house-WiFi. Using Melco C100 cables.
Having both fiber before the T8 streamer and then the well-isolated outputs of the T8 before the DAC means the DAC is well isolated so I have stopped worrying about the network. It replaced an Uptone EtherREGEN which didn’t like mostly because I didn’t like the messy installation on the rack … external power supply, cables on two sides of the enclosure and the heat.
Yes it can if the upstream components don’t support IGMP snooping as you are protecting the streamer from unnecessary network processing/noise.
IGMP snooping is a method of monitoring whether devices have joined network address groups, and if they have it passes that specific group data on the group IP address, .. if not the group data is dropped by the switch which is actual network isolation.
UPnP and Roon use multicast group addresses specifically for audio/discovery.
Unless you know what a so called ‘isolation’ port is doing it can only be really considered a marketing gimmick.
But even so, that is simply the serialisation clock. A modern streamer should be well decoupled from the physical/link layer interface, but yes a stable clock will produce less noise power than a less stable clock on the twisted pair send pairs… but I suggest green ethernet and longer runs of Cat5e might be as beneficial. Having a very short run of full voltage ethernet over a low loss cable then I suggest a highly stable serial link clock will be more beneficial.
I am also not an expert. There is very little info on the LHY switches and no way to access any settings.
I am super happy with the Buffalo BS-GS2016 with a linear power supply. Improved sound over the LHY sw6 and a bargain in comparison. But requires fiddling for setting up and installing linear power supply.
I too am no expert, the great things for me about the AS6 is it is just plug and play and reduced the box count and cables (no lpsu or dc cable). To me it sounds or rather the music i hear sounds better than before and i don’t think you can ask for more than that.
No issues, but my observation is if these rather basic concepts I raise sail over your head, how do you know what you are buying.. and are you not at risk of being taken advantage of? But that might not bother you if you are in a happy position?
There are many ways to change the ‘sound’ of a streamer DAC without having to buy what I consider over priced ancillaries… and you possibly might even have even be able to do with what you had.
My advice is also Keep It Simple…but clearly people can spend their money in what ever way they like.. and if you are happy with where you are, then great, but there are usually several options.
