Melco S100 on demo

I have tried and still use a Cisco, but cant say i really notice a difference, so maybe a melco S100, or ER, etc, might do better? But reading more and more about these, it looks like some dacs need it more than others, and some dont need it to work well, and so dont respond with any noticeable sound difference when you add one, as they dont need it.
Looking at all the good reviews on here, it seems that the Naim dacs like it and so responds well, when you add one, not so sure my dac does, adding to this on the dcs forum, all this switch stuff, got snuffed off, and no threads on them at all, so not much help really.
Now i know a few on here do use dcs, so anyone using one, tried one, etc, as before i go to the trouble off getting one, or trying to demo one, it would be nice to get some views on it, as dont want to waste my time and others with it.
I know i wont get many replies to this, if any, but the question has been asked.

Oh, I dunno…I think you’ll get plenty of responses. Hopefully, those who have tried the different ones will share their experiences on what worked for them. I don’t have a ton of experience with them; I’ve only tried two. The Cisco Catalyst 2960 was fine…no complaints, but I cannot say it helped with SQ. I just needed it at the time. As I reduced the need for things to be connected and only wanted to focus on my sound system, the urge to try an Uptone etherRegen switch got the best of me and I found a mint one from a gent on one of the other forums who helped with some of the first batch glitches. I have—since yesterday—added the Uptone Ultracap LPS-1.2 power supply and am in the process of auditioning it. Many will factor in a linear PSU for their switch, so expect that to be a factor in many’s opinion for obtaining better SQ. Speaking of, that is/was really my only requirement: an uplift in sound (due to lowering the noise floor, if my system is affected by such a thing).
My experience was pretty neutral; the eR (even after switching Ethernet cables, LPSUs, proximity, cascading with the Cisco versus alone, etc.) really did nothing for me. It seems uncommon, but it happens. As I said, I’m still evaluating with the Ultracap in place, so who knows?
BTW, for reference, I use the very good DAC (S/PDIF) from my Rega Saturn-R. To your point, it’s possible that it’s just not all that affected by noise on my lines, or if it is it’s minimal enough to the point of being negligible/inaudible to me. I really wanted the eR to give the SQ many described, but alas, it turned out to be just a very nice looking switch that might create a few audiophile-type attributes if I really concentrate. In the end, even if it does nothing in my estimation, that at least affirms to me there’s not much in it for noise within my network, which, at least to me is quite reassuring and I can just get on with listening rather than obsessing, which I tend to do like a great deal of us. Good luck regardless of what you decide!

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Here an example of the equipment used by a DCS user. And there are many who use ER and DCS. Audiophile style.

Roon Nucleus/ dCS Vivaldi Upsampler - DAC - Clock / Spectral DMC-30SV preamp / Spectral Anniversary monoblocks / Wilson Audio Alexia 2 / Shunyata Everest / Shunyata interconnects & power cables & Ethernet / Uptone EtherREGEN switch / Cybershaft OP21A-D / Uptone JS2

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There are switches and switches. There are some technically more capable switches like Cisco Catalysts switches that will condition the network traffic on your LAN for your streamer… effects will vary depending on network traffic on your LAN.
Other devices like the Uptone EtherRegen are very basic/primitive network switches that do no network traffic conditioning, but they instead focus on conditioning the analogue signals used for low level encoding on the serial lines used by the physical Ethernet connection. So depending on situation you may want to use both together… I do now and I potentially get the best of both worlds.

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Well my lovely dealer has gone and ordered one today, so i can try a S100.
So i guess i will soon see, if and what it can do

Interesting. I hope Audiostore have got plenty in stock !

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In my system, the S100 was (and is) the icing on the cake. 5 Months on I am still hearing a new music collection.

@Simon-in-Suffolk, it is interesting that you are using the ER, do you perceive any SQ improvement?

To be honest in my setup, if there is, it is slight, it certainly doesn’t make things worse.

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I have used two types of netgear switch, a cisco switch, a TPLINK switch and now ubiquiti switches.

ONe thing that didn’t change was the music.

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Choose switches that do the job they are designed to do effectively. Route network traffic reliably.and plan your network topology from wired to wireless. A stable network for everything connected in your home is far more important if you ask me. Have this the rest falls into place.

Never noticed a single change in my audio sq with any switch, router etc but I have noticed better network performance and stability. Had tplink, Netgear, Cisco 2960’s and now a full Ubiquity setup as its just easy to manage.

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I think money is better spent somewhere else.

Unfortunately, I did.

And I always used quality network devices.

Adding the ER made a different.

And not the kind of difference that magically appears when focusing enough… (which I never do).

It’s an on/off thing. No need to focus, it’s just there.

Of course, we could argue about the cost… but I believe that, when everything was taken care of, isolating the DAC or streamer from the rest of the network is worth the money spent.

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I have been trying to be open-minded, tried EE, ER, Cisco 2960, Netgear, etc. Still have not noticed any diffs with the Linn Klimax DSM (with Katalyst).

I like the EE because of the form factor, it is just that, no more.

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Good feedback, thanks. I do wonder if the effectiveness of the EtherRegen depends on both the amount of network traffic and the streamer that is downstream of it.

The DCS Rossini has a rather excellent DCS Network Bridge built into its front end, while Linn put a lot of work into the front end of the Klimax DS / DSM streamer. Maybe these two are less sensitive to the effects of the ER.

On the other hand, owners of Naim ND555 streamers and those of us (admittedly few on this forum!) with Sonore Rendu streamers hear a benefit from the ER. Our ER is downstream of a Cisco 2960 Catalyst switch, which helps to manage network traffic.

It’s intriguing.

Best, BF

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You can consider yourself lucky. I wish I could say that.

So why keeping the EE?

The EE is a very expensive switch, specially if it brings nothing sonically.
A simple 8 ports consumer switch costs ~20 times less.

Good question, I have been wondering about this myself. But there are 2 reasons:

  1. Supporting my dealer, I want to bring some business to him
  2. It is a small sum considering what I spend on my HIFI system

My home network devices cost much more than > $1K, but nothing exotic.

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I was speaking to Martin at the Audiostore yesterday about a LPS, when he said that he thought that EtherRegen would provide better value for money.
From the reviews I’ve read this seems to be debatable. In my system, where network traffic is managed by a 48 port Cisco, I could either plug it’s A side into my NDS (I.e. post Cisco), but I would not be able to use the B side. Or plug 3 of my 4 ‘Qutes into the B side (pre or post Cisco), then identify which port goes to my NDS and plug in the A side (pre Cisco).
However, the ER would benefit from a LPS; but, perhaps it would be better value providing a LPS for my music server as that feed all 5 streamers?

They used to sell the Uptone JS-2 lps which has 2 independent voltage outputs which would give you the ability to power both, if that is what you eventually decide. As Martin offers a 14 day trial period on either, why not try one or the other lps or ER.

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Noting the different experiences re effect of any particular switch, it is worth reminding that any effect is likely to depend on the specific DAC involved, some much more susceptible than others, and on the specifics of the rest of the attached network, and probably the electrical environment in which the network sits. It is therefore unsurprising that there are different experiences.