A dealer to stick with I would suggest. Signals?
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Yes
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Yes, recommend what they have is normal, but not saying the products they donāt have are crap or much lesser. Thatās the big difference.
I certainly have. My dealer stopped stocking certain products because costs and other complexities but in scenarios where he thought it the best option he still recommended those items ahead of what he sold. Considered it to be about trust.
There are better switches the the Pheonix Net although it is still an excellent switch. I originally intended buying the PN to go with my zenith and pheonix USB and to replace my 8 switch which I always thought had marginal improvements. My dealer was convinced an alternative was better and was happy to let me have the PN and the alternative for a couple of weeks to test at home. Both were significantly better than the 8 switch but there was a pretty big gap between the PN and the switch I bought although, in fairness, there was also a cost gap
Might be DCS Bridge. This is beyond a switch: an aircraft carrier switch!
The dcs Network Bridge made little or no difference in my system.
dCS Bridge is not a switch , its a streamer designed so that older dCS dacās could stream.
Its a very good streamer especially when used with a dCS dac.
I recently added a Melco S-100 switch to my system and probably a weird coincidence, I started having the Qobuz disappearance issue on the Naim app. Nothing is showing most times, other times just a section like favorite artists but no store info, no favorite tracks, etc. Wanted to add this here to see if there are any former/current S-100 users experience this type of issue.
I also see PhoenixNet users here, any notes and insights on comparison between S-100 vs PhoenixNet would greatly help me decide if I want to keep or change my setup. I used to have the PN but with an Innuos player, wanted to try the S-100 this time.
Hi Martyā¦ā¦.i took home the S100 and Phoenixnet. My initial reaction was i liked the S100 for an hour or soā¦ā¦but after a few hours i found it too almost sweet and sickly in its presentation. I took it back next day. The PhoenixNet by contrast was musical with an improved sense of timing over my Uptone ERā¦ā¦ā¦and it got better over a few weeks. The OCXO clock takes a while to stabilise. To be fair Melco have a more expensive-switch as well as the S100, i have not tried that one.
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I had the melco switch on demo for a few weeks around 2 years ago.
Installed just before my melco N10, and set up as per melco instructions.
I found that it hurt the dynamics in my system, and everything just sounded slightly worse.
I even tried a separate power supply on it, but nothing changed.
The new more expensive melco switch is the same switch but with a separate power supply, rather than the wall plug power supply.
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Hi Gazza, thank you for the insights. Your insight on PN timing is very helpful as I have been careful about not messing with excellent timing of Naim gear. I recall that OCXO clock inside was pretty special and the dedicated power management around it made a difference. I havenāt tried the S-10 either but that price tag is in another level. Plus having Dynaudio speakers with Mundorf caps in the crossover network, I really like that PN uses Mundorf caps.
Itās likely that Iāll move to PN soon.
If I may add one bit of insight, ethernet cables made some difference in the past but small variances among the group I tried, which included Wireworld, Cardas, and Shunyata (Venom X). Then i moved to Shunyata Alpha v2, that was like a component upgrade. Thereās an article on Ear.Net on this, my experience has been identical if not a bit more impactful. Highly recommend it for a next step. Price level is craziness but well worth it. Canāt wait to hear how it will sound together with PN.
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Hi Dunc, thank you for the insights on S-100 vs PN. Iām actually doing something similar, using it with a small linear power supply from iFi. I think it sounds a bit better than the OEM power supply out of the box. Not the most elegant solution but I couldnāt justify spending $1-2K on a better linear power supply then buying fancy power cables for it. Then it will become a S-10 level investment.
Iām not sure if there is any suffering on the dynamics in my system but overall I havenāt experienced a big difference on sound quality from Netgear switch to S-100 transition. Iām hearing vocals resolving better, but not a whole lot of improvement on tone, dynamics, and spatial information. Maybe itāll be a similar experience with PN too but I still tend to think PN will add more just purely based on comparison notes of its users.
I guess Iāll have a comparison point soon since Iām planning to move to PN from S-100.
Obviously it wasnāt a total collapse of dynamics and sound, but i did feel everything sounded slightly worse with the melco switch in.
I then had the EtherRegen after this for a while, until i got the phoenixnet
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I have currently a PN on testing ā¦ fantastic?
See here
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Hi @Farthings-cat - Iāve a PN incoming and will probably run it from my Virgin Superhub, through my 2960 into PN then ND555. A few queries if I may:
Where do you use the supplied ethernet cable?
Do you connect a NAS directly to the PN or 2960?
What other ethernet cables do you use?
Many thanks,
G
Hi Graeme, I donāt have a NAS anymore, everything in on my Innuos Zenith.
My NDS is connected to the the PN (currently using melco ethernet but have just bought a audioquest diamond of an auction site for a very low price so will report back.)
Zenith is also connected to the PN. Using a melco ethernet cable here too. Assume you would plug in NAS to PN.
My router goes into a Cisco 2960 (not essential) using a chord ethernet cable (c stream from memory)
And then a melco ethernet going from Cisco to PN lan port
I bought all used so not too expensive but really good bang for buck versus buying an ND555 to replace my NDSā¦
The PN takes a while to settle in so be patient. I think itās a really good switch and well worth the money.
Hope that helps
Gary
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Many thanks. Iāve the 2960 already so will loop it in. C-Stream cables all round here too at the mo, so might as well stick to those.
G
Ps I havenāt used the included cable. I only bought the AQ diamond as it was cheap enough for me to sell on if it turns out to be snake oil but plenty have reported good results.
I may well experiment with different cable options but that will be when I get some time but I just set it up using what I had a mixture of chord / melco.
Ideally I donāt like getting into the micro deal - some people have ears that can hear a butterfly flap itās wings in Asiaā¦ but in my system everything takes an age to settle in and Iām blown if I can remember the difference between swapping cables unless itās obvious!
Gary
Yes, use the c stream cables and let the whole thing settle in. Experimenting with cables can come later if one desires.
The PN was a bit of a wow moment in my system.
Regards
Gary
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