The has been a lot of threads about various switches so i thought id give my thoughts on this one… I have been chatting to the owner, Nigel Bell of Reiki audio on another forum about networks and cables and he advised me to look at the Melco c100 cables as they are grounded at one end (at the switch end) so no noise gets transferred to the streamer. A positive trial ensued so duly purchased. He also asked if I wanted to try one of his switches as by chance he was letting some early ones go, with 3mm case and sprayed, at half price.
Why not I thought as I rate my current EE8 and thought it would be a good experiment. Switch arrived and i ran it continuously for 5 days with internet radio and sat down today for a proper listen and comparison with the EE8.
Now I know my system is not as high end as some of the lofty naim’s here but it delivers a very satisfying sound to my ears.
I started with the EE8 as normal feeding my nucleus and Lumin and played the following and made some notes as I went.
Malia & Boris Blank- Convergance (fever , smouldering ashes & magnetic lines) and noted a very clean, precise but dry sound and tad forward in the vocals.
I then added the Reiki in, with that just feeding the Lumin straight from the router. It was immediately apparent that the sound was bigger, deeper, less digital? With better layering and separation.
Removed the reiki and played some Peter Gabriel from the recent io album ( the court & playing for time), again very precise, open with nice piano that maybe was a bit hard? And the strings on playing for time were nice but clinical.
Time to put the reiki back and it was again bigger, calmer, less digital, and the piano sounded like an acoustic piano rather than an electric one. Bass was fuller and more rounded and the violins less strident. I’m not saying it’s laid back as it appears not, but it’s just less hurried and calmer with greater acoustic space.
I repeated this with simple acoustic music from Dominic Millar (4th wall album) and it was repeatable with better decay on acoustic guitars and cymbals, and a much more in the room sound.
Again with some St Germain (hanky panky) and with the reiki it was easier to identify the layering and this track builds and the cymbals were less splashy.
My conclusion is that with my system, and your naims have a different sound signature, the reiki completely outclasses the ee8 , which is by no means poor but once heard the reiki in my opinion is difficult to ignore.
I’ll caveat this also by saying I’ve not tried some of the other expensive switches out there and don’t intend to as I’ve seen the madness in other threads where this can lead!!!
I’d be interested to know from those that have tried the reiki if they concur with my thinking.
Interesting reading above, and how you get on with it going forward.
Well, Nigel is sending me the master switch and the pro power supply as well as the ifi one to try later this week, hopefully.
Also, one off his ethernet cables.
He isn’t expecting the master switch will bring much if anything over the PhoenixNet, but we are both interested to find out. Plus only one way to find out.
The biggest problem i can see if thst the reiki switch has just a single outlet port on it. This means i can’t run both my melco, and vivaldi upsampler through it separately. Interested i would have to run through the melco, using the player port and then install the reiki before the vivaldi.
This could be a problem or not, we will see.
I had the Powerswith PRO here for evaluation against my Ansuz D2 Powerswitch and it is what I heard too. It is IMO colouring the tone towards warm, organic, romantic, full so if that is what one like and want more of then it’s something to evaluate. I would place it in the same corner as Phoenixnet. The Reiki benefits a lot adding a more transparent open sounding ethernet cable. It responded very well to this in my system. I didn’t like the Reiki ethernet cable in my system. Reiki with their external PS against PN will be the real battle IMO. Ansuz D2 Powerswitch is still the best switch I’ve heard 
Which power supply did you use?
Yes, with a single output this is more of a filter than a switch.
Even more interesting
Well if it already has a very similar SQ to my PhoenixNet, then i guess Nigel is probably going to right in what he told me.
But as said i am also getting the pro power supply to go with it.
Plus i have different ethernet cables to try with it as well.
I used my mcru/ long dog audio linear.
Is it ok if i also just add my thoughts as well, rather than start a new thread?
But just for starters look how nicely presented it it. If it sounds as good as it looks, and feels then i am in for a nice ride.
Superswitch master, pro power supply, 2 ethernet cables.
Fire away Dunc! As you have gone the whole shooting match, are you going to add it incrementally or all at one as a system?
I’ll be waiting with interest……
Cheers Hifi-dog
Not sure yet really.
I did think i was also getting the normal power supply, but no.
But any thoughts , ideas, then fire away.
I think i will probably just swap it all over, as in remove the phoenixnet, disconnect the melco.
Fit the reiki with my omega cable and see how it goes.
Then after a few days try the reiki ethernet cable.
Cheers dunc
If you have a standard 5v supply around then try that and add the psu to see what it brings?
I will take a look.
I have plugged it in to warm up, it’s not in the system as yet.
Will have a listen properly tomorrow night or Saturday
I’ve been keeping my powder dry whilst I evaluated it, but I also have a Reiki SuperSwitch with the ifi power supply.
I removed my EE8 switch out and replaced it with the Reiki, rather than daisy chain them, I didn’t more complexity.
I have to say after a couple of weeks I’m very happy with it. The background noise seems quieter and the start and decay of instruments sounds very real.
I plan to leave it as is and not reintroduce the EE8. I’ll move that on.
Happy experimenting @Dunc
yeah i tried daisy chaining and it sounded worse so the ee8 only feeds my nucleus and the reiki my lumin. I may well look at a cheaper solution to put in front of the nucleus and move the EE8 on too.
I ask Nigel about this unit and was told.
This has been run in but would benefit from what you’re doing; the SuperSwitch circuit board is low current and requires virtually no warm up/burn in but the linear PSU seems to benefit from a few hours’ exercise even if it’s not straight off the workbench.
So we should be all set to go tonight.
Cheers dunc
I thought my Reiki with LPS sounded better day after putting it on.
[quote=“Hifi-dog, post:1, topic:36332”]
the reiki completely outclasses the ee8
[/quoteGiven that their cheapest switch is three times the price of the EE8 I should hope it does.
I’m unclear as to why this should be such a revelation. I know nothing of the Reiko switch and I assumed it was a similar price to the EE8 given your comparison. I use an EE8 and it’s very good in my set-up. I can’t afford to pay more, but if I could there are several far more expensive options all of which I’m sure would perform better - at least judging by the reviews. These are competing in a different area of the market.
Were you honestly expecting the EE8 to be as good as something costing £1500? It’s just that you seem surprised at your findings.
because i was invited to try one at a half price offer…and i wanted to try out his thoughts on networking after many discussions with him to see what his thoughts had distilled into. I was also trying to show what improvements a better switch brought to the table.
well it’s got an esoteric mystical name so it must be worth it
Was that the Reiki Master/Superswitch? with iFi psu vs. EE8 with MCRU/long dog audio linear psu - both into Lumin D2 and non-Naim amps and ATC speakers?
yes it was/is the reiki superswitch master but i didnt use the ifi psu, as used the mcru supply and the factory switch on the EE8. I did swap the supplies over and the differences between the two switches was not down to the supplies. Both combos sounded different with the EE8 supply on the Reiki being a bit more upfront than the MCRU linear so preferred the EE8 on its factory supply and the reiki on the linear. Both then into ATC sia2-100/ Scm11.