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Thanks for the Heads-up. An interesting interview which makes a lot of sense. I get the impression that Antipodes and Innuos follow similar aims with their design philosophy.

Antipodes seem to favour having proper digital audio outputs though and not just usb on their top models. Which he seemed to point out as the most important area that needs reclocking as it’s the part where timing is important it’s all asynchronous before as it’s data packets not an audio stream.

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Interesting. I’ve avoided these kind of threads as historically there’s been much ‘it must be your network’ type blame for issues folk have had with their kit.

I have a Uniti Star that has been wired since I bought it in 2019 (KEF LS50 speakers). Since then my internet service has gone from Virginmedia 300 Mbps to their Gigabit service and currently I have a Gigabit up and down with Hyperoptic’s fibre to the home.

The sound quality from both Tidal and my local Synology NAS has not changed as a result of any of the connection and infrastructure upgrades.

My network has developed from the Virgin Hub as a modem with an Asus RT-AC68U Router doing the hard work, pushing the bandwidth about with a couple of basic netgear switches, to my current setup from Ubiquiti. There are a couple of UniFi wireless access points feeding the house WiFi but that’s not relevant here.

I bought my Unifi Dream Machine Pro and USW POE Switch when I realised that while my Virginmedia Hub may well have been able to receive the Gigabit bandwidth I was paying for, it was totally incapable of pushing that bandwidth through the wired network, even via the Asus router (Cat 6 in the walls and under the floor). Max speeds of 300 Mbps from the Hub and 100 Mbps or so internally.

With the UDM Pro suddenly my speed tests (wired) went from about 300 Mbps to from the cable ‘modem’ (Virgin Hub) to over 900 Mbps. Internal network speeds are close to 500 Mbps write/upload and over 700 Mbps read/download (current snapshot).

So there :wink:

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Hi,

Here is my current system.
Not visible is an AudioQuest Niagara 1000.
Virgin Hub 4, in modem mode, is connected to an Apple Airport Extreme.
Connections from Hub to Airport to Nova are wired - AudioQuest Diamond.

I am quite satisfied with the SQ from this simple set up. No noise, good dynamics.

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What also needs reiteration is there is patently no point in spending thousands on chinzy audiophile switches to “remove” electrical noise when for instance you have a fridge or a freezer. A chinzy audiophile switch is afterall just a bog standard switch with a better power supply, but its still on the same circuit as you iphone chargers, food blenders, washing machine and LED lights.

There are many well executed solutions to filter power line noise available at all price levels.

An alternative is to not stream across a network: if you are streaming only from your own store of music, it is possible to have the store and music renderer in the same box, sending direct to a DAC with no network involvement.

WiFi will give you 100% galvanic isolation, not sure why is not considered a viable alternative more often.

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I think how good wifi is depends on the implementation, potentially itself creating noise - but I am no expert with that.

Genuinely I believe for an audiophile, wireless is boring, because it presents a solution to wires. But without wires what will you spend your tinkering money on?

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Wireless has its own challenges as well, especially the wireless adapter itself can be a source of electrical noises.

Let’s not ignore the fact that the wired adapter is noisy too, it becomes a lesser of two evils question, not a solution.

All network interfaces are noisy, that’s why network transports/bridges are such a good idea.

Yes, the quality of your network adapter, whether it is wired or wireless, can impact your digital
input. However, if we look at the tcp/ip perspective, wireless would much harder as it involves many more re-transmitted tcp frames and error recoveries (you can check and verify by using some tools such wireshark), and there are all sorts of wifi networks in your local area fighting for the same wifi frequencies, your neighbors can use the same wifi channels as you do and it all takes its toll on your wifi and its performance, and you will need to think about some good wifi coverage and add additional access points if needed.

That is why quite a few experience drop-offs, especially while streaming hires music.

But of course this depends on the quality of your home wifi, and you can make it work.

Nothing special with my streaming setup but here goes

In the garage

QNAP TS459 (must be over 12 years old) with 4x 4TB WD Red HDD hosts Minimserver

QNAP TS231 with 2x 1TB SSD HDD hosts Channel DVR for my tellys

Both plugged into a V7 750va UPS just in case of a power cut. Nothing special about the PoE switch I think its a Ubiquiti Edge Switch but the label is pressed up against the wood.

Living room

Ubiquiti Dream Machine (DM) with a Kcom ONT fibre box mounted on the wall
Ubiquiti ToughCable is used to connect other network switches around the house including a feed from the DM to the ND5XS2.

There’s also a Ubiquiti US-8-60W network switch in the loft along with a few other bits (CCTV, VoIP base etc) connected including a Ubiquiti AC Pro Access Point.

Second setup where the Nait2 / SBLs sit there’s also a Ubiquiti AC Lite Access Point, the garage network switch feeds the ND5XS2 in this room.

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You in Australia?:rofl:

My tests proved otherwise. Wireless or wired doesnt sound any different on mine nor did it sound different to local USB. I even captured the output via a PCM digital recorder. After aligning the captures did a sum and difference nothing showed up they where identical, I inverted phase of one played they cancelled each other out no sound was heard. I swapped seamlessly between each one in my editing software and listened no difference.