Unfortunately, I can’t connect my Nova directly with Lan cable because the Fritz router is too far away. Next to the system i have a Fritz repeater, which receives the signal via wifi. I connected Nova and TV via Lan cables from this repeater.
From your point of view, does a switch (like Thunder Data Silent Angel Bonn N8) make sense on the repeater from which I then go to the Nova?
It’s arguable a boutique switch makes a difference in an ideal setup.
Your set up is not ideal. You would be better to find a way to hardwire to the router, cat5e can easily go 100 metres. Is your Fritz box 100 metres away?
You will have, as always, many opposite answers from members here.
Personally I would try a second hand Cisco 2960 switch ( around 40 euros) with a standard lan cable. If it’s not better, you can sell it very easily on EBay.
I am quitte certain it will enhance the sound.
No 100m, only about 5m. However, I don’t get the cable laid invisibly because I have the router in the hallway
Where there is a will there is a way.
You could route the cables up to ceiling and down again?
In a similar scenario my Innuos Zenith is on a different floor to our router. Cheap wireless bridge feeding 4m of Chord C-Stream into the Zenith. Been loaned 3 switches so far having been told repeatedly how far from optimum my setup is. Not been able to detect any tangible improvements at all.
First question to ask when contemplating a switch despite having connectivity is simply “am I enjoying my system?’. If yes then why tinker?
That last question could be applied to any aspect of hifi, and very often doesn’t stop people upgrading or tinkering.
I’d suggest that the OP tries one at home to determine whether or not it makes a difference.
Totally agree with the 1st part. Much less so with the 2nd. Easily as many people reporting no difference.
A great idea. Get one for 40€ all in on eBay. I’ll order one and try it. If it’s good, I can think about whether I want something better
I have a Cisco 2960 TCL, with the internal power supply. The only trouble with it is that it seems to use quite a lot of power, so I now use an unmanaged 8 port Cisco SF110D, which has an SMPS and uses hardly any power. Piggy backed off that is an EE 8 switch, to which just the Nova and the Qnap NAS are connected. I can’t say that the little 110D sounds any different to the 2960, but the EE does make a difference. Together, the 110 and EE use hardly any power, which has to be a good thing.
So the opposite of 50% for and 50% hearing nothing is… ?
I’ve bought one of these - no wall wart, no fan, sounds really good to me.
It doesn’t sound of anything lol.
I have tried a few different switches now, i have the phoenixnet right now, and like what it does, also like the fuss free approach it has, just plug it in a wait a few days for it to warm up, and settle down. No more worries about power supplies or clocks, just plug and play, forget.
That’s interesting - I’ve been wondering about changing my 2960 so the SF110D looks a good bet. When you say the EE8 is piggybacked, do you mean you just run an ethernet cable from the SF110D to the “LAN in” port on the EE8? And do you keep the EE8 just for the Nova/QNAP as the isolation improves streaming quality (as opposed to using the EE8 to for all your network requirements)?
That’s my logic, yes.
Thanks - good to know you felt there was a clear improvement with the EE8
I advise to consider the SG110D.
The SF is OK as its Fast Ethernet & that is all Naim need, but the SG is gigbit and able to handle more traffic density, thinking your networks ability to handle other services in addition to audio
Switching capacity of a SF110D-08 is 1.6 Gbps, SG110D-08 is 16 Gbps
Forewarding capacity of a SF110D-08: is 1.4. mpps, SG110D-08 is 11.9 mpps
(Forwarding capacity is million packets per second (mpps) with 64-byte packets)
Thanks - not sure I really understand the figures but I’ll look into it a bit more…a quick look though suggests the SG models are harder to get/a lot more expansive and I’m not sure my home network needs more, it’s just phones/computers/mesh wifi and the NDS going through the switch, and generally not all at the same time (saying that probably demonstrates I’m a network novice!)
