More audiophool ethernet switch BS

[TomS_]

https://englishelectric.uk/

Apparently it even won an award.

“The degree to which the upper end of the spectrum was cleaned up was quite a revelation, making the tone of voices and instruments far more appealing. It also opened up the soundstage really nicely, increasing its scale and depth.”

Its always about the sound stage. Everything seems to open it up. Just how wide can this supposed stage get? 

[AVGresponding]

Didn't you know? All the world's a stage (Shakespeare, W), so technically, depending on how you look at it, at least 8k miles, or 24k miles.

You might need quite a powerful amp and speaker setup...

[dietert1]

There are lots of uneducated and maybe even educated people in that scene who still live in the past, when streaming digital media was something new and difficult. They think that vinyl sounds better and this may even be based on past experience. Somehow they manage to ignore that nowadays we have near perfect digital transmission of video, even over WLAN and to mobile phones. Streaming audio is peanuts in comparison and standard equipment will do it 100 % correct. This has been true since more than 20 years. But some of those elderly are bored and a bit weak to do anything but buy things, so maybe that kind of marketing works.

Regards, Dieter

[TomS_]

Im loving the fact that apparently a linear power supply is no good for an audio device now:

"Switches require high speed power supplies so we could not opt for a linear power source due to their speed limitations. We set about improving the power signal by using an extremely high-quality wall supply. This clean supply permits an optimum quality network signal, driven by high-accuracy TCXO clock technology."

What ever a high speed power supply is .... Im surprised they would allow switching noise back into their audio stream!

[Haenk]

Im loving the fact that apparently a linear power supply is no good for an audio device now:

"Switches require high speed power supplies so we could not opt for a linear power source due to their speed limitations. We set about improving the power signal by using an extremely high-quality wall supply. This clean supply permits an optimum quality network signal, driven by high-accuracy TCXO clock technology."

What ever a high speed power supply is .... Im surprised they would allow switching noise back into their audio stream!

Esp: "DC IN: 5V DC at 1A"
I wonder how hard it could be to purchase a linear PSU of that "power". (OK, unfortunately, EU standby power consumption laws would require some tricky electronics or primary switch...)

[madires]

OMG! My old 5-port GigE switch came with a classic transformer wall wart. All those years I'm using it with the wrong power supply and never experienced any issues. Must be a special audiophoolery transformer with oxygen free and cryogenically treated copper wire. And I paid only 20-something bucks for it.

PS: I'm still waiting for some company to sell audiophoolery SFPs.

[srb1954]

https://englishelectric.uk/

Apparently it even won an award.

“The degree to which the upper end of the spectrum was cleaned up was quite a revelation, making the tone of voices and instruments far more appealing. It also opened up the soundstage really nicely, increasing its scale and depth.”

Its always about the sound stage. Everything seems to open it up. Just how wide can this supposed stage get? 

I am astounded how the name of English Electric, a company with a long and illustrious engineering history, has come to be associated with this nonsense.

[JohnnyMalaria]

The machined aluminium enclosure offers excellent protection from both acoustic and electrical noise.

[SiliconWizard]

This is a nice one indeed.

Whereas transmitting digital audio through SPDIF (or similar) can suffer from jitter due to transmission - and thus can sometimes benefit from improved transmission - for "streaming" audio through ethernet? Really (Oh and for SPDIF, you can do some kind of "reclocking" on the receiver side to improve jitter, which certainly is much less expensive than using moon-dust-plated cables. )

(What is even funnier is the thought of people streaming lossy-compressed audio through ethernet and buying voodoo cables and voodoo switches. Of course you can stream lossless audio as well, but I'm sure among the customers of these, you'll find some that stream MP3's. )

[Halcyon]

I have to giggle at a mate of mine who spends thousands upon thousands of dollars on expensive amps, DACs and cables made by nude virgins, but then proceeds to stream Spotify to his sound system via Bluetooth.

He has certainly drank the Koolaid, but hey, he is convinced, who am I to tell him he's wrong?

[Haenk]

I always think of carbon door handles and interior design elements for cars - they do absolutely nothing in terms of "performance", but are expensive and nice to look. Pretty much the same concept as those 2000 bucks per audio cable 
(But then these switches are just switches and ugly, and why reclock a CPU for a packet-based protocol?)

[TomS_]

PS: I'm still waiting for some company to sell audiophoolery SFPs.

Please dont give them any more ideas. 

[Halcyon]

PS: I'm still waiting for some company to sell audiophoolery SFPs.

Please dont give them any more ideas. 

Split the profits 3 ways? ;-)

[CJay]

PS: I'm still waiting for some company to sell audiophoolery SFPs.

Please dont give them any more ideas. 

Split the profits 3 ways? ;-)

I've got a pile of redundant 1G SFPs after we upgraded, I reckon if we can gold flash a few and add some field aligned carbon fibre sticky back plastic we might be on a winner?

[Haenk]

I've got a pile of redundant 1G SFPs after we upgraded, I reckon if we can gold flash a few and add some field aligned carbon fibre sticky back plastic we might be on a winner?

Put some high quality bling-bling damping feet one them - then we have a winner 

[bd139]

Oh wow. So basically they rebranded some cheap no brand switch.

I’m tempted to send these guys a box of my recycled Christmas dinner.

[MrMobodies]

edimax ES-

Esp: "DC IN: 5V DC at 1A"
I wonder how hard it could be to purchase a linear PSU of that "power". (OK, unfortunately, EU standby power consumption laws would require some tricky electronics or primary switch...)

The only switch I can find where the DC jack is crammed really close the switch ports, it is also 5v 1a and the shape of the ports look similar with the metal covering over it
Edimax ES-5800G:




I wonder they ordered the same but added that bit of metal over the ports.

Suppose to be "low noise" but enclosure looks plastic and no earthing screw to ground the switch ports.


Actually I just found one with the switchport grounding metal:

Zyxel GS108B:


£19.90 on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/8-Port-Desktop-Gigabit-Ethernet-Switch/dp/B00JCGPGF2?th=1

[CJay]

edimax ES-

Esp: "DC IN: 5V DC at 1A"
I wonder how hard it could be to purchase a linear PSU of that "power". (OK, unfortunately, EU standby power consumption laws would require some tricky electronics or primary switch...)

The only switch I can find where the DC jack is crammed really close the switch ports, it is also 5v 1a and the shape of the ports look similar with the metal covering over it
Edimax ES-5800G:




I wonder they ordered the same but added that bit of metal over the ports.

Suppose to be "low noise" but enclosure looks plastic and no earthing screw to ground the switch ports.

That metalwork is part of the 'harmonica', it's a pretty standard thing, I don't think they've added it but they may have specified it.

**Hahaha, yeah, I think you were editing as I was replying**

Maybe a Zyxel GS108?

https://www.ebuyer.com/731758-zyxel-gs108bv3-8-port-gigabit-desktop-switch-gs-108bv3-gb0101f

[Dreit]

Friend just sent me this today, it's perfect. And blind test on Youtube is.....wtf 

Also I just found this gem - https://chord.co.uk/new-chord-ethernet-cables/

[MrMobodies]

Also I just found this gem - https://chord.co.uk/new-chord-ethernet-cables/

Why do we bother?

Because we can hear that it justifies the extra effort cash.

[Dreit]

I'm still waiting for audiophile access point and player with audiophile network card, so I can blame my ISP for ruining my experience 
I wonder how they could hear difference of network switch, when network card in player is for sure some cheaply made...something.

Also don't forget you can't measure how much better those network cables are, because your oscilloscope probe isn't audiophile certified and any immeasurable load will ruin perfect parameters of this cable!

[madires]

Another audiophoolery ethernet TP cable. How boring! No multimode OM4 yet?

[madires]

It's not just about jitter, packet reordering can occur also (very rarely seen in LANs).

[AkiTaiyo]

Theres a whole forum of fools sucked in by the marketing BS.. Its worth a read just for the complete lack of understanding about how ethernet works and the mis-use of terminology..
https://community.naimaudio.com/t/english-electric-8switch/8345/

Someones making a lot of money from this!

Quote from the forum:

Very happy with my EE switch. It’s provided a blacker background so I can hear deeper into the music plus the tone and timing are just right. Ended up switching to Catsnake 6a floating ethernet cables and sold my Vodka and Cinnamon ethernet cables as they sounded lean compared to the Catsnakes. I also added a Paul Hynes SR4T LPS and it made a substantial improvement over the stock switching power supply. Very happy with this set up!

[CJay]

Theres a whole forum of fools sucked in by the marketing BS.. Its worth a read just for the complete lack of understanding about how ethernet works and the mis-use of terminology..
https://community.naimaudio.com/t/english-electric-8switch/8345/

Holy crap, £517 for an 8 port switch. And the donkey who started that thread is streaming music from a NAS, via two Cisco switches into the 8Switch and then on to other audiophool unicornium BS Mk2 ripoffs.

Honestly, I'm begining to feel I may have missed a trick and would feel no guilt about taking their money if they're that desperate to be conned.