Thanks! I have a dedicated internet set-up for audio with many levels of filtering, carefully chosen power supplies, cables, specifically selected SFPs and ultra low noise fiber... you get the point. In the middle stage of the network, I had a fully upgraded SOtM switch with the top Mutec clock and cables I could get. Before your video, I always assumed it was for the best, but after watching, I realized I had not tested this. My system is very sensitive to changes, with a very low noise floor, and after removing the external clock feed to the SOtM switch, lo and behold, the noise level went further down. Not bashing Mutec, it does wonders for my streamer and DDC. Your videos can be technical, but they are also practical, and I don't think you are getting all the merit you deserve. Once again, thank you.
Would love to see some of your testing done on ethernet filters such as the following: 1:QSA LAN Adapters 2. Acoustic Revive LAN isolator RLI 1 3.Network Acoustics eno 4.muon pro Ethernet Filter 5.GigaFOILv4-INLINE Ethernet Filter 6.iFi LAN iSilencer 7.EE1 Network Isolator by English Electric
Thanks to your channel and deeper testing/ discoveries, I’ve been experimenting with a stock d-link switch to very good effect. Tried along with some filters in different orders and configurations plus some blue jeans cat6a cables, also using an ifi power supply for the switch. Good to see the stock switch does quite well on its own!
This is why listening is always necessary. So many items Of supposed better performance I have listened to I found I did not prefer. As another comment says there could therefore be so many perms and coms that its almost an inducement to prefer more integrated products which is where I have gone to some extent these days. Thanks Jaap!
What a minefield, there are times i hate this hobby! Thank you for this, my automatic assumption was adding an external clock would always be 100% beneficial. My concern (in addition to cost) was adding yet more components in the chain with the associated additional cabling and power supply, would this also create issues by risking an additonal source of unwanted electrical pollution. There is also the issue of component synergy, maybe those with integrated audiophile clocks are better in this respect (eg Paul Pang, Chord)
I had great results the past few weeks adding better power cables to my 2 Sboosters and I also upgraded the 2 Sboosters fuse for a big upgrade : ) I shall be trying a better power supply for my Switch soon. Ive just had my Isotek Corvus delivered about 5 minutes ago, so I will be playing with that first :)
Interesting test thanks Jaap, what were the external clocks used if you don’t mind me asking? Presumably they were impedance matched etc with appropriate cables. But even if imperfect (in terms of matching and say shielding) I guess it goes to the point of the real world challenges of using an external clock, and potential for introducing more jitter.
Hi, I have a technical question that may be very basic. In a digital signal, each bit has a value of either zero or one, which is represented by a specific voltage in the signal. Does this mean that a 16 bit recording must measure voltage 16 times in order to have a complete representation of the binary number that represents the sample?. How does this relate to sample rate? A sample rate of 192khz, for example, does it measure voltage 192000 times? and every "X" bits represent a full sample? or does it measure 192000 samples, each one with several voltage measures to build the full sample
@@TheAlphaAudio Thanks for your response! Yet I believe the article doesn't fully answer the question: how is the bits "binary number" transmitted? a) is there a "single voltage" that corresponds to a binary number (hence, there are 2^n possible voltages when n is the bit depth), or b) there is a specific voltage for one, and specific voltage for zero, and the binary number gets "built" by the combination of these individual zero or one pulses? (hence, every "n" pulses create a sample, when n is the bit depth)
@@TheAlphaAudio wow, then clocking issues can easily generate errors... cause a 24bit recording has 16.7 million possible voltages, a tiny timing error in the clock (or in cable response to voltage change) could lead to a wrong binary number being measured. This is fascinating... also, intuitively I think it could be better to have 16 bit instead of 24 if the system is not accurate enough (higher bits, higher error probablity maybe)
@@TheAlphaAudio My modification is powering the SMPS through an additional (DC to DC) circuit and adding a LC filter that drops the supplied ripple current to nano volts lowering overall noise!!! Ethernet transfers are mainly asynchronous communication therefore not as reliant on the clock
@@TheAlphaAudio Indeed! I use that in combination with 3M AB7050HF (RFI/EMI absorber) to really effectively drive down emissions from FPGA's and other chips that actually radiate RFI. 👍🤓
We can only hope manufacturers do this type of testing... because the average Joe Consumer doesn't know. Could be improving one area yet compromising another...or all together just doing more harm than good. Different but not truly an improvement. If you know what I mean
It was switched on for at least an hour before we started. The Wavecrest needs at least 30min as well... But... warmed up or not: that doesn't change anything in terms of interference.
Do you know anything about the OCXO’s specification? By the way the OCXOs optimal upheating and freq stability is min 24 hours… if you can never switch them off.
Isn't a switch a block device rather than a stream device? I didn't get an idea of using some external clocks with a st.. switch. It can transfer entire song in few seconds (but streaming services do not do that because of a bandwidth, instead they answer with smaller packets let's say every 0.1 sec), and I don't understand why do you torture that poor switch.
@@TheAlphaAudio Mr. Grimm told you already that a switch has no impact on a music directly. This must be an electrical issue (like EMI or ground loops). So, a "master clock" to a switch won't help at all. I'm trying to let you know that despite a musical stream is called a "stream" it's a block transmission by a nature. A PC receives much bigger portion of data than is able to play immediately. It buffers it and plays accordingly to its own master clock. Just... use a fiber optic instead of a CAT cable, and let's finish with that switch -)
@@sc0or I know how this works. What I show is that a clock in a switch does have an impact on sound quality. That has nothing to do with the switch itself... Nor its performance in terms of speed... I couldn't care less. I am measuring the clock in the streamer... That is what counts, for that has impact on the d/a conversion, and thus the sound quality. That is actually what Mr Grimm also says.
@@TheAlphaAudio " I am measuring the clock in the streamer... That is what counts," No - what counts is the output signal of the DAC and if this causes any hearable difference. "for that has impact on the d/a conversion, and thus the sound quality. " That is a claim or assumption....
