Thanks for that. Panzerholz is the better choice but it’s expensive. What makes the Aptitlig so special is bang for the buck.
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Yes, should have said, Paul Hynes SR7 Turbo, with Audio Sensibility DC cables for router and switches.
I’d be interested in what is considered an audiophile router…Draytek is popular in the UK for reliability. I tried an Edgerouter, but I just couldn’t configure the damn thing. But as we are about to get fibre in our area, I am waiting to see what that implies…I think a modem and then the router?
Our hobby causes much shame at the best of times, and I think lawyers might get involved if I try this…
I am a bit wary of the idealisation of Taiko, and the extraordinary praise lavished upon anything they do. The comments here regarding Antipodes are much more balanced, despite, I suspect, comparable levels of genius behind the products. Taiko are also rather late to network switch developments (and I still don’t understand why it is called a switch with one input, one output) and SOtM, amongst others, have been learning about network issues for quite a few years now. I trust my dealer has done some of the checking out of other products, and in our world of online influencers, I am relieved by that.
However, I will continue to tweak, and enjoy these occasional discoveries.
I honestly don’t think that SOtM or any of the other switch makers have figured much out. There are too many users who report that they hear benefits from using several daisy-chained switches. That wouldn’t be the case if the problem had actually been solved.
Taiko’s late entry is largely the result of them trying to solve the network problem once and for all. They believe they will be doing something unique with their switch. I think we will know if they succeeded if 1) we hear that additional switches provide no further benefit and 2) we begin to see Taiko owners lavishing all kinds of praise on Roon’s sound quality.
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We can only hope 
Yes, should have said, Paul Hynes SR7 Turbo, with Audio Sensibility DC cables for router and switches.
I could/should have known 
except I do not understand what modem/router or separates you currently use?
I’d be interested in what is considered an audiophile router…Draytek is popular in the UK for reliability. I tried an Edgerouter, but I just couldn’t configure the damn thing. But as we are about to get fibre in our area, I am waiting to see what that implies…I think a modem and then the router?
You already tried more than I thought. They are not widely available as the audiophile switches are. Separating into a unique audio stream after the internet enters the home with no interference from other devices on the home network is what counts it seems. But as mentioned above the SOtM upgrade for a better router could be an idea?
Our hobby causes much shame at the best of times, and I think lawyers might get involved if I try this…
As long as you do not screw it direct in the wall. Would it evacuate micro-vibrations better than the Stillpoints, who knows?
I am a bit wary of the idealisation of Taiko, and the extraordinary praise lavished upon anything they do. The comments here regarding Antipodes are much more balanced, despite, I suspect, comparable levels of genius behind the products. Taiko are also rather late to network switch developments (and I still don’t understand why it is called a switch with one input, one output) and SOtM, amongst others, have been learning about network issues for quite a few years now. I trust my dealer has done some of the checking out of other products, and in our world of online influencers, I am relieved by that.
However, I will continue to tweak, and enjoy these occasional discoveries.
Great! I suggest you read about the Taiko Audio Extreme Switch development at WBF, in general it helped me to understand why routers and switches can (or could) sound better. Low noise levels , low power consumption and excellent EMI shielding all elevating sound quality was never in the design brief of common switches. Add to that the awareness at Taiko that home network can influence your analog playback chain and how to eliminate this.
In the end we all want the influence of networking on sound quality to be zero. Streamed files to sound as the best local files so we have access to everything at the same level of high sound quality; that’s clearly what Taiko in 2023 and onwards is moving towards to (without excluding others).
And thanks for the replies.
Taiko switch info:
I have read that thread. I find it interesting that a product that has yet to reach consumers is already held up as the ultimate solution, not available (yet) to non-Extreme customers? Taiko have done well from a marketing perspective.
I would suggest we are seriously off topic, if compared with the original suggestion of trying to see if your router, placed on vibration isolating supports helped YOUR system sound better?
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Marketing is easy when your customers have been consistently impressed with your ability to execute.
I think if you got to hear the impact of some of the upgrades Taiko has delivered to their customers, you would understand. I have. It was unbelievable, actually, to hear what their USB card combined with a software update did to sound quality.
Were Antipodes to announce a new class of product, I think you’d see the same kind of enthusiasm - because Antipodes has repeatedly proven themselves through their ability to execute.
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I picked up some solid bamboo cutting boards from Coles, here in Sydney.
The boards under my S30 and S60 are about 1cm bigger all round and the board under my DAC, whilst smaller than the DAC, is large enough for the 3 feet to sit comfortably on it.
All up, about AU$20.
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Have you compared this with an Oladra?
It seems to me questionable that someone posts such views on another products forum. I am more than familiar with the giddy effulgence of the WBF thread…perhaps the lack of oxygen in such rarified atmospheres helps.
I hope you get your Extreme soon, but please spare those of us who think Antipodes are doing a fine job, and may have more to come, albeit without the self-promoting trumpets.
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I was just sharing my honest opinion based on my actual experience with their product. That’s what I do regardless of the product or the forum I post on. I’m sorry that my experiences have me seeing things differently than you.
I have been delighted with my Antipodes products so I have no intention of buying anything else. The Oladra is beyond my reach financially and so is the Extreme. Also the Extreme with all the bells and whistles is more expensive than the Oladra. Both can be great products at their respective price points.
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The topic is : ‘‘Isolation of Network Equipment’’.
Come on @RDG, then this comment is also off topic and why have @kennyb123 apologize here for sharing his experience? If the OP was bothered by that it could have been said directly in the first posts of this thread.
I did enjoy this ‘‘Isolation of Network Equipment’’ discussion and I thought it was not about being better or worse, or brands for that matter or even having the wrong attitude on other forums like WBF. I am now aware of OP’s rule of not discussing other brands here. Unlike those other brands Taiko seems very transparent in what they are after and so customers know what they will design the coming year. And they deliver according to users. That opinion is as much true as OP’s about Antipodes. And I do not recall Taiko ever called their design the ultimate. But you don’t have to believe that of course or share that way of thinking.
Thank you for your time. I am sorry too.
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I think we could learn something from the analogue turntable guys here. They have been bothered by vibrations and resonances (into even feedback loops!) for decades and can hear very clearly and immediately the effects of isolating the record player. When one doesn’t have a high mass turntable, a shelf screwed in the concrete wall has always been a very good solution. It’s always a matter of mass, spring and damping. And the concrete wall has the highest mass of anything around that doesn’t support the speakers (except for maybe the ceiling). What picks up vibrations is mostly the shelf (air vibrations).
There is a difference though with digital equipment: a mechanical device like a turntable needs support, so floating the record player is not a good idea. To me the Vibrapods work well under speakers and turntable.
I have also had good experience with ‘constrained layer damped’ shelves. 18mm wood+ 5 mm bituminous material+ 6 mm wood glued together. The bituminous stuff doesn’t like to be deformed in the horizontal plane (the force that wants the wood boards to slide), something that happens with vibrations. Probably it will turn vibration into heat. That is a lot cheaper and maybe more effective tweak than the stillpoints.
I wonder what these stillpoints do, do they act like a spike (coupling on a very small surface that one hopes locally vibrates less)?
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(Micro) vibration can be rather complex to control. You have to know what is causing it and if it has an audible effect. To quote Stillpoints: STILLPOINTS ELIMINATE THE INAUDIBLE TO PERFECT THE AUDIBLE.
It depends what you try to achieve. Stop vibration coming from the outside? Or evacuating vibration that is coming from the device by directing it away or absorbing it for example? Or both?
By now you should have googled Still points I guess 
: (…)Our patented design provides complete isolation of audio components from the surface on which they rest (…) This combats the mechanical energy and vibration inherent in audio equipment, lowering the noise floor, radically improving the sound reproduced and allowing you to get closer to the music (…). Stillpoints are state-of-the-art audio component feet that reduce mechanical vibrations and decouple components from surfaces. Stillpoints are the only bidirectional isolation device that has no direct vertical path through them. (…)
Good to point out both parts of that. Solutions that address both can be real difference-makers.
The following search brings back the patents filed by the owner of Stillpoints. They provide some insight into the inner workings of these devices.
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Isolating or being isolated, that seems the question if indeed each is contributing significantly to network isolation.
It seems we have acces to a vast choice of good switches (with low-noise, stable oscillator for the main clock), good power supplies , good cables and good network cards for optimizing signal routes, minimizing reflections, interference, and crosstalk. Add to that some strategies to isolate the hi-fi network from the home network that can improve sound quality. Finally we are awaiting modem/routers that need to be improved or developed according to these specs.
Do keep in mind that playing (only) local files vs. streaming is less demanding on the network (isolation). But that could all change in the near future when they will sound the same ; -)
image : Stillpoint isolation
Hi kennyb123,
Thanks for the link, I think I get it, it is not a spike but a ball. I guess vibration in one plane will be transformed in a movement in another plane, at least that is how someone explained something that looked like this on an old dutch DIY forum. With the Stillpoints they also focus on coatings on the balls so there is less friction and the absorbers will work better than just any diy steel ball.
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As far as I am aware, there is only Waversa WRouter (which is also a player).
The next best is SFP+/10Gbe. I am using Mikrotik CRS 305 but you’d need to be brave and patient configuring the RouterOS, which I think is worth it because it is easily and improvement over the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X which is already quite good.
I use the CRS 305 as a hub for fibre to create an isolation point in my network.
Hi and thank you @dbastin2605. I do not know how that quote seems to come from me (PaulW) since the OP was asking this. Apparently he already knew everything he needed so I stopped coming back here. But I am curious about your experience.
When you set up the MikroTik - CRS305- as a router how exactly did you make physical connections? You have a modem coming in at the Ethernet port and audio- and the home network connected to two sfp ports?
To better understand where the sound improvement came from and for general ‘‘isolation’’ interest I have a few questions if you don’t mind:
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Any DC power supply (DC1 & DC2) or Ethernet/ dc cable recommendations you would like to share?
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In your setup MikroTik - CRS305- made an improvement over the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X. Did you compare both with standard or better LPS and better DC cables? Could the improvement only be due to better isolation by changing to SFP ports? What sfp modules did you install (same at both ends?).
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Edgerouter X can be used in exclusive switch mode or router/switch mode. Does MikroTik have those options as well? If so, could installing MikroTik as switch only still be beneficial w/o configuring it’s ROUTER OS and give the advantage of better fiber isolation and isolation of audio and home network streams resulting in better sound quality?
Thank you for sharing!
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MikroTik - CRS305-1G-4S+in
Oh, it was in a post by you but I looked back and realise it was originally @RDG on 29 Jan.
Now to answer some questions, and these are about isolation from noise rather than vibrations.
For context, the beginning of my home network is a national broadband network termination device (NTD). It terminates fibre to the premises and outputs via rj45. It is effectively a modem.
Also, I had discovered wifi connection to my Devialet Pro is quite exceptional compared to daisy chains of EtherRegens and Gigafoils (although some if that was probably compromised by unwise use of cable shields and sharing PSU … history now). So basically the Devialet is floating/disconnected from source (it is only connected to the speakers, power and ground block). In short, it is a hellofva test bed, very revealing!!
Also my WAP is powered by battery for further power isolation. And the WAP is only accessed by the Devialet … it is dedicated to this task only.
Initially I had …
NTD > Afterdark Cat 7 > FMC > SM fibre > CRS 305 > fancy audiophile cable > Antipodes EX > fancy cable > WAP
Since then I have swapped FMC with EtherRegen and changed all ethernet cables in light of the new found benefit of CRS 305 and focussing more on what cable sheilds are doing - connected at one end or both ends.
I intend to insert a 2nd ER as per …
NTD > commercial Cat 6a UTP > ER 1 > SM fibre > CRS 305 > fibre > ER 2 > fancy audiophile cable > Antipodes EX > fancy cable > WAP
From CRS 305 I run fibre to FMC to another WAP for the household. More isolation.
Phew!
No ‘recommendations’. Ifi powerX is OK, but is easily surpassed by other solutions, including the AC cables which seem to matter more than the LPS.
I simply swapped EdgeRouter X with CRS 305 and kept the same power (W4S PS1 and Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 3 AC). I have not compared DC cables yet. Have been researching though.
It was Edgerouter X SFP so direct swap and comparison. Both scenarios were SFP in and ethernet out.
Afterdark Cisco SFP both ends … I think it was Afterdark’s 1st SFP offerring, they have had many since then.
CRS 305 is a switch that can be comfigured as a router, but its router caoacity is not like a dedicated router. I believe even as a switch it is better than a 1G switch, but I was aiming to improve the router.
My aim was also to isolate the router from other noise sources to minimise impacts on its performance as it relates to audio. And not passing noise to the server (EX).
I have a CRS 106 I was going to try first. It is very similar to 305 but not SFP+, plastic case which I could not ooen up to insert a Synergistic Research ECT which I did do with 305 (on the switch chip, the CPU is covered by a heatsink so that was not an option as usual).
I think I’ve covered it all for you.
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Hi @dbastin2605 ,
Yep, you more than covered it. You gave your network isolation quite some thinking, I am impressed. AND very tempted now to choose the MikroTik full SFP instead the Ubiquity ERX-sfp that would provide a different isolation setup and possibly less sound improvement. I will give it some good thinking while re-reading your reply a few times! Thank you.