I wish I could afford the Tempus. Presently using the EtherRegen. See my reply to Nick above as I provided a link you might find interesting.
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Thanks @kennyb123
Yup, very interesting.
I am sorely tempted to try the tempus…
Hi,
I’m still looking around for other devices, the technology in the Ansuz switches is not uninteresting. Maybe I’ll try the PowerSwitch D3, then I won’t have to worry about external power supplies for the Melco. Perhaps also interesting for everyone here.
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I have also been researching that switch.
I concur.
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Alexander, I’m not sure what you are after exactly but with my Oladra I started with Melco and have ended up with Waversa and Vertere cables. My streaming now sounds better than playback from local drive.
Generic switch >> Vertere Pulse HB ethernet >> Waversa Smarthub 3.0 >> Vertere Pulse HB ethernet >> Waversa Reference+ LAN filter >> Vertere Pulse HB ethernet >> Oladra
The Melco combined with the Vertere ethernet cables sounded very nice (the cables are head and shoulders better than any other ethernet cables I have tried) but the Waversa switch and filter really complete the recipe. Not inexpensive, but for me well worth it.
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That is what I learnt as well. Even the standard smps (switch mode power supply) that came with the s30 sounds better on my Netgear switch than an audiophile lps (sbooster kind of with more capacitors). My router sounded much better with the Ifi iPower X smps than with an lps.
My Melco n100 sounds much(!) better on the (second) output of the s60 than on an lps.
So I would keep the Melco switch because with the XACT they are switches that are build from the ground up with audio in mind and not around a standard cisco, netgear, dlink etc.
If I were you I would try the Melco on an s60.
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The Melco switch pcb is Bullfalo, Meloco put it in its chassis and put some caps at tge DC input.
Just a couple of related points to consider.
Routers can cause changes to sound. I use a Mikotrik CRS 305 because it has 10G spec not because its faster but it has less jitter (and fibre).
I once had a situation when my internet upload speed was increased from 4G to 20G but download was not changed, and it caused an improvement in SQ.
I would think highly resolving gear like Oladra is more likely to reveal upstream issues.
Uptone has just released a new JS 4.
I’m currently using this in my setup, a Melco S100 powered by an S60, and it was a world of improvement over the SBooster I had in place prior.
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I tested up to the A3. The products definitely have their raison d’être. In the bass or sub-bass they bring something out, voices become quite sonorous. I’m not sure yet, but will probably test the Tempus Switch soon, as I prefer a well thought-out, holistic solution.
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You can consider the Ansuz Powerswitch A3 and the D3 too. Amazing performance… this will be my next switch…
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Hello. I would also like to compare an Ansuz and a Tempus Switch. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to test an Ansuz myself yet. I own the Tempus Switch, but I also own the company’s other accessories: two Muon Pro filters and their streaming cables. I will soon be testing their Origin power supply, specifically for routers. Then I would be careful with the statement 100mb/s vs. 1Gb/s. Personally, it’s not just about the data volume for me; you can stream perfectly at 100MB/s, and Roon runs smoothly, too. However, I’m not sure if 100MB/s is the right choice for our network. All network components are designed for 1 GB/s. Cables and all passive filters are the same. I also hear a difference between 100MB/s vs. 1GB/s. 100 MB/s sounds nice and calm and gentle at first, but the bass is too bloated, the music lacks energy, to put it briefly. At 1 GB/s the music sounds more detailed, more natural, clearer, and the bass is nice and crisp and deep. In direct comparison to 100 MB/s, 1 GB/s sounds more direct, that’s true, but simply better. You can quickly test this with the Tempus, which has both ports. But the manufacturer also recommends 1 GB/s for sound reasons. You can’t compare with the Innuos, which only gets 100 MB/s. I’m not sure Innuos is on the right track here, the same goes for the new Melco switch, which can even shrink the network to 10 MB/s. I had the Innuos for testing back then, and I didn’t like the sound at all. The bass was far too thick and bloated, and I also found the music louder through the switch and far too dark. Another thing that helps tremendously in terms of sound is closing the player app, which breaks the connection between the server/streamer and the tablet. Select music, close the tablet app, and listen to the music. You can immediately hear the positive effect. And even though I already filter a lot on the network, this aspect is immediately audible. That also touches on the subject of noise. How sensitive it all is. I still listen with Squeeze/Squeeze. With this setup, I don’t miss a thing.
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Hi Christian,
I’m thinking hard about upgrading my streamer side of my system.
Which is K41/K22, what would be of more benefit or “bang for buck”. I currently have no Switch or Filter coming from my Router to K41.
NA Tempus Switch OR NA Muon Pro Filter ? I can’t afford both at this stage.
BTW completely agree with your take on the PhoenixNET, it seemed to hold back my Antipodes combo a fair bit, sucked the dynamics out of them. So I recently sold it and now looking for something better.
Hello, if I were you, I would do the following. So that you can form your own opinion, start by buying the Tempus Switch and listening to it. You can always return it if you don’t like it. This way you can compare the sold Innuos Switch and the Tempus Switch. The Muon Pro filters are additions, but you can hear a positive effect. Even if you only use the Muon Pro without the Switch, the positive effect is already audible. That’s how I started, and then bought the Tempus Switch. Take one step at a time. That’s what I did. The Ethernet cable is also very important. From the router to the switch. I got a cheaper ViaBlue. It changed everything immediately. Start with the Tempus Switch, then you’ll have taken a big step forward.
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I am probably swimming against the tide but with digital gear whenever I hear someone say it sucked the dynamics from the system then I am reminded of the Rob Watts mantra that smoothest is best and a more dynamic sound probably comes from noise or distortion artefacts. I agree with RW and I tend to find a more dynamic sound to be fatiguing in the end. Hence I suppose why I love the PhoenixNET and also why I have chosen cables to go with it that help the sound further in that direction.
I hadn’t recalled Rob’s mantra, but I thought it was more about darker. Fortunately a search of his thread on headfi easily got me to this:
“But the guiding principle is that a warmer/darker/smoother sound is the more accurate one, if it’s less impressive superficially - but you will be rewarded with musicality and lack of listening fatigue from the warmer sound.”
I’m ok with all of this except the part about it being “more accurate”. Smooth out the dynamics and one could just as easily make the sound less accurate. It depends on how one arrives there.
The better approach IMHO is to eliminate causes of fatigue as one has a far better chance of being rewarded with musicality that way. A better music server is proves that point.
Also, better dynamics is often proof that one has moved in the right direction. With each step in my server journey dynamics improved while fatigue was lessened. I assume you heard the same thing as you progressed from K50 to Oladra and then to Oladra G4.
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That’s been my experience too.
As I progressed up the hifi chain, for me and my preference, I always search out upgrades IF they provide better resolution, PR&T and dynamics - but not at the expense of brightness and/ or fatigue.
Antipodes has been the one of the few products that I have owned or have done a demo. with that easily meets my criteria - and then some !
The other being ATC Active speakers.
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The problem should by now be easy to agree on, noise from the router degrading the performance of the server/streamer. This translates to the hardness Nick refers to (among other things).
The solution - now that’s a whole different kettle of fish! There are multitude of solutions out there and price points. I haven’t tried any of the really expensive stuff so I don’t know but my CX/K22 sounds pretty awesome to my ears so I suspect the law of diminishing returns applies to Network optimisation just as much as it does to other aspects of our hobby.
As the problem is noise, the approaches to dealing with it boil down to the following:
Reduce it at source
Isolate your sever/ streamer from it - this is what you’re doing with a switch or a fibre optic connection
Filter it out
and they’re not mutually exclusive!
For practical reasons I use a wi-fi bridge, which incidentally some people will tell you is worse than a hard-wired connection (I’m sceptical about the justifcation I’ve been given for that proposition), which possibly provides some isolation but putting an iFi power supply and Entreq grounding box on the router (reducing the noise at source) improved the sound (and the picture when streaming on the TV).
Personally I would experiment with some of the cheaper options before shelling out ££££ on a switch. If you do nothing to reduce the noise at source you would expect more effort to be needed downstream on isolation or filtering, so I think it is about finding a balance between the three approaches which suits your preferences and budget.
I totally agree. I just put a particular switch (Linksys LGS105v2) between the router and the Netgear switch that sits downstream closer to the server and player. The sound became more detailed and at the same time warmer. So in terms of Rob Watts I went in the right direction. I also changed the small wall wart to the smps that came with the s30, which was another step forward.
I tried several switches for example Melco, Reiki, Muon . Finally I ended up with Taiko extrem switch powered by Taiko DCD. The Taiko DCD is powered with a Farad super 6. My home router feeds a Mikrotik router board which delivers an audio wifi which is only used to control the Oladra with my Ipad. From home router to Mikrotik router board with LAN, from routerboard to switch with DAC cable, from switsch to Oladra with LAN again. This is my endgame in switches.