The EtherREGEN thread for various network, cable, power experiences and experiments

6 minutes ago, ray-dude said:

 

Dang it @PYP you made me go back and see what grounding sounds like.  I'm a bit delirious after all this A/B testing, but there may be something there even with only a single ethernet cable on the A side.  I'll need to listen to some AM radio for a while to clear my ears out, but I'll come back to this one

Well you now have me curious about trying an LPS 1.2, so I'd say we are even.  😎

Add my voice to those who say the ER clearly sounds better powered by an LPS 1.2 than by the stock PS.

8 hours ago, ray-dude said:

 

I should say that for the record, I'm really really uncomfortable so clearly hearing differences between ethernet cables....this way (even more) madness dwells.

The other crazy thing is that I found that ethernet cables can take a very long time to burn in... With Supra cat8 they seem to take 2 weeks until they reach a consistent sound where you can judge them properly... I know that sounds crazy 🤯... But it's true... I burnt in three Supra cat8 cables at separate times and each time it took 2 weeks.

If burn-in is an issue for anyone, might I suggest they look into Shunyata’s Ethernet and other cables which offer their KPIP process.  These guys are on a roll with their tech.

18 hours ago, auricgoldfinger said:

 

I would like to know why having other switches in the chain matters if the ER A-side ports are all galvanically isolated from each other and all the noise is gone once the moat has been crossed.  Isn't the moat supposed to make such things irrelevant @Superdad

i'd go with "much is still not understood, grasshopper"

14 hours ago, gstew said:

I did do a couple of quick trials with lesser linear supplies than the 2xLPS-1.2 paralleled via a dual-section MPAudio 3||LT0345 board. They confirmed that the dual LPS-1.2 setup was superior, though I haven't put the stock SMPS back in to see how it compares again.

looking forward to the comparisons

1 hour ago, cat6man said:

 

i'd go with "much is still not understood, grasshopper"

I find the idea that the performance of the ER itself can be affected by overall network configuration to be a bit disconcerting, given it is supposed to be independent of such influences as long as it is the last device before the DAC.

21 hours ago, auricgoldfinger said:

 

I find the idea that the performance of the ER itself can be affected by overall network configuration to be a bit disconcerting, given it is supposed to be independent of such influences as long as it is the last device before the DAC.

Alex or John, I believe, wrote that earlier switches develop basic patterns of managed electricity that carry through, no matter the effectiveness of the ER in managing noise. They can comment on this.

On 12/4/2019 at 5:50 AM, Dutch said:

If I remember correctly Emile recommends a long fiber (10m or so) for use with those 80km SFPs (because of their high transmit strength). Also his recommendations are for use with the Taiko server but of course it could be a good match here as well.

Why would anyone recommend more costly 10,40,80km SFP? Just use SR SFP with MM fiber. It's good to 980 feet. 

The recommendation is a bad one. 

1 hour ago, lmitche said:

Hi Ray-dude,

 

I've been in a parallel universe here testing Tera Grand Cat 7 flat and and premium cables. In the end, the premium double shielded cable definitely sounds best. Looking at the Dacrown cable you chose above, it has a very similar construction to the Tera Grand premium. The Dacrown is rated higher then the Tera Grand so I am curious to learn whether that matters to SQ. To that end, I've ordered one to test.

 

 

Thanks for the update Larry.  Do you happen to have any Supra CAT 8 cables or (shudder) SoTM dCBL-CAT7 cables available to test?  It's all fun and games to experiment blind with cables that set you back a morning latte, but yet another thing to drop $600 on a listening test (that buys a lot of fine wine that we could/should be drinking during a listening test)

Ray

10 hours ago, ray-dude said:

 

Thanks for the update Larry.  Do you happen to have any Supra CAT 8 cables or (shudder) SoTM dCBL-CAT7 cables available to test?  It's all fun and games to experiment blind with cables that set you back a morning latte, but yet another thing to drop $600 on a listening test (that buys a lot of fine wine that we could/should be drinking during a listening test)

 

Ray

 

 

Hi Ray-dude,

Yes, I have Monoprice, Supra Cat 8, BJC Cat 6a cables and many more. No SOTM gear here as it is too expensive.

These Amazon Cat 7 and 8 cables are nicely made, flexible and light weight. My Supra Cat 8 with JSSG360 shielding approaches the weight, thickness and flexibility of a fire hose filled with water. Tera Grand Premium SQ is better then my Supra 8 for sure. There is even more focus, and therefore deeper blackness between players.

Look for a comparison the Tera Grand Cat 7 and Dacrown Cat 8 next week.

I ordered white cables. Are yours white or black?

I would suggest not wasting time on Amazon cables OR audiophile cables. The best in my system so far, and many others agree (big thread on it over at the Naim forum) are the Blue Jeans Cables (BJC) Cat 6a. Not inexpensive compared to Amazon, but cheap compared to the likes of Audioquest Vodka. 

1 hour ago, charlesphoto said:

I would suggest not wasting time on Amazon cables OR audiophile cables. The best in my system so far, and many others agree (big thread on it over at the Naim forum) are the Blue Jeans Cables (BJC) Cat 6a. Not inexpensive compared to Amazon, but cheap compared to the likes of Audioquest Vodka. 

Hi Charlesphoto,

Thanks for your response.

Apparently you missed that I own many Bjc Cat 6a cables already, literally many dozens and hundreds of feet. You see for many years I shared your enthusiasm. Nevertheless,  recent experience is that the Amazon cables sound better and are much more flexible.

Live and learn.

Larry

6 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Hi Charlesphoto,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

Apparently you missed that I own many Bjc Cat 6a cables already, literally many dozens and hundreds of feet. You see for many years I shared your enthusiasm. Nevertheless,  recent experience is that the Amazon cables sound better and are much more flexible.

 

Live and learn.

 

Larry

I did miss that. I've compared AQ Cinnamon, Meicord Opal, Teragran Cat7, Monoprice Cat6, and BJC Cat 6 and 6a, and Ghent Audio Cat6a JSSG. I prefer the Ghent over all of them (which I use as the endpoint cable), but for the rest of the network preferred the BJC over the others, and as endpoint for my office setup. But each person's ears and gears are different, so the 'tuning' aspect of the cable comes into play. 

1 hour ago, lmitche said:

Hi Ray-dude,

 

Yes, I have Monoprice, Supra Cat 8, BJC Cat 6a cables and many more. No SOTM gear here as it is too expensive.

 

These Amazon Cat 7 and 8 cables are nicely made, flexible and light weight. My Supra Cat 8 with JSSG360 shielding approaches the weight, thickness and flexibility of a fire hose filled with water. Tera Grand Premium SQ is better then my Supra 8 for sure. There is even more focus, and therefore deeper blackness between players.

 

Look for a comparison the Tera Grand Cat 7 and Dacrown Cat 8 next week.

 

I ordered white cables. Are yours white or black?

I prefer darker backgrounds, so I always lean toward black cables

Thank you for feedback on the Supra and BJC cables, very helpful.  Wonderful to have next day delivery from Amazon on these cables, makes moving through listening tests very quick and painless.  I'll have a listen to the premium Tera Grand later this week (thank you for the pointer)

12 hours ago, lmitche said:

Look for a comparison the Tera Grand Cat 7 and Dacrown Cat 8 next week.

Eager to hear from you

16 hours ago, charlesphoto said:

I would suggest not wasting time on Amazon cables OR audiophile cables. The best in my system so far, and many others agree (big thread on it over at the Naim forum) are the Blue Jeans Cables (BJC) Cat 6a. Not inexpensive compared to Amazon, but cheap compared to the likes of Audioquest Vodka. 

No doubt expensive ethernet cables are "wasting time."  I would never spend more than a few cents on a cable through which the famous "bits are bits" pass.😉

I would not say that in a system with full Entreq wires and grounds...  not for the bits of course, but for the grounds. Is your Entreq picture just for fun?....
But to be honest, I personnaly use a small Belkin cat5e form my Waversa switch to streamer, that make the music flow naturally with more air in the top end than all 200 to 800$ ethernet cables I tried (sotm cat6 / cat7, acoustic revive....). The Belkin has here proved to be a little more liquid, less harsh sounding than other general purpose cat5e or cat6... 
https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-A3L791-S/#

And when I read some use the supra cat8 that is a bottleneck, and then make a jssg360 shield next to this bottleneck.... I am very surprised   Maybe the good side from etherRegen to streamer won’t be sensible to shielded ethernet cables, I’ll see that in january, with the Waversa Smarthub / etherRegen comparison  But don’t forget to put a small cat5e near the Supra, because this ethernet cable is only good when you have nothing correct to make the ethernet road clean, it round off sharp angles in a noisy network, a coloring power to summarize.  When the road is clean, try to simplify, it cost nothing and can reveal some real transparency if the audio gears and room can give that of course.

4 hours ago, Nicoben45 said:

I would not say that in a system with full Entreq wires and grounds...  not for the bits of course, but for the grounds. Is your Entreq picture just for fun?....
But to be honest, I personnaly use a small Belkin cat5e form my Waversa switch to streamer, that make the music flow naturally with more air in the top end than all 200 to 800$ ethernet cables I tried (sotm cat6 / cat7, acoustic revive....). The Belkin has here proved to be a little more liquid, less harsh sounding than other general purpose cat5e or cat6... 
https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-A3L791-S/#

 

And when I read some use the supra cat8 that is a bottleneck, and then make a jssg360 shield next to this bottleneck.... I am very surprised   Maybe the good side from etherRegen to streamer won’t be sensible to shielded ethernet cables, I’ll see that in january, with the Waversa Smarthub / etherRegen comparison  But don’t forget to put a small cat5e near the Supra, because this ethernet cable is only good when you have nothing correct to make the ethernet road clean, it round off sharp angles in a noisy network, a coloring power to summarize.  When the road is clean, try to simplify, it cost nothing and can reveal some real transparency if the audio gears and room can give that of course.

Well given the claim that the use of ethernet cables "audiophiles" was a waste of time, my comment was intended to be sarcastic.  If you are interested, look at my system and you will see why I say it.

Yes I suspected that of course (but didn’t look at your great setup). 
That said, the advice to try a simple Belkin cat5e still works (even if the Ref5 is not the least colorfull preamplifier that we can use 😜).

anyone have recommendations for a 2.1mm, pcb mounted DC jack to be used with an MPAudio power board.

i needed something with sufficient voltage and current handling (e.g. 15-19v input/output for NUC and 7-12v/3-5amp outputs for eRegen, oRendu, isoRegen)