Router to streamer: long premium ethernet cable vs long cheap ethernet + Switch ?

[nopiano]

There has been a few over the years, (A number in professional music/studio magazines as well) I have also attended many over the years, which when combined with my engineering background allows me to sort the wheat from the chaff. (Hi Fi Network cables and switches are most certainly chaff)

Bill

It sounds like you might have sat on a a Hifi Choice panel when they used to do blind tests regularly. It can certainly slay a few expectations.

 

[johnfryett]

A fascinating thread. The only thing I’d add is that I found a managed (rather than unmanaged) switch did improve stability / reduce dropouts when streaming hires. A little bit more expensive but worth it.

 

[drg_hifi]

A thing that is not well known is that expensive switches (managed/unmanaged) have a lot more backplane capacity than cheap ones. This is almost a rule.
Example: cheap/regular switch with 8 x 1 Gig ports might have only 2 Gb backplane switching capacity, if you top all 8 ports with 1 Gb traffic you'll find you can't because maximum switching capacity is only 2 Gb.
versus
Expensive switch(usually for work/enterprise type) with 24 x 1 Gig "LAN" ports has 24 Gb(probably a bit more) switching capacity at any given moment. It might have other higher speed ports too but I wanted to highlight only the difference in capacity.

Of course you should not buy an enterprise switch only for this reason - its hard to top even a cheap ones backplane capacity only by listening to music which stops at max 3730 kbps/stream, considering modern broadbands that are much higher today.

 

[ThisIsJimmy]

A thing that is not well known is that expensive switches (managed/unmanaged) have a lot more backplane capacity than cheap ones. This is almost a rule.
Example: cheap/regular switch with 8 x 1 Gig ports might have only 2 Gb backplane switching capacity, if you top all 8 ports with 1 Gb traffic you'll find you can't because maximum switching capacity is only 2 Gb.
versus
Expensive switch(usually for work/enterprise type) with 24 x 1 Gig "LAN" ports has 24 Gb(probably a bit more) switching capacity at any given moment. It might have other higher speed ports too but I wanted to highlight only the difference in capacity.

Of course you should not buy an enterprise switch only for this reason - its hard to top even a cheap ones backplane capacity only by listening to music which stops at max 3730 kbps/stream, considering modern broadbands that are much higher today.

Yup, precisely. If you have lots of bandwidth hungry devices at home, buy a better switch. Doesnt necessarilly need to be maanged. Managment is helpful if you want to split and segregate your network and manage the traffic on your network. VLAN Segreation, QOS, and VRF are a number of technologies in the corporate world that allow traffic to be virtually segregated, prioritised and have privately utilised bandwidth allowances and allocations on dedicated circuits.

Also for those who were interested on the Cable ratings comments I made in my previous post, see here for more of an idea on what this is about and how the grade of cable is determined.

 

[nopiano]

A thing that is not well known is that expensive switches (managed/unmanaged) have a lot more backplane capacity than cheap ones.

Well I certainly didn’t as I’ve never seen the phrase ‘backplane capacity’ before. For someone like me, who uses an 8-port Netgear GS108 unmanaged switch simply to spur off and isolate my streamer from the ISP supplied modem-router, can I take it that this capacity is irrelevant?

 

[ThisIsJimmy]

Well I certainly didn’t as I’ve never seen the phrase ‘backplane capacity’ before. For someone like me, who uses an 8-port Netgear GS108 unmanaged switch simply to spur off and isolate my streamer from the ISP supplied modem-router, can I take it that this capacity is irrelevant?

You'll find the word 'Backplane' more in corporate environments as this relates normally to capacity in switches that can be stacked. Usually these use bespoke interfaces to talk to each other at high speeds.

You dont need to worry about your switch as it has a store and forward bandwidth capacity of 16Gb. Frankly i'd be amazed if you manage to break that at home. I have attached a link to the manual here.

 

[nopiano]

You'll find the word 'Backplane' more in corporate environments as this relates normally to capacity in switches that can be stacked. Usually these use bespoke interfaces to talk to each other at high speeds.

You dont need to worry about your switch as it has a store and forward bandwidth capacity of 16Gb. Frankly i'd be amazed if you manage to break that at home. I have attached a link to the manual here.

Thanks, I’d read store and forward but didn’t understand that either! It’s just PnP for my modest use, but I appreciate the extra know how, thank you.

 

[drg_hifi]

Thanks, I’d read store and forward but didn’t understand that either! It’s just PnP for my modest use, but I appreciate the extra know how, thank you.

I though of adding that info for people looking a more detailed/definitive answer to as weather and/or what type of switch to buy and that any direct effect on sound quality does not exist.

Besides that on which we all agree, one of the configurations that can affect the bandwidth for music (which in turn affects sounds quality) streaming is QOS; luckily at home you know what you're doing with it and most routers have very friendly menus of QoS settings.

Yes, sorry for that word, backplane, I don't know other term for it except switching capacity. Probably the corporate language slipped into my brain with time..

Anyway, lots of quality information in this thread even for the pickiest people. Hope it helped.