Cisco 2940 switch set up - help needed

[Lindsayt]

I have been re-reading the Wam reviews on the Eno filter and have a better idea why the addition of the second Cisco switch has resulted in such a jump in SQ. It seems to be because of its close location to the streamer. If this would be the case without the Eno filter, I dont know but would not think so. Are two Ciscos required, with one near the router, I don't know but at £19 there is nothing to loose. Technicalities and guess work aside I am more than happy with what is coming through the speakers with the Eno, second Cisco and 1m length of DH Labs ethernet at the business end.

This is a prime example of the sort of thing that sends me into Richard Dunn, steam coming out of ears mode.

The reasoning behind this makes no sense whatsoever - for any desktop PC based streaming device.
So you buy an Eno filter for £700 and an additional £19 switch, so that the final link to the streamer is via a short copper patch lead?
Presumably all for the sake of mimimising the electrical noise that get's onto the final patch lead?
The Eno website says: "ENO filters out electrical noise, which would otherwise be delievered via the ethernet cable into you sensitive audio equipment, without effecting the crucial data stream."

This is another time where the existance of single mode fibre optics makes the reasoning behind this a load of complete and utter bullshit.
For 2 reasons.

• 1. A 1 metre length of copper ethernet cable is 1% of the guaranteed maximum distance (of 100 metres). A 40 metre length of OS2 fibre cable is 0.1% of the maximum distance (40 kms).
  
  2. There is zero electrical noise with fibre.

Why spend £720 fixing a problem that you could avoid having in the first place by spending £100 to £300 on something different?
The reasoning behind the 2 switch Eno solution makes as much sense as fitting an ashtray to a motor bike - owned by a non-smoker - that will be used for the exploration of the surface of Venus.

[CN211276]

Richard Dunn was the first to admit that digital was outside of his comfort zone. Hi res streaming is a lot more than 1s and 0s and I would liken anyone who thinks otherwise to Crocodile Dundee. They tend to congrigate on ASR. The desk top PC is not part of my streaming path. When it was removed the improvement in SQ was staggering. Since then, by various means, I have significantly reduced other nasties which were also getting in the way of the music. Like Richard Dunn I go on the evidence of my ears.

[CN211276]

I have been re-reading the Wam reviews on the Eno filter and have a better idea why the addition of the second Cisco switch has resulted in such a jump in SQ. It seems to be because of its close location to the streamer. If this would be the case without the Eno filter, I dont know but would not think so. Are two Ciscos required, with one near the router, I don't know but at £19 there is nothing to loose. Technicalities and guess work aside I am more than happy with what is coming through the speakers with the Eno, second Cisco and 1m length of DH Labs ethernet at the business end.

This is a prime example of the sort of thing that sends me into Richard Dunn, steam coming out of ears mode.

The reasoning behind this makes no sense whatsoever - for any desktop PC based streaming device.
So you buy an Eno filter for £700 and an additional £19 switch, so that the final link to the streamer is via a short copper patch lead?
Presumably all for the sake of mimimising the electrical noise that get's onto the final patch lead?
The Eno website says: "ENO filters out electrical noise, which would otherwise be delievered via the ethernet cable into you sensitive audio equipment, without effecting the crucial data stream."

This is another time where the existance of single mode fibre optics makes the reasoning behind this a load of complete and utter bullshit.
For 2 reasons.

• 1. A 1 metre length of copper ethernet cable is 1% of the guaranteed maximum distance (of 100 metres). A 40 metre length of OS2 fibre cable is 0.1% of the maximum distance (40 kms).
  
  2. There is zero electrical noise with fibre.

Why spend £720 fixing a problem that you could avoid having in the first place by spending £100 to £300 on something different?
The reasoning behind the 2 switch Eno solution makes as much sense as fitting an ashtray to a motor bike - owned by a non-smoker - that will be used for the exploration of the surface of Venus.

Last week I emailed five 'network specialists' in the North East. Two of them told me that I had no need for fibre inside my home 'for a long time, yet', one of them told me that they had no interest in a job that small, one of them wanted to sell me £600 of routers and switches, and one hasn't replied. All the replies were focussed on speed - they didn't recognise 'noise' as an issue, at all. Maybe, there's a gap in the market for a specialist 'audiophile' focussed home network installer?

One of the big reasons that people go for things like ENO is that they are readily accessible; you can talk to Rich on the phone, it can be with you in a couple of days and there is no upheaval or adjustment required. I know, from chatting to potential NVA buyers, that many have their own slush fund (usually kept in Paypal) that is kept separate from the joint account. An ENO can be purchased from the slush fund and is small enough to go unnoticed. There are lots of glowing reviews for it, so I'm inclined to accept that it is doing 'something' useful. Pricing, as DQ would say, is a black art...and there is often more to 'cost' than just the price.

Would ENO have had the steam emerging from Richard's ears? Possibly. But did Richard tell everyone who enquired about a BMU to have a dedicated radial fitted first?

[Lindsayt]

...One of the big reasons that people go for things like ENO is that they are readily accessible; you can talk to Rich on the phone, it can be with you in a couple of days and there is no upheaval or adjustment required...

In 1961 the term "Rising Damp" was invented.

Since then the PCA have marketed solutions to rising damp that involve drilling into walls and injecting chemicals.

It's a well marketed solution to damp and it's a generally convenient solution to the home owner.
And there are reports of homeowners being happy with this drill and inject treatment.

However, Rising Damp doesn't actually exist. Not even in pre-1920 homes.
There are other solutions that will resolve damp problems permanently.
Such as: fixing gutters, or burst water mains or removing cement based pointing or rendering or lowering earth levels. With the optimum solution all depending on the exact set of circumstances.


The PCA relies on 3 things for their continued success
1 strong marketing
2 ignorance of home owners and staff in mortgage companies
3 their treatments working well enough, enough of the time to perpetuate their existence.

[29mile]

Do these offer a solution - TP-Link MC210CS



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TP-LINK-Giga ... 1195.m1851

They were flavour of the month a year or so ago whereby using 2 of these you converted your copper RJ45 cable to optical and then back to copper again. I think part of using 2 was dependent on whether your server/switch/renderer had an optical port or not.

Any takers on the logic of this ?

[CN211276]

...One of the big reasons that people go for things like ENO is that they are readily accessible; you can talk to Rich on the phone, it can be with you in a couple of days and there is no upheaval or adjustment required...

In 1961 the term "Rising Damp" was invented.

Since then the PCA have marketed solutions to rising damp that involve drilling into walls and injecting chemicals.

It's a well marketed solution to damp and it's a generally convenient solution to the home owner.
And there are reports of homeowners being happy with this drill and inject treatment.

However, Rising Damp doesn't actually exist. Not even in pre-1920 homes.
There are other solutions that will resolve damp problems permanently.
Such as: fixing gutters, or burst water mains or removing cement based pointing or rendering or lowering earth levels. With the optimum solution all depending on the exact set of circumstances.


The PCA relies on 3 things for their continued success
1 strong marketing
2 ignorance of home owners and staff in mortgage companies
3 their treatments working well enough, enough of the time to perpetuate their existence.

An analogy that could have come from Rigsby.

[Lindsayt]

Do these offer a solution - TP-Link MC210CS



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TP-LINK-Giga ... 1195.m1851

They were flavour of the month a year or so ago whereby using 2 of these you converted your copper RJ45 cable to optical and then back to copper again. I think part of using 2 was dependent on whether your server/switch/renderer had an optical port or not.

Any takers on the logic of this ?

They offer a sort of solution.
Although I'd be wondering about what sort of crap their power supplies might put on the mains.

The thing with the improvements reported for trying different network devices is that we don't know how much of it is down the quality / lack of electrical noise on the data leads. And how much is down to other factors, such as noise being put on the mains by the power supplies; or some other factor that isn't fully understood yet...

Any way, for those media converters, you'd want to either use them in pairs or with very carefully selected SFP modules (and fibre leads). Due to it being important with fibre that the devices at each end of the lead are working to matching frequency and mode standards.

With it being possible to buy Cisco or HP Procurve business switches with SFP ports at reasonable prices, eg the £19 for savypauls 2940, and with fibre SFP modules being cheap and easy to buy in matching pairs off eBay, there seems to be little, if any advantage to going down the media converter route instead of the switch and SFP module route.

[Bencat57]

Apologies to those with much better knowledge than me but could I ask this question to see what I think is possible for me to do . There has been mention of using fibre with the Cisco Switch on this thread as it has an SFP input . What would you need to get an SFP signal from your router ?

Looking at the above it seems that you would need to buy and SFP Module and connect that to your router via an Ethernet connection and then have a matching SFP module near the Cisco and connect that module to the Ciscon via SFP . Is that right ? If it is can yoiu just buy stand alone SFP units for this purpose ?

After that is it all just logical plug and play or is there an element of setting up needed . As I say my knowledge is very sketchy to say the least so if the above give you a laugh then great at least I have made someone happier . If I am really not close could you just simply give details of what you need to do this and what additional equipment is needed ?

[slinger]

Always remember, if you genuinely don't understand something then there's no such thing as a stupid question.

I do, however, specialise in stupid answers, so I'll shut up.

[montechristo358]

there also the argument that using a switch with an external wall wart would be better as you can add a linear PSU to reduce PSU noise