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Old 03-20-2023, 03:58 PM
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Multiquote....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Famester V1 View Post
I thought that the only way to connect the ER, was that the incoming signal had to go in on the "A" side and out on the "B" side, not the opposite.
I will try your suggestion and see which works best.
Thanks!
No, you can connect it either way...ER is bi-directional, as is "the moat".

Quote:
Originally Posted by Antonmb View Post
Uptone and the ER manual indicate that it's effective either way. The caveat is if you go in on the B side and put on the A side, don't connect anything to the other A ports, to keep it clean.
This is the correct guidance as provided by the manual originally written by Alex and John.

However....Emile Bok of Taiko has found that connecting "servers" on A-side and going out to the "destination device" (e.g. a Lumin, for example) via fiber, also on A-side, can, in some systems, sound better than going out via "B-side".

And, in fact, that's what I've also found, as well, in an experiment I did just last week.

Here's what I did:

a) The Mac Mini Roon Core is in a "remote server room", next to my home network's Pace router; the Pace router has 4 plastic RJ45 jacks on it. Previously, I had the Mac Mini and EtherREGEN each connected one of these plastic RJ45 jacks with Shunyata Sigma Ethernet cables. The Sigma that came "out" of the Pace router when into B-side of ER and out via LC/LC optical fiber on A-side to the Lumin P1 in the main rack in the living room.

b) Based on Emile's findings that A-side of ER can deliver really "clean" signal, last week I connected my Mac Mini's Sigma Ether to one of the RJ45 jacks on ER instead of to the Pace router, and...lo and behold, it sounded quite a bit better. In this configuration, I had the Pace router connecting to ER via...B-side.

c) I then tried connecting the Mac Mini's Ether via B-side, but it didn't sound as good as when connected on A-side, and the Pace router connected via B-side.

d) Given, that I then connected the Pace router's Ethernet cable to A-side as well, but that sounded the worst.

So, now my set-up is: Pace Router -> Sigma Ether-> B-side of ER. Mac Mini-> Sigma Ether -> A side of ER. ER -> LC/LC fiber to the P1.

My hypothesis as to why this sounds best is that the "moat" between A/B sides is preventing all the crap from the el-cheapo Pace router and it's chees-y plastic jacks from getting through to A-side on ER. And...connecting the Roon Core to a quality RJ45 jack with 12 isolation transformers/jack is better than...connecting via chees-y plastic jacks on a Pace router.

Funny how that works...
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Lumin P1 streamer/DAC/preamp, Constellation Inspiration integrated TT: Michell Gyro SE MkII, SME V, Koetsu Urushi Vermilion, EAR324. Harbeth 30.2s, REL R-305, Shunyata Alpha V2 ICs, Alpha V2 SPs, Sigma XC, Sigma NRv2, Omega QR-s & Alpha NRv2 PCs, segmented Altaira SG stack w/ Alpha & Omega CGCs, Everest 8000 PD. Remote Server Room: Uptone EtherREGEN, AfterDark Master Clock & LPS, Alita, Battle Angel, (Akasa NUC Roon Core), iFi DC Purifiers (for SMPS used for Alita & router), Shunyata Gemini combo power distributor & Altaira-type CG GP-NR hub, Venom & Alpha CGCs, Shunyata NRv14 power cords for digital components.
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