New SFPs in 'da house!

[Famester V1]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

My recommendation would be to move ER in to the location of your Zyxel switch, connect to the Zyxel with the Shunyata Sigma Ethernet to ER's B-side and run optical out of A-side directly into the back of the SFP cage of the X1. Alternatively, you can connect the Shunyata Sigma Ether to ER's A-side from the Zyxel switch, and run optical out of the SFP cage on A-side directly into the back of the X1's SFP cage. Emile at Taiko found that connecting via Ether to A-side of ER and running optical out sounded better than going in via B-side, but YMMV, so try it both ways and go with what sounds best.

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!

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by Famester V1

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!

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.

[Famester V1]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

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.

Got it. Thanks!
In the meantime, I ordered the SoTM sNH-10G switch, with the optional built in clock and the external master clock input.
That will likely take a couple weeks to arrive.
The Lumin X1 is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

[Puma Cat]

Multiquote....

Originally Posted by Famester V1

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".

Originally Posted by Antonmb

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...

[Puma Cat]

Multiquote....

Originally Posted by Famester V1

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".

Originally Posted by Antonmb

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's A-side 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...