Duke40

Chris, I have seen something similar with Naim Audio and I am concerned enough to take some action to mitigate. Have Naim Audio Uniti Atom Headphone Edition & MuSo 2 soundbar - they phone home, or more specifically to Google via URL "connectivitycheck.gstatic.com" every few seconds and an IP address that I found out by using "WhoIs" called "Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)". Not sure why a soundbar and all in one streamer/DAC/headphone amp connected to my Focal Utopia 2022 headphones need to constantly contact Google 🤷‍♂️. Years ago got rid of my ISP modem/router and now use a FireWalla Gold connected straight to the FTTP connection from my Telco. FireWalla was created by some ex Cisco engineers, what I like is that they have created a rich interface which allows me to identify the flows in my home network by device along with inbuilt links to WhoIS, Cisco Talos, and other tools to identify. This allows me to place anything into a block list [by device, group, or whole LAN] for outbound traffic. Naim Audio is by far the largest outbound traffic, of the nearly 90% blocked outbound traffic, approximately half is Naim Audio related. As a result of all this unnecessary phoning home, I block the ability of both Naim Audio devices for all outbound/inbound internet traffic. This does not affect their ability to play music as I use Roon [and I also have concerns about the increased outbound traffic by Roon, especially in last couple of years]. The only nuisance is that if I want to apply software updates to either Naim Audio product then I must temporarily allow internet access for them or use USB to apply software updates. 90% blocked outbound traffic leaves only 10% that is really needed for me to use the internet. I find that ratio astounding. For DNS across a range of devices I use a mix of: 1. Apple Private Relay 2. DNS over HTTPS 3. Unbound [validating, recursive, caching DNS resolver installed locally on my FireWalla Gold]. By utilising different DNS methods across a range of devices on my network I hope to minimise the amount that gets collected, and for whatever gets collected then it for at least be inaccurate. IoT devices get allocated to a guest VLAN on my WiFi 6 mesh so do not see my main network. I could do better regarding IoT devices by putting them on another VLAN created by the FireWalla Gold, then I would have more visibility to see what is happening for them, but I prefer more of a brick wall approach for these devices so they do not see my main LAN and accept information such as home air quality could be being delivered to more than just the manufacturer of my air purifiers. Another thing which astounds me is the rapid change in peoples attitudes regarding privacy. As an example, here in Australia in the late 1980's [?] the federal government proposed an Australia Card which met very strong opposition due to privacy concerns. Yet by the early 2000's we were knowingly giving our information to technology companies like Google et al, all in return for a search engine and maps. All in the space of 15 to 20 years, about half a generation, there was a complete turnaround in peoples thoughts about privacy. It is not like I have anything to hide [OK, my favourite female vocalists are Shelby Lynne and Melody Gardot], I am quite boring, what I find about all this encroachment on people privacy is that it just feels creepy and unnecessary, along with increasing risk. I wonder what real benefit we the people - as opposed to we the product - actually receive.

@Jud i'm curious 🧐, which SFPs did you choose to order? The best SFP modules I have are also the least expensive, only cost about $3 each, purchased them used, from eBay. Finisar FTLF8524P2BNV, 850nm MultiMode 1Gb. It is worth a go, be interested to hear your thoughts once things have settled down. Optical direct into EtherRegen (MikroTik CRS305 >> EtherRegen) is what I found best. Congratulations 👏 , that is a great result!

Initially I set the 2nd CRS305 internal IP address as static, so manually. Once I got the MikroTiks configured how I wanted, then I changed to "DHCP with Fallback" in Address Acquistion field of the "System" tab of SwitchOS. You could also choose "DHCP" so the router hands it out. Have tried both options "DHCP" and "DHCP with Fallback", they both work fine ... I just liked "Static" for the initial configuration so I could finish setting it properly.

Had more trouble a few weeks ago when adding a 2nd CRS305 via 10Gbe optical connection to connect to Amplifi Alien WiFi 6 mesh, and even the above did not work. So, I was kind of doing something similar to what you will be achieving. What got it going was following "How to boot into SwOS and How to fix SwOS no boot condition. Mikrotik CRS317" on YouTube. Its even a more convoluted process, but it did get it accessible, so I could configure it. During setup I upgraded the firmware of RouterOS prior to changing to SwitchOS, which I would consider good practice (and I did this with my first CRS305), though unfortunately a recent RouterOS firmware software update has a bug when changing to SwitchOS, it gets into a reboot loop and resets the CRS305 IP address to 0.0.0.0. Prior to resetting (this really should be a last choice), maybe just try directly connecting to the MGMT port of your MikroTik and see if you can connect via WinBox64 app, or web browser. Apologies for long winded post, though I experienced issues initially connecting to both of my MikroTik CRS305 switchs, though now able to access MikroTiks via web browser on my laptop via wifi now. Both CRS305 been rock solid running SwitchOS since then.

Had similar experience with my 1st MikroTik CRS305, on my laptop the web browser did not connect via wifi, also MikroTik app did not connect on mobile phone. @Jud , just a thought, are you able to directly connect a laptop to the MGMT ethernet port of the MikroTik switch via web browser or WinBox64 and connect to SwitchOS web browser interface? Kind of trying to think along the lines of ruling out any possible network cabling/configuration factors in the path, for the reason of not being able to access your MikroTik CRS305. IIRC both of my CRS305 arrived in RouterOS mode out of the box, not in SwitchOS mode, and they both had default IP address of 192.168.88.1. CRS305 arriving in Router mode may have even caused a Double NAT issue (as I already have a Firewalla Gold router), which probably caused the issue of being unable to access them. @ericuco suggestion of trying the WinBox64 app is a great recommendation. Though even WinBox64 app initially did not find my MikroTik, so I just typed in the CRS305 MAC address in WinBox64 which worked in getting a connection by doing the following as detailed below. Directly connected laptop via ethernet to the ethernet port of the new MikroTik CRS305, after changing my laptops network settings to be in the 192.168.88.x range, used WinBox64. Still could not find the CRS305, even typing its default IP address of 192.168.88.1 in my web browser. So I then looked under the CRS305, found the MAC address on the label underneath (MAC address on the label is called "E01"), and typed MAC address into the "Connect To" field of WinBox64 app. This got a connection via using WinBox64, and RouterOS configuration opened up. So, I changed it to run SwitchOS, rebooted, and then I could use a web browser to configure SwitchOS.

Yes it is ... great news indeed 😀. Maintenance on an API is a first world problem, and Im just keen to compare the catalogue VS what is on Tidal. Though the great thing is that Qobuz is finally here in OZ. Very good times! Been super keen to get Qobuz, especially since watching a recent podcast of David Craff having a chat with Mike from Roon, the podcast was nearly 2 hours long, though it was very evident that there is a genuine love of music from both people/companies.

Was was able to signup for Qobuz successfully (Qobuz finally available in Australia), woohoo 🙌. Tried to transfer my music from Tidal to Qobuz from within the Soundiiz app, though received an error in the form of a blue banner message in top of display within the Soundiiz app: "QOBUZ API is under maintenance (they are working on it), we recommend you to try again later this week to use QOBUZ on Soundiiz". Hopefully the Qobuz API will be fixed soon, I am keen to transfer my music favourites across to Qobuz (and get rid of Tidal).

jabbr, Thank you for your comments ... I had a lot of audiophile nervosa about all this MM vs SM SFP modules, you (along with a couple of others) have helped to relieve it 👍.

@pl_svn It will depend on the SQ tests tomorrow, for the moment it is just for fun and curiosity. [else it will be more damage to my wallet as I would need to get either ... another ER or MikroTik CRS305 ... to be used for video]. I normally have an ER dedicated for audio, the other ER is dedicated for video, in my home office/gym AV setup. Actually find the ER for video gives even greater benefits than the ER for audio. For this test I had to use both ERs for audio. If it does make a significant improvement for SQ, I'll just have to sacrifice the video benefits of an ER at the moment. Maybe forget about a clock upgrade for the ER audio, and keep this setup instead (and get another ER later on for video to be placed on the AV rack ... or another MikroTik CRS305 to be placed on the AV rack). I also may find no or little benefit, and just get some multi mode SFP's like @plissken 🙏 suggested in a post above. Already found some Finisar FTLF8524P2BNV MM SFP, they are SX LC 850nm, for less than $5 on ebay! I'll investigate this more depending on how I go with the new test setup tomorrow. Finisar appears to be a good brand, and these MM SFP use lasers rather than LED. I think I will need some OM3 cable if I go down this path, and that will depend on how I go with the test setup tomorrow. Truth be told, I struggle a bit conceptually with the whole SM being preferable to MM posts (just been following along the other posters who have more experience & have been grateful 🙏 for them taking the time to post their experience, which tends to favour SM in most threads). Yet, I'll give MM a proper go, if this MikroTik S+AO0005 does not work out tomorrow. Im also not a fan of spending a lot on cables, actually just bought five pieces of Designacabe Belden Catsnake 5e, as I dont have to worry about shields and ground loops, it certainly has the capacity for audio/video many times over, and was less than $10 each. Time will tell, when I get a chance to have a listen tomorrow. Anyhoo, at least I have ruled out the cable being completely faulty. Yes, agree it does looks like it indicates more that the MikroTik switch is expecting something.

@pl_svn It works !!! Woohoo 🎉 [using the test setup described above ... I even moved the power for the first ER to my network rack ... to ensure that I still had ground plane isolation between Network rack and AV rack. My AV rack is powered by a balanced power supply, so everything is isolated electrically]. As for how it sounds I will have to wait until tomorrow (it has just turned past midnight in Australia, so only low volume testing at 45 to 55 dB, and I need a bit more volume to assess for any SQ changes, I usually listen to music at 60 to 75dB).

@pl_svn that's a great 👍 idea ... yes, one never knows 😃. I'll give it a go ... give me about an hour, and I'll report back. I will try the following to utilise testing the S+AO0005 cable MikroTik CRS305 > Cat 6a into ER1 Side B > ER1 Side A connecting S+AO0005 cable to ER2 Side A > ER2 Side B with its usual Cat 6A Normally it is like this: MikroTik CRS305 > Finisar SFP > ER audio side A > Cat6a Side B MikroTik CRS305 > Planet Tech SFP > ER video side A > Cat6a Side B

True. I tried another test tonight by getting the SFP+ ports which had the S+AO0005 cable, to just only advertise 1000M full duplex via ssh console commands (instead of forcing speed), and still no joy. I did check the logs, and did not see any errors, though that is limited as I only get better logging via RouterOS [SwitchOS just shows error counts via its web interface]. If I had to make a guess (and that is all I can do without better detail/logging) I am kind of leaning towards it being the MikroTik switch. Though, it still makes me wonder why Paolo had no issues connecting a 1Gbe FMC using the same AOC cable and a MikroTik switch, yet had same trouble as me when trying to connect to ER. Thanks Alex! Had a look at this, though these AOCs seem to be sold/matched with 1Gbe FMC's, nothing stated about working with 10Gbe switch's. If I do change my mind and decide to pursue this further I will contact Adrian to check his thoughts. Before getting the Finisar AOCs, having a go with the MikroTik S+AO0005 AOC cable was actually the inexpensive test with my 10Gbe switch. So will probably not pursue it further as I have other rabbit holes that I wish to explore [I am about halfway thru reading the "Master Clock for your EtherREGEN" thread, and that is something I may deal with AfterDark in the future]. Yes, I understand. Prior to getting the S+AO0005 cable I accepted I was going into uncharted & unsupported territory, that I was taking a risk, plus the ER manual is very specific on only using 1Gb SFP modules... so I knew I was taking a bit of an inexpensive gamble. In the future I'll just avoid 10Gb modules/cables of any kind, as I want to keep the MikroTik CRS305 10Gb switch, it is perfect for my needs. This was a curiosity experiment for me (like when I compared MM to SM), and to take it further, such as purchasing other Active Optical Cables or other hardware, is not really worth the effort. I'll stick with the 1Gb SFPs like Finisar1321 and Planet Techs, they work a treat. No worries. I appreciate your response. 😃

Yeah, I wonder what is the cause. Earlier tonight I thought it was SwitchOS (to be direct, MikroTik SwitchOS is a bit clunky, and I dread ever having to go into RouterOS. Though I consider the hardware really great, especially as a switch, for the cost it is an absolute bargain. Also think the small MikroTik switch's, like the CRS305, would be great utilised as a FMC). Though when I was having trouble earlier tonight I checked your earlier posts (quoted below) ... and that is interesting that the MikroTik 10G S+AO0005 AOC cable works with your other gear like TP-Link FMC.

Yes ... above picture is more of what is finally working now (back to Finisar 1321 and Planet Tech MGB-TLX 1Gbps SFP) ... as long as I do not disable "Auto-Negotiation" and try to force 1Gbps speeds. It is past midnight here in Australia, had to revert back to a working configuration and give up on the MikroTik S+AO0005 tonight. Picture below (from earlier tonight) shows the MikroTik S+AO0005 connected with "Link On" ... yet could not see devices connected to either of my ERs ... either with "Auto-Negotiation" enabled or disabled.

@pl_svn Here is my "SFP" page from SwitchOS.