EtherREGEN: The long development thread. [Some Gen2 dev. pics and update starting on page 92.]

[baconbrain]

I personally would prefer a compact size as opposed to a blingy expensive case.

[Solstice380]

12 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

No, it just means we have a can doo attitude! 

 

Now you have a can do-do facility!

[tdimler]

I am anticipating purchasing one of the switches when it is finished.  Are there any commercially available routers that you recommend to go with it?

[Bones13]

I will be getting one of these, sticking with a plain one for now. I would prefer the bigger case. It would fit on the PSU that I will be getting to power the etherRegen, and Roku player.

 

Perhaps offer 2 versions? The small one, which would be cheaper, and the large one, which would cost more, but work better for some people.

[LowMidHigh]

2 minutes ago, Bones13 said:

I will be getting one of these, sticking with a plain one for now. I would prefer the bigger case. It would fit on the PSU that I will be getting to power the etherRegen, and Roku player.

 

Perhaps offer 2 versions? The small one, which would be cheaper, and the large one, which would cost more, but work better for some people.

 

Stacking up units ain't too good...Reconsider

[afrancois]

I think that for most people, it would be easier to have all the connections on one side. All ethernet/SFP ports and power on the same side.

Personally I wouldn't mind paying extra in order to have a practical product. After all it will probably be THE switch that will say a long time in the chain.

[asdf1000]

4 minutes ago, afrancois said:

Personally I wouldn't mind paying extra in order to have a practical product.

 

This is a switch and that's normally/practically how they always are though.

 

[BlueDL]

As the switch will be tucked away behind my hifi stack, I’ll take it as it comes, but I agree that all inputs/outputs on one face would be tidiest.

[auricgoldfinger]

59 minutes ago, BlueDL said:

I agree that all inputs/outputs on one face would be tidiest.

 

+1.  Only my headphone amp has an output on the front.  Everything else in on the back side where it belongs.

[LowMidHigh]

1 hour ago, BlueDL said:

As the switch will be tucked away behind my hifi stack, I’ll take it as it comes, but I agree that all inputs/outputs on one face would be tidiest.

 

If they spit them between the faces it's because of lack of room or internal topology, not to piss us off.

 

They've got 6 x RJ45 ports (maybe the "special' one is spaced out a bit) + BNC for ref clock +  a hook for earthing + DC input. That's quite a bit. 

[BlueDL]

29 minutes ago, LowMidHigh said:

 

If they spit them between the faces it's because of lack of room or internal topology, not to piss us off.

 

They've got 6 x RJ45 ports (maybe the "special' one is spaced out a bit) + BNC for ref clock +  a hook for earthing + DC input. That's quite a bit. 

Yeah, understood. I wasn’t criticising, just stating an opinion that’s all.

If the use of a single face only is too much to ask then so beit. At the end of the day, I’m sure we all want the technical realisation of the switch to be optimal above all other considerations.

[afrancois]

6 hours ago, Em2016 said:

 

This is a switch and that's normally/practically how they always are though.

 

 

My post was a reaction to the post of superdad above and not because I don't know what nun-of-the-mill switch looks like 🙂

Just to be clear, I would prefer a case a tad bigger than an LPS-1.2 case. This would allow to have all the connections on one side.

[Jiffi32]

@Superdad I suppose its too late to ask for 2 optical cages on the ether regen?

 

1 for netowrk in and another on the output side to feed an opticaliRendu and then aksing the wish fairy to make the optical on the output side as good as the cat5 isolated output??

 

I know its not probalbly practical at this point in time,  but with the iminent launch of the opticalRendu i think several people would now like more than 1 optical connection

[vortecjr]

1 hour ago, Jiffi32 said:

@Superdad I suppose its too late to ask for 2 optical cages on the ether regen?

Agree...please add a second SFP port on the EtherRegen!

[R1200CL]

3 hours ago, vortecjr said:

Agree...please add a second SFP port on the EtherRegen!

 

Or purchase 2 😂

[Albrecht]

On 1/14/2019 at 4:45 AM, BlueDL said:

Yeah, understood. I wasn’t criticising, just stating an opinion that’s all.

If the use of a single face only is too much to ask then so beit. At the end of the day, I’m sure we all want the technical realisation of the switch to be optimal above all other considerations.

Hi,

Assuming that your Roon server, - is far away,-  in another room from the audio system.....

 

Why not go Roon Server to RJ45 out, - to an FMC, - then run a long fiber cable to your rack where there's an etherRegen, - use the really good RJ45 port to the microRendu. Later, - you can buy Sonore's enhanced FMC to replace the one at the Roon server?

 

If i understand your goal, and financial restrictions correctly....

[BlueDL]

4 minutes ago, Albrecht said:

Hi,

Assuming that your Roon server, - is far away,-  in another room from the audio system.....

 

Why not go Roon Server to RJ45 out, - to an FMC, - then run a long fiber cable to your rack where there's an etherRegen, - use the really good RJ45 port to the microRendu. Later, - you can buy Sonore's enhanced FMC to replace the one at the Roon server?

 

If i understand your goal, and financial restrictions correctly....

Thanks, but I think I may have stated in an earlier post that I (unfortunately) have to locate the server on my hifi rack in the listening room. My wife would not entertain the idea  of it being adjacent to our Router. If we move house again, I will stake a claim for a better network architecture!

 

In summary then......

Router-wired-OpticalModule-LC-LC single mode optical-EtherREGEN-clean wired output-microRendu. Roon Server-wired input-EtherREGEN.

[diecaster]

4 hours ago, vortecjr said:

Agree...please add a second SFP port on the EtherRegen!

 

Yes, make the super clean port and SFP port. Then we can make it copper or optical out.

[thyname]

Guys guys guys (and girls)....

 

If you have EtherREGEN you will not need Sonore opticalModule at all.  Sonore opticalModule is just simple FMC (copper to/from optical).  This functionality is built into EtherREGEN.  

 

EtherREGEN has so very much more.  There will be no advantage feeding EtherREGEN with optical.  It will do for copper the same great things (true active isolation and reclocking) as it will do for optical. 

 

And..... there is no “clean” and “dirty” side.  Both sides are reclocked the same (with separate clock synthesizers and separate Crystal CCHD-575 XOs).  It that one side has just one copper Ethernet port, while the other side has 4 copper and 1 optical fiber SFP cage.

 

So forget the opticalModule. With etherRegen, you DON'T need any optical lines in your network.

 

I am gonna wait for etherRegen. Will not mess around with other stuff, routers, optical, and such anymore. Whatever time it takes. I am pretty sure it will be worth it!

[Albrecht]

2 minutes ago, BlueDL said:

Thanks, but I think I may have stated in an earlier post that I (unfortunately) have to locate the server on my hifi rack in the listening room. My wife would not entertain the idea  of it being adjacent to our Router. If we move house again, I will stake a claim for a better network architecture!

 

In summary then......

Router-wired-OpticalModule-LC-LC single mode optical-EtherREGEN-clean wired output-microRendu. Roon Server-wired input-EtherREGEN.

Sorry, - I missed that previous post. So, - is your router near the audio rack as well?

 

2 suggestions then, - replace the computer running Roon with something like a dual ethernet port QNAP NAS, - that you could install the virtual switch of/on the NAS.

Roon Server runs great on a NAS. You could use Ethernet port 2 to connect the fiber FMC, - while the other port connects to your router. In the long run, a NAS is cheaper than a multi-function computer. The other, less elegant solution, (besides buying two etherRegens, - would be to get another, - small Zyxel switch and get a linear wall-wart power supply for that.

 

Finally, - I hear you about the long cables, computers in other rooms, etc. But, -----  actual computer sizes have shrunk quite a bit in the past few years, a small NUC can be quite powerful, - or powerful enough for Roon. AND... I've seen people do wonders with Panduit that can do an excellent job of hiding cables and wires where the floor meets the wall. I have a 1911 building and cable-hiding panduit looks great....

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

[BlueDL]

7 minutes ago, Albrecht said:

Sorry, - I missed that previous post. So, - is your router near the audio rack as well?

 

2 suggestions then, - replace the computer running Roon with something like a dual ethernet port QNAP NAS, - that you could install the virtual switch of/on the NAS.

Roon Server runs great on a NAS. You could use Ethernet port 2 to connect the fiber FMC, - while the other port connects to your router. In the long run, a NAS is cheaper than a multi-function computer. The other, less elegant solution, (besides buying two etherRegens, - would be to get another, - small Zyxel switch and get a linear wall-wart power supply for that.

 

Finally, - I hear you about the long cables, computers in other rooms, etc. But, -----  actual computer sizes have shrunk quite a bit in the past few years, a small NUC can be quite powerful, - or powerful enough for Roon. AND... I've seen people do wonders with Panduit that can do an excellent job of hiding cables and wires where the floor meets the wall. I have a 1911 building and cable-hiding panduit looks great....

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Interesting you suggest a NAS. I considered a QNAP HS-251+ before finally  opting for a Sonictransporter i7 to run Roon Core. The QNAP is fanless (essential due to location) but only has 2G of RAM and a medium grade processor. As I like to use Roon and HQPe to upsample to DSD512, I had to opt for a particularly capable computer. Admittedly, there are more powerful NAS options out there but the vast majority use a cooling fan.

 

As I have fibre running from the Router (located near the front door) through to the lounge (hifi location), I see the use of an optimised FMC and the EtherREGEN as a natural choice in my circumstances (although I’m not sure how essential a noise optimised sending-end FMC really is). I noticed a marked improvement over wired Ethernet - which itself improved on Powerline Adaptors (which weren’t a great idea with hindsight). It’s an evolving journey is this networked audio game! I only have a CD Player so that my wife can play discs.........one day I’ll teach her all about Roon (the CDs belong in the attic!).

 

[diecaster]

32 minutes ago, thyname said:

And..... there is no “clean” and “dirty” side.  Both sides are rechecked the same (with separate clock synthesizers and separate Crystal CCHD-575 XOs).  It that one side has just one copper Ethernet port, while the other side has 4 copper and 1 optical fiber SFP cage.

 

John stated very clearly that there would be one super clean port that was an RJ45. That port must be used to get the clock phase noise removed from the Ethernet signal. So both sides are NOT the same.

 

John intimated to me that the "cleaning" of that special RJ45 port goes either way. So, to get the best of both worlds, you want to have a setup where the EtherREGEN is fed by an RJ45 through the special RJ45 port and the opticalRendu is fed by optical from the optical out of the EtherREGEN.

[thyname]

5 minutes ago, diecaster said:

 

John stated very clearly that there would be one super clean port that was an RJ45.

 

That was a while back. Things have changed since then.

[Superdad]

3 minutes ago, diecaster said:

John stated very clearly that there would be one super clean port that was an RJ45. That port must be used to get the clock phase noise removed from the Ethernet signal. So both sides are NOT the same.

 

John intimated to me that the "cleaning" of that special RJ45 port goes either way. So, to get the best of both worlds, you want to have a setup where the EtherREGEN is fed by an RJ45 through the special RJ45 port and the opticalRendu is fed by optical from the optical out of the EtherREGEN.

 

@thyname was more correct.  The design has changed a lot since John posted the information you based the above on.  The EtherREGEN is now extremely symmetrical.  I don't have time to detail it all now (my assistant keeps walking in asking for the tested LPS=1.2 boards).  

Lots of good detailed info will come in due time.

Thanks,

--Alex C.

[diecaster]

2 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

@thyname was more correct.  The design has changed a lot since John posted the information you based the above on.  The EtherREGEN is now extremely symmetrical.  I don't have time to detail it all now (my assistant keeps walking in asking for the tested LPS=1.2 boards).  

Lots of good detailed info will come in due time.

Thanks,

--Alex C.

 

So all the RJ45 ports and the optical port will be equal and all will clean the clock phase noise along with all the other noise from the Ethernet signals?