It's so Ethereal

[slinger]

I've just ordered a "CISCO 2960G WS-C2960G-8TC-L v02" switch from eBay: £49.99 inc delivery.

Plugged in, powered up, registering correctly on the network, and all is working. Whether it sounds any better or not I can't really say as the album I'm playing was recorded over 50 years ago,

[CN211276]

I've just ordered a "CISCO 2960G WS-C2960G-8TC-L v02" switch from eBay: £49.99 inc delivery.

Plugged in, powered up, registering correctly on the network, and all is working. Whether it sounds any better or not I can't really say as the album I'm playing was recorded over 50 years ago,

What are your thoughts a few days on? Mine seems to have got better and this is at low volume as there is very little chance to crank it up with the lockdown. Instruments and backing vocals low in the mix are definately more pronounced. I am still having connection issues at times, other times it is fine. Can't put my finger on why.

[slinger]

I've just ordered a "CISCO 2960G WS-C2960G-8TC-L v02" switch from eBay: £49.99 inc delivery.

Plugged in, powered up, registering correctly on the network, and all is working. Whether it sounds any better or not I can't really say as the album I'm playing was recorded over 50 years ago,

What are your thoughts a few days on? Mine seems to have got better and this is at low volume as there is very little chance to crank it up with the lockdown. Instruments and backing vocals low in the mix are definately more pronounced. I am still having connection issues at times, other times it is fine. Can't put my finger on why.

I'm absolutely useless at this sort of thing. The system sounds good, so at least it hasn't made it worse. TBH, I don't think I've played anything since installing it that I'd played recently before I added it, so I've got no immediate frame of reference. If nothing else, it certainly looks "the business," especially with the Blue Jeans cables I bought in black, white, yellow, orange, and purple. I'd also forgotten how large "proper" networking kit is compared to the dinky little things Amazon sell, like the TP-Link it replaced.

It shows how bored I am, I even considered buying a used rack to house it, and store my two NAS drives, and router. I've sort of 90% talked myself out of that though.

I have to say that the Switch combined with the Blue Jeans Cable cable is a definite success though. How much each is bringing to the party is difficult for me to judge, but for less than £160.00 total it's a great combo-upgrade that I'd happily recommend. The whole system is "smoother." And by that, I don't mean Arcam-amp smoother (are you starting to see why I don't review things very often?) It's that "cleaning the windows" thing I suppose, it's allowing more of the music to shine on through. The system is more relaxed; sort of like it's working well within its limits, it's not struggling in the slightest. Of course, it wasn't struggling in the first place, but that's just how it feels. Like the guy who can beat you at arm-wrestling while he's reading a book and sipping tea.

That makes no sense to anyone but me, does it.

[CN211276]

I was playing the new Magnum album quite a bit before the Cisco arrived and what I have noticed is the piano, which is very low in the mix on many tracks, being more audible and not buried by the power chords. There is a greater sense of space. I agree about improvements not being easy to detect on albums which have not been played for some time.

The upgrades I have made this year to the digital path, AQ Carbon, Cat 8 ethernet cable, i Purifier 3, and Cisco switch have all improved the sound and the combined effect has been significant. This was added to by the A80 mk3 upgrade. Could not be more timely with the lockin.

[Latteman]

Got £989?

https://hifipig.com/russ-andrews-launch ... rk-switch/

[slinger]

I don't know if anyone already uses it, but I've found "Fing" to be a handy little tool. I've used it as an app on various tablets for ages, and it's a useful little thing, but I loaded up the desktop version on my PC recently, and the results quite surprised me. Here's the company line:

Fing App is a free network scanner that makes you discover all connected devices, run internet speed tests and help troubleshoot network and device issues. Get Fingbox for more advanced security and protection for your network.

And all of that is pretty much what it does. It also graphically reports internet outages worldwide.

Why I was surprised is because it identified 30 devices on my home network, and they were all mine. Damn you, Alexa!

The speed test facility is handy to have to hand rather than using an online version too. It's not one of those incredibly complex pieces of network software but it imparts more than enough knowledge to satisfy the casual-to-intermediate user I'd say.

https://www.fing.com/

or you can check out their Farcebook page

https://www.facebook.com/fingapp/

[CN211276]

Located only nine in my home network. Suppose it could have been eleven if my PC and wife's laptop were turned on.

[slinger]

Located only nine in my home network. Suppose it could have been eleven if my PC and wife's laptop were turned on.

Try running the scan a couple more times tomorrow, with them turned on.

[slinger]

I've used Fing for a while now. Very useful, especially for the IP addresses for all my streaming devices.

[slinger]

I've used Fing for a while now. Very useful, especially for the IP addresses for all my streaming devices.

I found that too. It's nice to have a comprehensive list of named devices alongside their IP addresses and MAC addresses for reference apart from anything else.