If you had mentioned that it would take me over a year to execute my plans for an audiophile grade ethernet switch, I’d laughed at the thought. Don’t see you see how invested I am—-I even wrote a whole post about it, with numbered options!
Yet, here we are…
I guess it’s not for lack of trying.
I came close to getting an EtherRegen last year but it didn’t work out. Maybe my indecisiveness was a factor….should I wait for the next gen EtherRegen? It was supposed to come out last June and there’s still no confirmation it will make it this June either. I gave up on waiting, deciding that I didn’t want to muck around with getting an additional LPSU for the existing or new EtherRegen and perhaps an aftermarket clock to make it shine.
The LHY switches were a good option, but for some reason, I just didn’t pull the trigger.
I did get a used Uptone LPS 1.2 for my upstream Netgear switch, and while it made a positive difference, it malfunctioned barely two months in to the purchase, and there was sadly no recourse.
Then I got distracted with home renovations, Decfest, and soon after—-Sarah…and ya’ll know how that went.
Long story short, the stars finally aligned and I was able to go with all out bonkers option.
Yeah—the Innuos Phoenix Net (PNet hereafter), with a built-in world class linear power supply with Mundorf caps, and an oven controlled crystal oscillator clock (both items found in Innuos’ flagship Statement streamer, which retails for about $19K). I was keeping an eye out on the used market and one popped up that met both my color (black), condition, and budget.
It’s built like a tank, yet gorgeously designed, matching the angled faceplate of my Innuos Pulse and has been increasingly widening the smile on my face over the past two weeks.
What I immediately noticed with the PNet is the massive decrease in the noise-floor. That really messed with my brain for a day or two. It’s as if the music had slowed down. The blackness was eerie. I’ve had noise-floor reductions in the rig before—but not on this scale. Not even close.
The mid-range—especially the vocals, which were already stunning after the third SDFB went in to the Pulse streamer, are now so natural and organic sounding that I’m finding it increasingly difficult to differentiate the phantom center from an actual human being sitting in-between the speakers. Not that the vocals sounded artificial before, it’s just that I didn’t know how much I’d appreciate the intimate pleasure of a locally hosted jam session.
Ok, let’s have a conversation about spatial cues.
Sure, I’m getting better soundstage in all directions and it’s more holographic, and if that was it—I would count it as a win and move on but it still doesn’t capture what I’m attempting to explain. I guess I’ll try use a couple of examples to get the point across:
There’s this real, dare I say tangible, sense of space vibe that I’m absolutely loving. Similar to how a live venue feels like being in a live venue vs. watching one (or in our case, listening to one) or a better sense of the in-room (or lack thereof) acoustics where the track was recorded. I just feel more there. The clapping is so damn real that I kid you not, on one track, I could picture individual claps of two people sitting right next to each other, a couple of rows behind the speakers.
The magic is not necessarily how wide or how high or how deep notes are popping, but how they form within their respective spaces, that has me mesmerized. This is also challenging to explain —- but think about the 3D TV fad where you’d put on those clunky glasses and could see the picture and artists coming out of the TV screen and you couldn’t help but raise your hand to touch them or flinch when something was thrown at you or a character (let’s say a shark) was trying to devour you.
Yeah…it’s that kind of feel. I want to get up and touch the music. I know this sounds stupid, but I don’t’ know how else to describe it. One thing is for sure— I’ll never use the term ‘three-dimensional’ lightly ever again.
It’s trippy and on some tracks, downright spine chilling.
One track that had me almost lose it (almost literally) was Billie Eilish’s ‘I Didn’t Change my Number’. For this track, Billie added a special something—she recorded her dog Sharky’s growling and added it to the beginning of the track — it is placed at the far left of the left speaker.
Let me tell you something—-coming out of total blackness, that growl was so big, so loud, and so menacingly real that I felt like a deer facing headlights. Knowing the end was coming, terrified, but unable to move an inch. You’ll see from the screenshot below, that I wasn’t listening too loud, the volume level was just in to my preferred zone of 75-85 db.
Hopefully, this conveys the spatial cues aspect. If it doesn’t, I’m sorry —- it’s one of those things that you have to hear it, to believe it (feel it?).
Prior to the PNet, I had made some changes to the rig that had made the bass a little leaner. As the PNet was breaking in, the lower octaves got increasingly better, almost in front of my very eyes to a point where this is probably the best bass I have heard in the rig to date. Deep and just ‘right’ sounding—aka articulate?
Lastly, I need to give a huge nod to Dynamic range. I recently mentioned to GS that prior to the PNet, I’ve experienced good dynamics but that was decidedly how loud it could get on a moments notice (as the track demanded), but now, I’m equally stunned with the range both ways. The way the music just stops on a dime (as if the track just ended) in to complete darkness continues to mess and impress me at the same time.
The highs? The best sparkle in the rig without an iota of fatigue. That pretty much sums it up.
I didn’t realize how long the PNet takes to break-in due to the oven controlled clock and the large Sean Jacob’s linear power supplies. Today is day 13. Research suggests a two week period of continuous power for the PNet to fully stabilize, so I think I’m there.
In the near future, I plan to get my fourth SDFB (Lon, please don’t hate me) for the PNet as well as a better PC (using stock for now) and I will do both at the same time to minimize the long settling in period.
Hope my observations are helpful to anyone who is exploring how switches impact the system.
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Wait—Hold that Switch! (Read 6231 times)
