This week I replaced Virgin Media as my ISP with Community Fibre. I’m in London, UK.
Virgin Media was a copper coax cable into the house and Community Fibre is a fibre optic cable into their modem. From that is a cat5e cable into my Asus router.
So, why does streaming now sound noticeably better? I’m absolutely delighted.
Could it be that, in terms of internet data, I no longer have a metal connection with the street/ISP and associated EMC issues?
I also have a fibre connected modem and I noticed an improvement to network stability with my ISP after they installed it. I cant comment on the audio side as it was installed around the same time as my Bartok arrived. But I really like the fact that the modem is completely isolated from the outside infrastructure. Mine also acts as a switch with two 1 gigabit ports and one 10 gigabit port!
I’d like to believe there is some benefit to having a fibe modem and I’m curious if members here with networking experience have any insight…
Now that you make me think about it, I have had FTTH (Fiber To The Home) for 15 years or so, and I hear no difference from exotic switches / aftermarket Ethernet cables. Could it be that such devices isolate from EM noise that in my case has never been present in the first place? Because as we know the jitter/timing/clocking/accuracy tale is totally out of the question with Ethernet streaming.
A.
Really, this is no different than why many people urge galvanic isolation in general; noise can be carried on the ground which may affect decoding.
Fiber optic cables eliminate one source of noise; once the signal is converted into copper Ethernet, it may introduce noise into the system but you’ve lost all noise introduced upstream of your modem.
(A side benefit of fiber is lightning protection as well.)