Yes I do, but on my MikroTik Switch for backbone connectivity to the rest of my home to other Switches (not Media Converters). The spur off the Mikrotik to my Vivaldi is a 1G SFPs and Media Converter though.
Understood. It’s good to get the basic right. That said, once you’re all set-up and working, go ahead and try a multi-mode fibre pair with your single-mode SPFs - in typical home environments of a few feet long fiber cables, it’ll work just fine. And no, there won’t be any difference in sound quality
Having tried several different media converters in my system I am intrigued by the discussions in the thread and am watching with interest.
In all cases the cables I tried are/were LC-LC with a mixture of OM2 and OM3 with the shortest about 3m and the longest around 20m. I never heard any difference between any of the different cables be it length, spec or manufacturer.
The media converters were tried as pairs of the same model and also tried when used with switches that had optical built in. Additionally I tried using the media converters feeding directly into the LAN port of the streamer and also tried them with a switch between the media converter and the streamer. The media converters I used ranged from very cheap to mainstream ‘pro’ units also a pair of pretty expensive media converters branded and sold as being ‘audiophile’ units. Just a few of the ones I tried included Gtek, TP-LINK, Planet, Startech, Perle amongst many others. I used both the supplied power supplies (mostly smps) and esoteric LPS.
I started the exercise thinking it might be a relatively cheap way of noise isolation but the reality was that in my system and to my ears the inclusion of any of the media converters made the sound worse (worse being defined as a harder or harsh edge to the music). I was trying them with the media converters feeding directly to my streamer or through an adjacent switch. Also I concluded that media converters sounded better than others (by quite a margin) and that the power supply feeding the media converter had a significant effect on the sound quality.
I tried a range of SFP modules but in reality the choice of SFP module was mostly governed by choosing one that was compatible with the media converter.
I do still use optical in my network but only to link the router to a Cisco switch down at the other end of the house where the router has to be located due to it using the G4 mobile network so we have to point the aerial directly at the G4 mast. In my audio system I have reverted to using my Innuos PhoenixNET switch which is fed from the Cisco switch by copper (unscreened Cat 6) and the PhoenixNET is connected to my streamer by a short length of similar Cat 6. I would have used Cat5 but I just happen to have a reel of Cat6 to use up.
But despite my own findings I will look out for the experiences of others on here.
As an aside though, a dealer whose views I value was yesterday telling me that he had expected good things from using optical but that so far it had failed to be as good for sound quality as hard wiring.
Interesting. What happens (presumably to the digital signal) as the insertion loss increases and/or the return loss decreases? Do bits start to get lost or confused about their identity as a 1 or a 0? Does this have any impact over the distances in a typical domestic setting?
I will still try single mode (OS2) in my own system, even if the theory doesn’t entirely relate to real world practice: I’m an audiophile after all!
@TheFlash yep, I’m wondering if it is one of those ‘two tenths of naff all difference’ kind of things bearing in mind the cable lengths we have in our houses?
@TheFlash All I can say at this point is that, if you want to experiment, that is probably your best option.
If so, you may find it helpful to do some background research online. There are comments that suggest the Finisair work well (I feel there is a difference and rather like them), however there are clearly many on here that disagree there could be a difference. Rather than have that debate again, I’ll leave it there for you to decide for yourself…
I think I mentioned in a previous post that some manufacturers (such as Intel and Cisco) can demand the SFP/SFP+ module is branded by them or they simply won’t work (they use a manufacturer code which the SFP needs to supply).
For example, Finisar make SFP modules which, while recognised by Intel ethernet boards - and, otherwise, identical - will not allow themselves to be be enabled unless they identify themselves as Intel modules.
I also have experience of SFP’s not fully working with other manufacturers’ gear (such as Cisco SFP’s with Ubiquiti equipment not negotiating the speed at 10Gbps until a hard reset, meaning the connection won’t work on a reboot).
This isn’t generally a problem on switches made for the audiophile market as they don’t tend to use any locks (meaning any SFP should, in theory, work), however there can still be compatibility issues I just mentioned. TBH Most of this works as intended, though.
I presume we are talking about Finisar here not Finisair.
I need a good website anywhere in the world which will help me navigate their model numbers as all the ones I’ve come across so far are 10G or RJ45 or Multi Mode… I won’t necessarily buy from there but need a decent map of the territory!
I have used the website I pointed out earlier to narrow down the extensive Finisar range (it looks like they list 198 models!), with the following parameters selected:
Manufacturer = Finisar obviously
Connector = LC ( not SC, RJ-45, MPO, SFP28)
Form type = SFP (not SFP+ or several others)
Media = SMF (not MMF)
Speed = 1000Base (not 100GBase, 10GBase etc)
Transceiver category (unticked=all)
I also left all of these unticked=all too:
Type, Wavelength, Country, DOM, Environment, ITU Spacing, ITU Frequency, ITU Wavelength
The one parameter which made me pause was Transceiver type. There are a dozen or more listed, so I did some research and found out what some (CWDM, DWDM, ZX etc) but not all mean. I eventually ticked only LX. Am I right to do this?
I bought two* Finisar FTLX1472M3BTL (1310nm). Various options were recommended online, however trying the top three or four recommendations, my own ears preferred these.
*I actually ended up paying for four as they processed my order twice, but wanted me to pay the return shipping and insurance costs from the UK to the US to get my money back, which rather defeated the object. I’ll need to find a way to incorporate two more into my system!
