Streaming over Ethernet testing

 

Surely that's the point of the test?

 

 

Id put wired at the top (obviously), then homeplugs then wireless

of course wireless could be better than homeplugs if the internal wirings not to standard

I'd have thought the homeplugs would make noise on the mains?

 

 

Yes they do, but that wasnt really a part of the question

Wireless produces EMI whilst we're on it

Indeed, the point of the Big Question is to leave aside things you "know" and just test what you hear. Having taken part in a recent one (which I won't go into for obvious reasons), the results can be surprising or can confirm what you thought you knew. The beauty is you don't have a clue until everything is revealed!

 

Of course. But that EMI is there regardless of whether you're using it to transmit digital audio. Think cellphones, your (neighbour's) wifi network...

Purposefully injecting noise into your mains is a different beast altogether. It would be really interesting to see if the (theoretical) mains degradation has an impact on the amplifier (barring the use of mains conditioning, of course -- that would be cheating).

The effect of injecting RFI into an amp has been 'measured' to raise the 'noise floor' of an amp.

Many people dont believe this to be true so im happy for people to make their own minds up

The fact I use a balanced mains transformer AND a mains conditioner to virtually eradicate RFI on the mains should tell you which camp im in.

So what's the technical explanation for someone saying streaming via Ethernet via homeplugs (and obviously some Ethernet cables) sounds better?

Sound waves are created from the speakers connected to an amplifier, which is connected into three systems - one where music is streamed via ethernet cables, another where music is streamed via homeplugs and a final one where music is streamed wirelessly.  Once any of these sound waves hit the eardrum, it vibrates and causes a chain reaction resulting in these vibrations being passed along the cochlea. Here, there are thousands of cilia (which are hair like nerve endings) and as the vibrations occur, these move. The brain interprets these movements as sound. Things get a bit fuzzy from here on in I'm afraid, but the best way I can put it is that when some brains "hear" the sound produced by the music streamed via homeplugs or music streamed wirelessly, this results in greater satisfaction than that produced by the music streamed via ethernet. The opposite is also true for some other brains.

Hope this helps.

Or to put it more succinctly, they didn't know what they were listening to (except that the systems were 'different'), so just said what sounded best.  If I recall, all three came up with a different answer, thus proving that theory isn't everything...

 

Come on WHF, that post deserves a prize...

 

 

Actually zero help!

 

But so beautifully written!

 

Then that's precisely what you will get.(with that approach)

 

 

What approach?  I'm asking why a straight ethernet cable is considered to result in a data transfer that sounds a) different and b) worse to someone compared with a more complex path using homeplugs.

 

Ask a network person and they will tell you a simple cable is best.  What are homeplugs doing to the data?  Probably nothing, so what does this tell you about listening tests?