Comments on: Audio trends and snake oil

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 08:58:20 +0000

Shielded Ethernet cables (STP, FTP, or S/FTP) use their outer foil or braided shield to bridge the ground planes of connected devices via metal-shielded RJ45 connectors. The data signals themselves remain galvanically isolated through magnetics (isolation transformers), but the shield creates a direct DC electrical connection between the metal chassis at both ends.
RF Mitigation: The primary purpose of this continuous shield ground path is high-frequency EMI/RFI attenuation and ESD protection, not power grounding.
Ground Loop Risks: If Device A and Device B are plugged into different mains outlets with even a minor potential difference in local earth ground, current will continuously flow through the low-resistance cable shield. This can induce mains hum in nearby sensitive audio gear, corrupt data packets, or burn out the cable’s drain wire.

Shielded Ethernet bridges chassis grounds unintentionally. Ethernet magnetics protect data lines, but the metallic shield shell restores a DC ground path between gear, making UTP (unshielded) cables or single-ended shield grounding the preferred choice when ground loops are an issue.

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 08:39:08 +0000

so what effect exactly will the router or switch have on the sound itself ?

when those work correctly it does not have any effect on sound. The router and switch will transport the sound data exactly without modifications from source to destination without modifications. The sound gets through exactly as it is or does not get through (no sound or breaks in sound playback) , no subtle changes.
Then there are also noise issues of poorly built DACs with sub-optimal grounding practices mixing up high frequency noise from data lines to output audio… in those cases subtle changes to any part of system can sometimes cause noticeable difference.

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 08:31:44 +0000

People talk a lot about accuracy in audio. But the truth is, there’s no single “correct” version of how music should sound. From the moment a song is recorded to the moment you hit play, it passes through a chain of choices, limitations, and interpretations. Even your own brain gets in the way.

This looks at why perfect reproduction isn’t possible and why that might not be a bad thing.

Full story: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/07/speaker-designer-hi-fi-accuracy-myth/?utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=caption

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 06:41:37 +0000

Technically speaking it depends on where your media is located, if you host everything locally then the switch should get the focus, of you stream from an internet service, the router should matter more.

IRL unless you are streaming uncompressed high bitrate ultra HD video signals, unless you are upgrading from DSL to fiber or from a congested 100Base-T switch to a decent gigabit switch, it’s not going to matter.

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 06:39:31 +0000

It is scary to see how lack of knowledge can get you fooled and all you do is just pay. I do networking for life. And no, it does not matter weather you use fiber, wifi, Ethernet, all of these connections will deliver the same digital information to you as long as it does not introduce any packet loss.

What is the scariest though, who else is fooling me in the fields I have no understanding about?..

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 05:58:15 +0000

Full story: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/05/192khz-worse-44-1khz-most-music/?utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=comment

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 21:24:45 +0000

Full story: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/10/chifi-dacs-top-measurement-rankings/?utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=comment

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:15:38 +0000

https://www.headphonesty.com/2026/08/gamer-revive-tech-trick-vinyl-cassette-win/?utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=comment&fbclid=IwdGRjcAT-PY9jbGNrBP49inBkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeDZfmF-4GSdO6i8to38W8n18kg6XVhIQt31WT7xSjpeU0wJLMk4PI9IGyoj0_aem_tbmHlXQmA9MI-OP1yFSoWw

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:24:24 +0000

Somebody actually ran a blind test to settle this. They put one of these amps up against a digitally perfect signal and asked 44 listeners to pick the better one. No consensus. And then both sides tore the test apart for different reasons, leaving the whole thing unresolved.

That’s the strange position this amplifier category occupies: it fails the benchmarks, frustrates the scientists, and keeps gaining ground anyway.

Manufacturers are investing real money, and experienced reviewers keep reaching for the same unexpected words to describe what they’re hearing.

Full story: https://www.headphonesty.com/2026/05/amp-design-fails-bench-test-best-reviews/?utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=caption

By: Tomi Engdahl

Tomi Engdahl — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:52:11 +0000

Igor S. Popovich
“From my personal experience some power cables do significantly improve the sound.”
There are two types rare cases where changing power cable has affected sound somewhat noticeably on some cases (not always)
1. Change power cable to shielded
2. Replacing very long extension cord (20 meters) between device and wall with short power cable to wall outlet

“Why? As an engineer, I cannot explain it, it makes no technical sense,”
Those two cases there are technical reasons that they might in some cases affect sound (but not always noticeable or measurable)