A popular method of network setup is the use of optical transceivers to convert the copper Ethernet connection to fiber optic and then back to copper. This configuration is popular as, on the surface, it appears to provide some electrical isolation from the rest of the network. On the surface this is true, but there are three issues:
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Each media converter device requires an outboard power supply and these tend to inject a tremendous amount of noise into the power lines and potentially into the DAC (depending on the type of cable used). While you’re isolated from the network you’re still providing a rather nasty path for noise to enter the system.
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These devices are typically poorly engineered and often only support 100Mbit bandwidth. While the network stream doesn’t need more capacity than that, the underlying network devices may have trouble managing data flow.
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When an Ethernet interface is implemented properly it includes galvanic isolation which will properly isolate network electrical noise from your dCS device. Our devices were designed using very high-quality isolation components and we’ve seen no benefit in adding additional isolation devices to the network connection to a dCS device.
dCS does not support the use of optical media transceivers (or media converters) on any network connection that impacts the data flow into or out of a dCS device.
For clarification, we agree that there are benefits to using optical media for galvanic isolation, but the implementation must be correct. As of yet we haven’t seen an optical networking implementation in the high-end audio space which meets the requirements of an actual engineering benefit, much less good common sense.