My 2nd clock'around was the charm. On an album loaded with bowed strings—Edouard Pennes' Génération Django—clock sync was clearly sweeter. The separate internal clocks played it wirier and zingier. Having a fabulous string ensemble with solo guitar Manouche take this pulse, declaring the OCK-2 a winner didn't split hairs. The same went for the timbre of a Klezmer/Jazz clarinet soloing on "Summertime". Its upper registers had less glare and shrillness with the OCK-2 in play. Another advance was soundstage enormity. Particularly depth specificity keened as though my 34" screen wasn't there at all. In this scenario where a HP Z230 workstation spit out USB to focus my reclocking on digital signal past the LAN format, I became a quick external clock convert. How much of my findings apply in general? What's super specific to my installs? I wish I knew.

Far more than usual, today's product categories of LAN distributor and external masterclock issue stern try-before-buy demands. Much should hinge on a system's maturity and res. Are all basics sorted? Are we doing wireless YouTube or hardwired Qobuz Sublime? Are the speakers €349 desktop actives or €15K passives with a €6.2K premium amp? So no blanket reco for/against today's contenders. I'm still no fonder of the concept of cascaded switches than I was going in. My ears simply can't deny that it really works for me. I'm still not fond of the external masterclock-for-homies idea and in my first scenario felt valiantly validated. Then came pernicious Part Deux and suddenly that concept drove home its point to prick my petulance.

No matter which side of this prickly discussion you come down on, this much is for certain. All this LHY kit is beautifully built and attractively priced. On that score it's an unqualified success. If you want my best guess at a sweet-spot scenario, I'd point at a ~€30 RJ45/SPF converter. Within a 25cm copper run from your router, you could execute a lengthy fiber run to an SW-6 in the main system, then connect to your streamer via the SW-6's isolated LAN port. When I looked it up to wrap this gig, an Irish vendor had 20m fiber with two fitted optical cartridges for €149. It's not NordOst Valhalla turf. If your primary music-consumption MO is cloud streaming and you're serious about sound quality, investigating your signal path before it hits your streamer should be de rigueur. Now this review might include some ideas on how to go about that without spending through the no(o)se.

Unlike the odd LHY branding and their generic alphanumeric model names, my four different attack fish were anything but strange. At this point in my LAN journey, I actually don't see why you'd want anything else. The real issue is deciding which of this catalogue's many building blocks to configure in what exact sequence and wiring to match our personal needs. Like USB did before it, LAN audio needs help beyond its most basic router/server RJ45 connection. So welcome the era of sundry LAN decrapifiers. One needn't understand why they can be so clearly effective. A working set of ears—and some attentiveness between them—can already appreciate the working reality. I can leave the rest to the engineers and chatrooms.

How about you?

PS: When it came time to pack up this lot for its return trip to Singapore, sonic greed carried the day…