Busted? Whilst my series-connected Ethernet switches aka LAN distributors in the main system have since been superseded by newer models, as a pair they cost ~3-4 times more than what EFI does now. Aside from far more i/o, they rock oven-controlled oscillators to retime Ethernet packets before they hit our D/A converter with its own clocking. I've read convincing arguments why reclocking prior to actual conversion is senseless. I lack technical depths to be certain either way. I simply used my ears to determine that for my cloud files to achieve parity with local files required two cascaded "in-betweeners" for my 20-metre CAT8a copper stretch from router to iMac. Inspired by SOtM's scheme of triple switches, I went the LHY route of two serialized network switches and never looked back; until now. That's because EFI showed equality with far greater simplicity of one smaller box and single power cord versus two of each; one fewer CAT link; plus significant savings. If I had to rebuild this system, I'd now view the noise-isolation benefits of fibre-optic intercession—which is all EFI does since actual conversion to analogue requires that optical first convert back to electrical—greater than LAN reclocking and whatever filtering and isolation that accrues. Hence the question mark past 'busted'. It's not that series-strapped network switches don't work. My most recent experiment merely suggests that fibre-optic insertion done right decommissions them. The same job can be done easier and cheaper. Sometimes better isn't about performance gains but simplicity wins. With that observation on my own sandbox, how about allocating a whopping €2'800 to a network switch plus outboard linear PSU? That's the 'hood the COS S6 & LPS1 from Taiwan play in. Would those twins introduce me to the next level of this game? 

Just when I thought I was out, I was pulled back in.

Whilst following the challengers' travel progress with my FedEx tracker, EFI was back in the office. Listening to George Dalaras' I Doxa Ton Anemon with Michalis Terzis songs, I wondered how we recognize and define 'more natural'. On the face of it, the term is as uselessly ambiguous as 'more musical'. Mulling over why the more-natural question presented itself, the emerging answer was 'absence of special effects'. That felt useful. FX as performance aspects beyond the norm—hyper resolution, over-sharpened depth of field, extreme dynamics, chiselled transients, patinated timbres, oversized images—are things we can relate to and identify. In their absence, the sonic feel becomes more ordinary; normal. Isn't normal just another word for natural? As we tire of anything über to perceive it as a skewing in which one aspect claims special significance over the rest, naturalness and its essence of balance become bigger virtues. After polishing specifics, we return to wholeness on a higher octave than when we first began. Nothing stands out in particular yet the sum of it all adds up to more than a beginner's hifi. That's why calling it a higher octave makes sense. It doubles the frequency but otherwise is the same. In that sense the audiophile journey exhibits certain resting places. We reach them after various sonic facets are improved equally to regain balance where nothing stands out but all aligns. If we push farther, we once more imbalance because specifics step forward again. We might think of this like an upward spiral which in regular intervals crosses a zero line of equilibrium. We can stop at different expressions or levels of this equilibrium to enjoy naturalness whilst acknowledging lower and higher stopping points or manifestations which are equally in balance. In short, with the latest addition of EFI, I suspect that my office system now sits on one of those zero-crossing points. When I ask myself what has improved, I can't point at a single quality. Yet there's no doubt that something clicked which in turn elevated the whole. To avoid getting esoteric, pretentious or precious, this short paragraph shall suffice. It certainly implies one very satisfied shopper – for a layout less than many extremists allocate to a single power cord.

… to be continued…