Just wait for the reviews!
We understand and you may postpone until after next well deserved holiday!
Yes, AS8 pro is not yet 1 year in my system and already âout of dateâ
Too soon to upgrade, but interesting to see if this one can be used with two SFP+ internally.
Or quit playing around and get the new NA Tempus when it comes out.
Good try, but Iâm done playing this game. I happened to enjoy what I have now finally. A small increment on SQ, or just a different flavor doesnât interest me anymore.đđ˝ââď¸
I guess that was a bad sales pitch. Lol
Not thrilled that this came out right before my SW-10 Pro arrived, but thatâs the nature of this game. I should have asked Alvin. He probably wouldnât say, but that might have been enough to get me to wait a bit. Still the SW-10 Pro sounds quite promising. Iâll give my opinions at 100 hours.
So my opinions are a bit confounded. I was previously doing some speaker cable experiments that ended up influencing things. For now, Iâll give my initial impressions. If people are interested, I can follow up next week.
The improvements I hear are the bass (which is a weakness in my system), details, and a general improvement in naturalness and removal of harshness. The details are interesting because I notice improvements more in songs that already sound good in my system. In the past, I primarily judged improvements on songs that had sections that sounded bad (so bad that no recording engineer would allow it to leave the studio if it really sounded that way). Not so much for this switch. Instead songs that already were good now sound better. For example, Motherboard on Random Access Memories was musical but a bit busy. Now more of the instruments are resolved in the soundstage.
I also talked to Alvin. He says, in his opinion, the AS-8 Pro+ is more of a lateral move compared to the SW-10 Pro. He also said the AS-8 Pro+ is the same size as the SW-10 Pro because the large size of the SW-10 Pro is a bit of a problem for me. My gut instinct is the AS-8 Pro+ is probably a bit of an upgrade. I really should have paid more attention to the model numbers and marketing. I assumed, since 8<10, that the 10 was the top product, but the SW vs AS and the Vinshine collaboration make things more complex.
Overall Iâm happy with the upgrade. Itâs not transformative, but a nice upgrade. Iâm currently conditioning my $25 fuse. Based on my experience, I think that will be significant. My systemâs main components are Goldenear Triton 1R speakers, Anthem AVM90 preamp, Auralic aries g1.1 streamer, and Schiit wotan amp.
Funny side note, when I originally reached out to Vinshine about getting a SW-6 to improve streaming on my system, which mostly sounded horrible, he asked about my system. His main response was to ask if I could replace my speakers and amp (NAD 399). Well at least I replaced the amp.
AS-8+, SW-10, and SW-10 Pro are all at the same size. Good to know Alvinâs opinion that AS-8 Pro+ is a lateral move from SW-10 Pro. You mentioned fuse and I remember I have a AM M-2 fuse in the switch. I put it in before SW-10 Pro was fully broken in, and I may try a different fuse to see if there is advantage of audiophile fuses.
I also heard improvement on bass, and cleaner sound was what I like the most from SW-10 Pro.
Changing out the internal SFP in the audioside will give extra refinement, finisar 1475BCV
Agreed. It did help.
buddy & i played with a few things on the SW 10 pro today (we each bought one):
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AOCs do not work as input into the data side
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AOCs do not work inside the unit between data / audio sides
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AOCs work on the audio output to the streamer. as msb says, AOCs are to be used where possible.
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internal SFPs are easily bested. we did not have the finisar 1475 on hand but the OptoSpan PSFP-11DT31K002 is reportedly better (on worldsbestforum) and can confirm that using 1 on the internal audio side is indeed a winner vs 2 stock finisars. âthe optospan goes ~ $160 on sanspot.com
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ground boxes help. use one.
The Optospan is not better in the AS8(+) pro or SW-10 pro, give a finisar 1475BCV a try at the internal audioside.
According LHY the dataside switch will only switch to 2,5gb/s when the upstream equipment is doing 2,5gb/s, my router is 1gb/s and I have not tried another router.
Agreed, unlike my previous SW-10, SW-10 Pro did not like Optospan. I sold it so soon so I cannot try Optospan again. As I remember it soften the sound too much.
My upstream equipment does up to 10 gig. Neither the Finisar 1475s or 1421, work on the internal data input side at the extended throughput. A Finisar 1318 did work there for a while and then did not. Could have gone bad, but I only wanted to open it once, so back went the original LHY Optospan and itâs up working again.
So now I am using Finisar 1421BTLs on the external input side, the Optoscan to a Finisar 1475BTL internally, and 1475BTLs out from the isolated fiber output.
Have you tried an ethernet cable from upstream equipment to dataside LHY with a finisar SFP+ internal dataside ? If that also doesnât work itâs clear that the answer LHY gave me is not correct.
I am only using the optical break inside the AS8 pro, all other connections are ethernet cables (floating screen), tried many SFP(+) comboâs internally, the original LHY SFP in the dataside matches best with the Finisar 1475BCV in the audioside. 1475BTL specâs do not match very well with the original LHY SFP (Huwaei).
Offcourse experienced the differences only in my own system, fully aware that other systems might have different outcomes.
I did not try that.
The published specs that I could find for the BTL and BCV are identical, with the only difference in the temperature range, which favors the BTL. Given there is no price differential, I went with the BTLs more robust build. Weirdly, jitter specs are provided for the 1318 and 1421, with the 1421 having an order of magnitude less jitter than the 1318. I wish those specs were provided for the 1475s. Jitter in the 1421s is vanishingly low.
1475 BCV/BTL optical specs are not identical, if you compare optical launch/receiving power, the BTL âcouldâ overpower the stock LHY SFP (Huawei MXPD-243S)
I have tried the finisar 1421 in my LHY AS8 pro (audioside internal) nothing wrong with that SFP, but the 1475BCV is more musical in my system.
Olly, I am using the 1421s on the external data side into the LHY OptoSpan. And I am using the 1475s on the internal audio side and out to my streamer. I did order the OptoScan mentioned by Rhyno above, to replace the existing internal OptoScan, but itâs a couple of weeks away. Most I have spent on an SFP. But itâs that kind of hobby, isnât it.
Not sure if I understand correctly, but the stock internal SFPâs in the switch are not Optospan as far as I know. (LHY branded Huawei SFP, confirmed a while ago with dchang05 that the SW10 pro has the same intenal SFPâs as the AS8 pro that I have)
You are likely correct. Donât know where I picked up that the internal SFPs were Optospan manufactured. But LHY provides no information as to who manufactures the SFPs for them.