I think this would be optimal, remember the AL is going to be Roon endpoint for you. If it has all of the isolation features Paul has indicated, I would try to eliminate all of the other parts you had in the chain:
router > RJ 45 wall > AirLens > etc…
Less is more my friend. Well, hopefully it will be.
Thank you Vince.
It sounds great! I need/want to keep the MacMini for 2 reasons:
Here my question about the possible ways to connect the MacMini (core) to the AL (end point) without wired in the path (wifi) because I wouldn’t avoid switches, LPS and cables to be added to.
In a video @paul said that using the so long expected AL the improvement will be so great thanks to galvanic isolation that doesn’t matter the quality of signal before it, even a wifi connection from core to it will be perfect for the purpose.
That is what I was wondering.
And of course if the result will really be big compared to the actual SQ I have from PST to DS DAC listening to CDs (the crucial factor that would convince me to use more digital than I use to do). But for this second answer only time will tell, I suppose.
It’s going to be a bunch of tweaking to get it sounding the way we each want.
Just think, you can try a M1 fuse in your AL. Dragon cable perhaps?
Please standby.
What kind of switch are you using on the basement receiving end of the CAT6 cable that comes downstairs from the router? Maybe the AirLens will not need it. But sounds like you have lots of other gear in the basement. Historically I was sceptical of audiophile switches. But I was proved wrong by A-B testing. Note: As discussed above I also borrow 19-year-old ears for such. At a modest price, the Silent Angel Bonn 8 made a noticeable difference at a neighbour’s house. And the ears of my detector and myself… but not the neighbour’s… could even tell the difference between an Ansuz PowerSwitch and the Bonn 8. So the neighbour went with the Ansuz. Note: I run a 10G network over CAT7 myself at home. The only thing I have done for myself is to put the switches in the media rooms on linear power supplies. I think other thread denizens here would advise you to change the CAT6 line from copper to fiber. But an audiophile switch might be an easier action.
Oh yes it’s always so easy to fall again and again into the rabbit hole of tweakings!
M-1 fuse? Yes, I’ll do!
Dragon HDMI 48? Yes already here!
Thank you.
My LAN is quite simple.
From external I have 1 single fiber router for the main internet line. It is located at 2 floors upstairs in a studio room (my son work station/studio). Think about it as a CID or a server main point location. Here there is also the one and only switch of the LAN, strictly reserved (and remotely connected) to the service provider company (I cannot change or manipulate).
The switch has 5 outputs RJ45
4 of them that go inside the walls in 4 different rooms in the house at different floors. One of which goes to the basement that is my cavern (music room). All of this 4 ethernet single cables CAT6 lines of course with a single wall socket per room.
1 Upstairs - close to the switch - used for a Netgear Orbit transmitter with 3 satellites to extend the wifi all around the house.
Unfortunately the wifi signal is low in the basement so here there aren’t satellites, I use in this room only 1 of the 4 lines from the LAN: wall socket RJ45 > AQ Ethernet cable > MacMini
So if the MacMini is able to send the signal to the AirLens by wifi I wouldn’t need to add here a switch (and frankly my desire is in fact to live without it and consequent LPS and cables).
Again: if Paul is right, thanks to the AirLens role (galvanic isolation) a switch or a better ethernet cables may not be required and impactful on SQ.
If I’m wrong and the AirLens to work properly and provide the right SQ will need an ethernet cable on its own, eh… it means that I have to add an audiophile switch in the basement from the LAN wall socket RJ45 with 1 output for the MacMini and 1 output for the AirLens, I would prefer to avoid to never desired more expensive boxes (LPS too) and cables.
EERO. One on each floor, it works brilliantly. I use wired for Audio with a EtherREGEN in front of the good stuff. But so many wireless devices are solved with three simple devices. It could work. Costs the same as an M1 fuse. (Not with the discount)
Mesh is certainly the way forward, very different approach to previous wifi signal management.
I already use Mesh with orbi Network
My doubt is only related to MacMini > AirLens connection. Wifi or wired.
If WiFi works, then I will not include a switch.
Or are you suggesting that now and with the AirLens too, adding a switch (and relative LPS and cables) can improve the SQ so much?
Well, first things first would be to get the AirLens! Then probably keep things simple like Vince says. Try it with the Orbi Mesh. I should have commented re the neighbour’s set up though that he too is using an Orbi Mesh. The Ansuz switch… which does make a difference… is between an Orbi satellite and a seventeen grand Antipodes K50 which then feeds a Bricast M1 DAC. But maybe that seventeen grand Antipodes cannot match the isolation of the AirLens! The Silent Angel Bonn 8 switch is reasonably priced. One could always try it out, once all else is in place perhaps. If A-B testing delivers nothing, then send it back. For me, because I am upscaling multichannel to DSD256 using HQPlayer in a concrete house, I cannot use WiFi.
+1 for eero “beacons”. I have one near my iMac/Roon Core “server” which is on a different floor than the “Big Rig” Hi-Fi system.
My Wi-Fi connection to the router that feeds the Hi-Fi is rock-solid 99+% of the time.
FWIW.
PS
Nothing says, “galvanic isolation” like a wireless connection. 
Conventional Wisdom (at least some conventional wisdom - and if you can call any of THIS crowd conventional) would recommend you isolate your MacMini from the signal chain feeding your Hi-Fi components. There are a myriad of ways to do that.
From my perspective, adding a switch between the MacMini and the AirLens should only be done out of necessity for signal routing reasons and/or solely for the purposes of adding some sort of isolation from the MacMini.
This is because, at least in theory, all forms of computers and/or their power supplies have the potential to generate various forms of noise that may “pollute” the Ethernet signal path.
If an “isolating switch” would fit the bill for your signal distribution purposes, then I would consider inserting one into the signal path. If not, don’t. That said, I would probably avoid hardwiring the MacMini directly to the AirLens based on this conventional wisdom.
On the other hand, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the Ethernet isolation performance qualities of the AirLens remain to be “tasted”. A direct connection may prove to be perfectly suitable. 
How is that ^ for a clear and concise, perfectly noncommittal piece of advice? 
Thanks to @vkennedy61 I have 5 Ubiquiti access points with Mesh disabled and most devices tagged to specific access points to stop roaming. Currently 64 of 82 clients active, which includes 26 Roon Ready clients operating at up to 24/192. Main audio has a direct fibre into TPLink converter in EE8 switch. No problems, ever. The Lite AP’s are great value, under £100.
Ubiquiti rule, love their stuff 
Agreed. Great stuff.
So theoretically the AirLens (end point) should benefit more by a WiFi connection to the internet network, including a MacMini used as Core, than by a wired connection with an ethernet switch.
Thank you for all your answers and support.
This will be my first step.
If the SQ will be still so far inferior than playing CDs from the PST, as I’m experiencing now with MacMini + Matrix combo, then I will consider to give a chance to a switch in the path.
Time will tell, meanwhile I hope the AL finally arrives in September.
Would you mind clarifying this signal path (Ethernet source through DAC).
I am pretty sure I (and maybe @luca.pelliccioli) did not appreciate what this statement meant or implied in terms of the subject inquiry.
TIA.
Here is a previous Roon live stream that might help some with setting up a home network for streaming.
I just bought two Ubiquity’ and am getting a 1 gig fiber connection from AT&T next week. My Comcast with Erro nest had a lot of signal lose throughout the house.
Hope this will be much better and be best for the AirLens.
Agreed, in your case the AirLens is the best solution probably.
