Hi Richard,
With the two Sigma Ethernet cables in my system along with the new Uptone EtherREGEN switch I thought to borrow another Sigma and test whether or not using the Transparent Plug-In would do any more to helping with any residual noise in the system.
Here’s what I found (and the connections I’m using):
Roon Nucleus – Sigma – EtherREGEN – Sigma – Transparent – Sigma – dCS Upsampler/DAC
The result was that the plug degraded the sound with less “focus”, a loss of the sonic decay from instruments, etc. as well as dynamics. And I was no longer getting a truly black background as without its use. And even moving the Transparent’s position before the switch, though not as bad a result, still was worse than keeping it out of the system altogether.
I’ve no clue what is happening though I’m guessing that the plug is either messing with timing or picking up problems with the AC ground and passing that along, which may not be anything the Sigma would normally handle.
Funny that it was the guys at dCS that suggested using the Transparent device to mitigate noise when connecting up streaming devices ahead of their products. But granted, that was before both Shunyata and Uptone delivered new products.
Sorry to bombard you with this, but figured it might prove helpful with other customers using this collection of gear.
-Anonymous by request