We did borrow a SOtM switch for our most recent hifi show just before corona, and that resulted in some interesting discoveries:
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/39032-sotm-snh-10g-sotm’s-first-network-switch/?do=findComment&comment=995827
In a nutshell:
1. the sNH-10G + integrated clock board makes a big difference to our ears, tested on the system we use to develop our 432 EVO MASTER with, a server which frequently wins awards from reviewers including best of show reports
2. but even more important: mod a mikrotik enterprise router with a custom DC inlet, and then use an Sbooster 12V supply to power it, we did A/B's on some customers in our DEV room, and it was very obvious
Just kill the noisy fans, replace by a much bigger one, leave the top open so it is mainly passive cooled, and modify the internal 12V brick to an external 12V input, so I can switch between the brick and the Sbooster:
The mikrotik is not a home router, but something made for the datacenter, having 13x gigabit and an insane packet rate which is way higher than what your home connection can sustain
This is running custom firewall rules, several VLAN's with different DHCP ranges, VPN, .... and unboxed you actually need to close this thing down security wise, as it's not designed to be a home route out of the box.
It takes some time to setup and there's a steep learning curve for most, but coming from a network security engineering & Linux background, this was trivial for me.
They also make the haplite, which has the same GUI and a simple wizard for home use, and it has firewall rules on by default, so it's secure, and this for a very low price, and it runs on a 5V USB mobile phone charger, so it can even be powered from a 5V USB power bank:
We usually take a 5V Sbooster BOTW to shows, as USB power banks sooner or later run out of battery charge, to power the haplite.
On shows, it's very reliable and does not draw much attention to it, and the wifi is very stable.