RESUME Silent Angel delivers a switch that has become popular in the Netherlands, for which the brand now developed an upgrade in the form of the Forester F1. Happy with the Silent Angel Bonn N8 ethernet switch and ready for the next step forward? Then consider the Silent Angel Forester F1. Only try if you have the money, I’ve already got the hang of it.

PLUS POINTS Richer sound More Definition Larger stereo image Peace Better power cord possible MINUSES Slightly higher power consumption than the wall plug Addictive

Thunder Data, the company behind Silent Angel, is releasing a power supply for the Bonn N8 switch with the Silent Angel Forester F1, as an upgrade on the wall plug in the box. This power supply is suitable for powering two switches at the same time or a switch and a Raspberry Pi. Neatly executed in a metal housing, equal in width to the Bonn N8, but higher and deeper. The short version of the following: whoever is happy with his Bonn N8 ethernet switch, there are many among our readers, given the numbers sold according to retailers and importers, can now make a significant step forward for the same amount.

Of course we are again on thin ice, because prejudices say: â ?? a switch cannot make a difference let alone a switch’s power supply. If you are convinced of this, then further reading is pointless. If in doubt, continue.

Silent Angel Forester F1: Black and Small The Silent Angel Forester F1 linear power supply claims features such as total absence of noise and avoidance of corrupt data, and it always delivers sufficient power. In the box you will find the power supply, one power cord, two 60 cm connection cables for switches with 5.5mm x 2.1mm DC plugs and a USB cable for powering a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with USB to micro USB type C. The Forester F1 has the following characteristics:

– An encapsulated toroidal transformer

– A symmetrically designed circuit

– Fast MOSFET semiconductors with low inherent noise

– EMI filter

– Dual outputs, also via USB

– Dampened metal housing

A toroidal transformer offers the advantage of smaller stray field compared to another type of transformer, can deliver a lot of current quickly, is efficient and has a smaller size. A symmetrical current circuit, as in any balanced circuit, eliminates its own noise because the two parts operate in opposite phase. MOSFETs monitor the output voltage and ensure that it is kept stable at 5 volts. According to Silent Angel, a MOSFET reacts faster than a normally deployed voltage controller, so the ripple in the output voltage is less. The F1 has meet 155 x 115 x 58 mm and weighs 1.3kg. It supplies 2x 5 Volt at 2A, as LEDs has 2x status and 2x overload. The power supply is only available in black. The Forester F1 consumes only 3 to 4 Watts with one switch connected, which is not much more than the wall plug. The price for the Silent Angel Forester F1 is the same as for the Bonn N8 switch â ???? already extensively tested â ???? and set at â ?? ¬ 395.A

Setup In my small listening room is a Bonn N8 connected to an AudioQuest Niagara 1200 Â mains filter and centrally located in the meter cupboard, wherever my Roon NUC is located, there is a second Bonn N8 fed via an Isotek EVO3 Sirius filter, always with its own Bonn N8 netvo eding. Ethernet cables are AudioQuest Carbon between the switches and AudioQuest Vodka to the equipment. I listen with a Metrum Ambre Roon endpoint, a Metrum Adagio DAC, CODA CSib V1 integrated amplifier and Falcon LS3 / 5a speakers. Most relevant is to swap the supplied Bonn wall plug with the F1 power supply in the listening room. Of course I also try it out with the switch in the hall closet. From the box to the wall plug What happens if I use the regular Replace Bonn N8 power supply with the Forester F1? It is remarkable, although that is not possible at all and cannot be demonstrated with a decibel meter, that the music seems to play louder. The following is the total tranquility that gives voice and every instrument more space, creates its own place in the space and gets closer to the listener. Both closer and further away thanks to the increased depth in the stereo image. Height placement and width show no difference.

The separation of voices and instruments makes second voices distance themselves from the first, so easily that I wonder what remains of the total system to get. On a scale of 1 to 10 impact is normally at 8 in this system, which now certainly rises to 9 â ???? Â despite the small displays. It is not even so much an increase in details, space, depth or timbre, the Forester F1 creates an impression where everything is bigger, more intense, brighter, more interesting and more colorful. From HD television to Ultra HD. The grain becomes finer, the background quieter, the experience increases further in a beautiful system.

If I remove the Forester F1, then a gray veil arises that I have never been so aware of and which until now could only be hitched with a Melco S 100 Ethernet switch with a SBooster power supply. The stereo image shrinks without the F1, music flows into each other, and electronically created space in recordings becomes more annoying than interesting. Music gets busy, closes, is a lot less interesting. Is the set suddenly not beautiful anymore? Oh yes, built with love and effort it is still more than worth sitting here â ???? but There is room for improvement. Where the price of 1200 euros for the upgrade actually contrasts sharply with the price of, for example, upgrading my speaker cables, power supply and even recently the crossover filters in the speakers. Things that have sometimes cost a lot more and not always made such a difference.

Then I change the standard Silent Angel wall plug for the Forester F1 in the hallway â ???? Â with noticeable effect, but to a lesser extent than when I picked up the switch from the set. The win rate is somewhere between 50 and 50 percent, not higher. The question is whether spending just under four hundred euros for a switch elsewhere in my network is justified. Is the F1 on the switch at the streamer mandatory in my setup, the hallway will come another time. I much prefer to hang the F1 on the switch next to the set for maximum profit.

Always that power Whatever you try with audio, the power supply is always an essential part. In all cases, poor nutrition will lead to an inadequate result, a healthy diet to a good result, optimal nutrition to more realism, experience, deeper timbre and finesse. It is still a strange and inexplicable fact for many that a network switch affects a streaming audio system, it becomes even more unfathomable that even the power supply of a switch can make a significant difference.

Silent Angel supplies a switch that has become popular in the Netherlands, for which the brand has now developed an upgrade in the form of the Forester F1 power supply. I cannot explain the improvement in the display in almost all areas, let alone measure it, but I can observe it very clearly. In short, if you are happy with the Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet switch and want to take a step forward with your streaming audio system, consider the Silent Angel Forester F1. Only try if you have the money, I’ve already got the hang of it.

Silent Angel Forester F1

â ?? ¬ 395, – | www.dimex.nl