Reiki Audio’s astonishing and astonishingly under-stated network components
By Roy Gregory
The more time we all spend playing (or playing with) network replay, the clearer it becomes that the fundamental problem is the network itself. Irrespective of how clean a signal you source from your streaming provider or server, irrespective of its native data rate or encoding, irrespective of whether your streaming software is built around Roon, Audirvana or anything else, if you take that (supposedly) pristine signal and drag it across a muddy field, it gets dirty. Except that it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the average network, far from equating to a muddy field is more like a full-on mangrove swamp, a glutinous morass that sinks the signal up to its chest in noisome pollution. From the plug-top, switch-mode power supplies that drive your network components, to the cables, router, switches and other gizmos themselves, your network is littered with sources of high-frequency noise and entry points for RF pollution.
Over the years, we’ve seen the emergence of audiophile grade switches and even routers, although the majority of effort has been targeted on cables and power supplies, a regular cottage industry springing up, supplying linear power supplies for everything from Netgear switches or routers through to Roon Nucleus servers. As is the way with audio, certain products bubble to the top of, if not the heap, then public consciousness. Chief amongst those has long been the SOtM sNH-10G switch which, along with its matching sPQ-100PS linear power supply has become the de facto benchmark for network switching in high-end applications. With its optical input option (to allow galvanic isolation) and 10MHz clock connection, it certainly ticks all the boxes – although whether those boxes make sense, we shall soon see…
A pair of SOtM switches have long been the mainstays in my dedicated audio streaming network, galvanically isolated from the main network and dedicated router, hooked up with Nordost Heimdall 2 or Valhalla 2 network cables. Recent experience with inline ethernet filters from Chord Co, Aardvark and CAD <https://gy8.eu/review/threes-a-charm/> suggested that all is not what it might be with my network hygiene. At the same time, my attention was drawn to UK-based Reiki Audio, whose elegantly minimalist network components apply a whole different level of audiophile sensibilities to switch gear.
Reiki by name…
The Japanese Reiki healing tradition might be loosely described as the ‘realigning of bodily energy’. Looking at the Reiki Audio components I can see the sense in that name. Let’s start with the SuperSwitch, which is as that name suggests, a network switch, although in this case it is available in two versions and three ‘levels’. In fact, with single input and output ports it might more properly be termed a ‘repeater’ – which is fine as actually, that’s exactly what we want: a box that accepts a signal and passes it as cleanly as possible to its destination. If you are used to conventional network switches, or even something ‘audiophile’ like the SOtM, the Reiki SuperSwitch is going to come as something of a shock. The almost featureless casework has roughly the same footprint as a Netgear eight-way switch, but it is taller and milled from solid aluminium, with walls and base plate fully 5mm thick. That solid construction is underlined by the weight – almost a kilogram – making for a seriously dense and inert lump. The top panel carries a machined logo and the rear panel a power socket for a 5V input, a ground connection and the two RJ45 sockets. That’s your lot. Fire it up and you’ll see… a whole lot of nothing. There’s no blinking LEDs on the RJ45 connections, not even a power LED to tell you it’s on. Which is when you begin to figure out what the Reiki Audio approach is all about: isolate, shield and ruthlessly eliminate any and everything that isn’t absolutely essential to its core function. So status and power LEDs (a possible source of noise) – gone. Unnecessary ports (possible ingress routes for RFI) – gone. Bent metal casework (mechanically compromised, with inadequate shielding and often, ventilation holes) – gone.
