ADOT Fibre Optic Gigabit Network Upgrade Kit

ADOT fibre-optic gigabit network upgrade kit is designed to take an ethernet signal, upgrade it to fibre-optic and then back to ethernet again and effectively rebuilds and retimes the data packets. This is essentially designed to clean up potentially conducted electrical noise from copper CAT5/6 cables in your home network before the ethernet signal comes into your hi-fi system.

Once your home network ethernet goes through the ADOT, it can then be connected to your Melco music server or other ethernet device and essentially provides a basis for a cleaner network connection into ethernet connected devices designed for audio. As a result, your networked audio devices will have the best possible signal path.

MC01, MC02 and MC03

There are three different versions available. The main difference with the three kits available is the power supply. Another source of noise and instability. The MVC01 has a basic power supply and a good level of isolation. The MC01 kit comes with the media converter, two SFP fibre terminations and 1.5M of cable.

The MC02 kit is the same except that it has an upgraded linear power supply that provides a better level of isolation. There is also an MC02 dual kit that comes with an additional media convertor. This will allow you to connect network players that normally connect to the residential network.

Finally the ultimate kit is the MC03 which comes with a NuPrime LPS-205 linear power supply (MC03 NP), or a custom build PLiXiR Elite BDC 2A low noise power supply with 3-stage noise reduction.

These kits are designed ideally to be used in conjunction with a good quality network switch, like the Melco S100 Mk2 or S10.

What is an SFP?

SFP stands for Small Form Factor Pluggable. It is also known as mini-gbic (Gigabit Interface Convertor). In this case, the SFP transceiver plugs into the adaptor and converts the electrical signal into an optical one. The fibre optic cable then plugs into the SFP device, while the other end of the cable plugs into the network switch. The link then provides a fast and clean optical data connection. Finally, there are different light frequencies used for fibre networks, therefore two matched SFP’s are provided, together with a matching cable.

Why do you need fibre?

Digital audio can be more delicate than we assume - ideally you need the best possible connections and signal path for today’s hi-bit rate hi-res audio files. Digital signals are still affected by noise and interference. This can lead to dropouts, loss of data and jitter. The noise damages the edges of the data pulses making them prone to timing errors and jitter. Melco network switches such as the S100, aim to ensure that the data arrives in top condition. It removes errant data packets so that they do not arrive at the DAC or streamer.

However, the signal still passes along a noisy copper Ethernet cable. These cables can act as an aerial and pick up all kinds of electrical noise from other networked devices, such as PCs. The solution is to use optical fibre, this picks up no interference and provides a purer basis for networking for audio.

Design challenges

Fibre is primarily used for speed while audio just needs accuracy and clarity. One way of obtaining better sound quality is to reduce the network speed to 100Mb/s, this is set with a couple of switches in the MC units. The MC series are made to enterprise standards including the Ethernet magnetics that are used to connect to the copper part of the network.

About Melco

Melco are primarily concerned with network audio, however, it started as an audio company long before digital audio came about. The company was founded in 1975 and made the finest audio components then available. In 1980 they released a turntable that made huge strides in what was possible with analogue. Later they moved into computer peripherals. As a result they were the largest manufacturer of these devices in Japan at one point. Their love of audio and background in computing makes them the perfect company to make audiophile networking devices.