Purpose-built network hardware with copper and fiber paths

The Innuos NET3 is a full-width audiophile network switch designed to partner STREAM3 and other high-performance digital sources. Its WaveNET board was developed specifically for audio rather than adapted from a conventional office switch. Four RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports handle copper connections, while an SFP slot allows a single-mode fiber link to break electrical continuity with another part of the network.

Timing is provided by a 25MHz, 3ppb oven-controlled crystal oscillator positioned beside the switch chip. This avoids converting an external 10MHz reference through additional phase-locked-loop stages. The OCXO and WaveNET circuitry receive separate rails from the TwinCX regulation module. That supply uses a large low-impedance transformer and Mundorf capacitors, keeping the clock and switching sections electrically isolated from each other.

Custom firmware initializes NET3 and then shuts down its onboard processor, removing processing activity that is no longer required during playback. Innuos also plans Sense-app control over individual port speeds and the ability to disable unused ports through a firmware update. Those controls should be judged by the firmware actually installed, not treated as present merely because they appear on a feature roadmap.

The hardware is enclosed in a 10mm CNC-machined aluminum chassis whose asymmetric construction is intended to reduce resonances. A 4mm chassis-ground terminal provides another installation option where an engineered grounding scheme calls for it. NET3 is not a substitute for a stable router, correct addressing or properly terminated cable; it refines the audio-facing portion of an already sound network.

Command Performance AV can determine whether fiber isolation is useful, choose the correct SFP path and place NET3 where copper runs remain practical. The result should be a clean, supportable network—not an expensive diagram nobody can explain six months later.