Silent Angel Bonn N8 Pro and Bonn NX Ethernet Switches and Genesis GX Clock

Bonn NX

Given that the N8 and NX look so much alike under the bonnet, I was not expecting a world of sonic difference. But sure enough, as soon as the first notes came out of the speakers, I knew this was something else altogether!

Bonn N8 Pro on top of Bonn NX

The NX has lots of drive and is more incisive, crisper, and more direct than the N8 Pro, leading to a more communicative and expressive delivery. By comparison, the N8 Pro feels more “passive”. The NX is considerably more neutral than the N8 Pro and has increased precision and control, even if it retains a full-blooded tonality and remains on the subtly warm side.

Coming from the N8 Pro, the NX feels faster-paced, more vital, and more involving as well. With its increased incisiveness, the NX obtains a beautiful balance between body and substance on the one hand and toe-tapping expression on the other.

Although more neutral than the N8 Pro, the NX offers a fuller tonality, more solidity, deeper tonal saturation, and quite a bit more charm than my standard switch. As with the N8 Pro, I don’t feel like I am hearing higher resolution or more silence between the notes, but the NX does provide a remarkable solidity and earthiness to everything you play. It’s the opposite of airy or floaty but arguably more realistic.

The imaging is rock-solid, and the focus is razor-sharp. The soundstage size, however, still remains unchanged. That said, I do note that there is a sense of power to everything you play, the performance having much more drive, impact, and physical presence than with other switches I tried so far. The way I see it, the NX is not really about ticking typical audiophile boxes and much more about increasing the physical presence and solidity, leading to a performance that feels more grounded and realistic and closer to live music.

Depending on the lighting, the two units can appear to have a slightly different hue, one more black and the other more grey. Upon checking with the distributor, I was informed that these two components were not ordered together and, as a result, from different batches. When ordering two or more components at the same time, they should be from the same anodizing batch and thus have the same hue.

Adding the Genesis GX clock

On two earlier occasions, I’ve experienced a change from a good crystal oscillator to a super-precise specimen. This was in the context of a high-end music server’s digital outputs. In these cases, the opposite happened of what one might expect. Common sense dictates that a higher accuracy clock will lead to higher precision, and in the audiophile mind, this may translate to the potential for a clinical sound with too much control. In both of my earlier experiences, however, the inverse happened, the sound actually became more fluid, refined, and free-flowing. In other words, instead of becoming more electronic, it actually became more organic.

So, what would happen when the Genesis GX Clock is added to the Bonn NX? Well, once again, Silent Angel deviates from earlier experiences.

As soon as the Genesis GX clock was connected and the music played, I smashed my mental “Instant Like” button. The clock takes immediate control and pulls everything into focus. The presentation becomes tighter, more upbeat, cleaner, more precise, and more transparent. There’s more control but not so much that the music is suffocated. Instead, the inverse happens; the music actually pulls me in that much more.

The difference is truly remarkable, especially given that we’re talking about a clock feeding a network switch. But sure enough, upon repeated tests, there’s no getting around what I heard. With the clock, the sound is considerably crisper, even stabler, and significantly better focused. In this application, instead of adding a more organic feeling, the clock seems to do precisely what one expects from a high-precision clock, which is to bring order to the proceedings!

The NX was already robust and energetic, but with the addition of the Genesis GX, it sounds even crisper and more impactful. The bass is better defined, tighter, and more incisive, yet still very much planted and solid, and far from lean or gray. Likewise, the midrange is cleaner and more neutral but still well-saturated and harmonically rich.

Even with the addition of the GX, I detect no changes in the size of the soundstaging or the overall ambiance. However, now, I do hear higher inherent precision! And along with it, an increase in silence between the notes but, importantly, while retaining the decay, fluidity and flow.

While the duo’s presentation remains tonally full-bodied, the Genesis GX clock has pulled the sound significantly more toward neutral than with the N8 Pro or the NX alone. Whereas the N8 Pro was polite and slightly restrained, the NX + GX combo is impressively visceral and engagingly communicative. Mind you, the combo is certainly never harsh or obtrusive but simply engagingly open and lively. And just as with the NX by itself, the GX avoids instilling a sense of listening to a tweaked-out audiophile system. Instead, even more so than with the NX alone, the combo’s presentation is punchy, planted, earthy, direct-coupled, and dynamically expressive, and as a result, actually more akin to being at a live music event.

Tweaking

As has become a bit of a standard part of my reviews, I tried a range of Ansuz Darkz footers with the NX and GX. The C2T is the most affordable model, but still, their effect was immediately audible and given the relatively modest cost, I consider them well worth adding. The T2 provided a tighter and more articulate sound but also instilled a bit of dryness while slightly reducing the components’ inherent organic nature. The T2S, finally, provided the best balance between enhanced precision and retaining the musical flow. But on balance, I can’t say they truly transformed the sound, and in light of their cost, it can be argued that the money might be better spent elsewhere.

Overall, there’s a lot to say for just sticking with the standard footers. They may not extract the maximum detail, but they do provide a very good balance, and for that reason, I used the units with their own footers for this review.

But if there’s room in the budget and your personal preferences mirror mine, the good news is that I did not hear any benefit in adding a second set of Darkz between the Switch and the Clock, so you’ll be done with a single set of 3 for the two components.

Using a CD Transport

Why include CD Transport? It does not even have a network connection?! Indeed, very true, but over the course of my network switch reviews, I discovered that the entire system responds to this, not just servers and streamers. Why? I’ve no conclusive answer, but I imagine all components influence one another via earth or the power connections. But to be honest, while I am curious to know the precise mechanism behind this, ultimately, I don’t really care as the listening results are all I need.

To be fair, I cannot say with any certainty if it is indeed the Aqua CD transport itself that responds most to the change in network switches. It might as well be one of the networked CH Precision components or a combination of it all. But what I can say with certainty is that I can hear a clear difference in sound between the system connected to my standard switch and when connected to the Silent Angel NX+GX combo. With the latter in place, and using a CD source, the sound is tighter, cleaner, more direct, more expressive, and, as a result, more convincing.

Back to basic

After listening to the NX and GX combo and returning to my standard Linksys switch, the sound feels rather pale and devoid of color, drive, and substance. The reduction in solidity and drive was expected. But what I did not expect was for the sound to become so indistinct and blurry.

Ouch!

I’ve heard other audiophile switches that amazed me with their capabilities in various areas, but so far, my humble switch has stood its ground in matters of articulation, crispness, and neutrality. Because I value these matters very highly, I stuck with the standard switch all this time. Yet, compared to the Silent Angel NX + GS combo, the standard switch may still be relatively more neutral, but it severely lacks focus, jump factor, and overall conviction.

Oh dear. How much are they again?

Conclusion

So far, all the Network Switches I reviewed have a particular character, and the Silent Angel Switches are no exception. The Silent Angel “house sound” can be described as earthy and full-bodied, and tonally deeply saturated. The Bonn N8 Pro is smooth and relaxed and particularly inoffensive. The Bonn NX, however, is on a different level. The NX retains all the charm and fullness of the N8 Pro but sounds tauter, crisper, punchier, and more expressive. When the Genesis GX Clock is added, the full potential is unleashed, and the presentation becomes tighter, more upbeat, cleaner, more precise, and more transparent while retaining the tonal saturation and the lyrical and emotional aspects of the music.

Yes, the price of the NX+GX combo may be prohibitive, but there is no denying the performance. If a visceral, robust, dynamically expressive, and, most of all, realistic sound is what you are after, the NX+GX combo truly delivers.

After I recovered from the sticker shock, I decided I did not want to return to my simple switch anymore and just had to bite the bullet. An NX+GX pair is on order in stylish silver. I can’t wait!

Associated Equipment

External Links

Manufacturer: Silent Angel
Distributor for the BeNeLux: Dimex

Related Posts

Network Acoustics tempus

Ansuz PowerSwitch X-TC3 and D3

Ansuz Darkz Resonance Control

Network Acoustics MUON Pro Ethernet Filter

Ansuz Mainz8 D2 and Mainz8 D-TC Power Distributors

Ansuz Sparkz and Sortz

R.T.F.S. Stripe

R.T.F.S. Ceiling Vane and Carreau