This is a review and detailed measurements of the ARX RS-1 Remote Switcher. Strangely the back says "Remote SwitcherAB-19" so not sure what is the right model number. It was kindly purchased and drop shipped to me by a member. The RS-1 costs US $273. The website says "HANDMADE IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA."
This is an industrial looking piece which hints at their traditional market:
It is nice that by default Channel A is active so if there is a power loss, etc., you can count on that input being live. To switch to Channel B, you must supply power for the internal relay. There are two methods: that power input and then shorting the two left terminals. I tried that but it did not switch. I had to string together different connectors so maybe that was the issue. The alternate method of just feeding 12 volts to the right two terminals worked. Note that it drew about 40 milliamps so make sure your source can supply this much current. Otherwise you have to put yet another relay in front of this one to trigger an external power source.
Switcher Audio Measurements
Our goal here is transparency so let's feed the unit 4 volts balanced and see what the input to output loss is:
This is exceptional response so if there is a loss, it is incredibly small.
Signal to noise ratio is superb as well:
As is crosstalk:
We are basically measuring the analyzer performance itself.
Frequency response just the same is ruler flat:
To detect how much crosstalk there is between the two inputs, I fed the unselected one 4/12 volts and measured how much it bled into the output:
The heading is a bit wrong. The bleeding is from unselected channel to output. But result is the same. If you have signal coming out of the unselected input, fair bit of will bleed into the other channel. This is probably the spec for the relay they are using. If you play back at 80 dB and higher, you may be able to hear the unselected input.
A solution to this is to turn off the unselected input using some kind of automation.
Conclusions
The RS-1 is fully transparent from input to output as a passive switch should be. There is some bleeding of one channel into another and you get to decide if that is too much for you or not. Despite being rather expensive, I am going to recommend the RS-1 for its robust construction and remote control ability.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Getting more reviews out of the way so I can go back to evaluating my headphone measuring gear. Meanwhile, you can help by donating generously using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
This is an industrial looking piece which hints at their traditional market:
It is nice that by default Channel A is active so if there is a power loss, etc., you can count on that input being live. To switch to Channel B, you must supply power for the internal relay. There are two methods: that power input and then shorting the two left terminals. I tried that but it did not switch. I had to string together different connectors so maybe that was the issue. The alternate method of just feeding 12 volts to the right two terminals worked. Note that it drew about 40 milliamps so make sure your source can supply this much current. Otherwise you have to put yet another relay in front of this one to trigger an external power source.
Switcher Audio Measurements
Our goal here is transparency so let's feed the unit 4 volts balanced and see what the input to output loss is:
This is exceptional response so if there is a loss, it is incredibly small.
Signal to noise ratio is superb as well:
As is crosstalk:
We are basically measuring the analyzer performance itself.
Frequency response just the same is ruler flat:
To detect how much crosstalk there is between the two inputs, I fed the unselected one 4/12 volts and measured how much it bled into the output:
The heading is a bit wrong. The bleeding is from unselected channel to output. But result is the same. If you have signal coming out of the unselected input, fair bit of will bleed into the other channel. This is probably the spec for the relay they are using. If you play back at 80 dB and higher, you may be able to hear the unselected input.
A solution to this is to turn off the unselected input using some kind of automation.
Conclusions
The RS-1 is fully transparent from input to output as a passive switch should be. There is some bleeding of one channel into another and you get to decide if that is too much for you or not. Despite being rather expensive, I am going to recommend the RS-1 for its robust construction and remote control ability.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Getting more reviews out of the way so I can go back to evaluating my headphone measuring gear. Meanwhile, you can help by donating generously using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
