Huh? I have a pfSense firewall, a 16 port PoE switch, and several MacBook mini servers. All in the living room. They are all essentially silent (since that was a hard requirement for me). Silent (and good) gear definitely exists for spaces that require it.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Whiny in a sense that it is capable of sending notifications (that are of little importance).

True, especially if the setup is directly in the living space.

I'm not familiar with any of OP's components, but it's absolutely possible to have a silent setup.

In my case, I have an HP EliteDesk (salvage from work) that does the routing, etc, which is dead quiet, and it's connected to a fanless Brocade (Ruckus) switch. There's no coil while or anything. The most annoying parts are the blinking lights, which I fixed with some red tape.

Whiny? There’s no noise, it doesn’t make any sound (no moving parts/fans, including electrical noise)