NAD C-388 w/BluOS2i WiFi Connectivity

Registered an account here just because this thread solved months' worth of frustration. I have the 2i MDC in my C368 primarily for streaming music, and it's been a nightmare getting it to stay linked to my network and to Spotify Connect. NAD's support just reiterates the same "reboot it" then "it's Spotify's fault" every time I've sent in error logs. 

If you're reading this in the future and the Wi-Fi is giving you grief, find any way to get an ethernet cable in your 2i MDC possible. I took an old router and set up a wireless ethernet bridge in 5 minutes, and now it works flawlessly. Most modern WiFi networks are centered around 5GHz, and even when I'd force my phone to get on the same 2.4GHz channel as the 2i's WiFi dongle, I'd would still experience frequent disconnects and drops, or sync issues between what Spotify was supposed to be playing vs. what the MDC was playing. 

I'm not thrilled this $500 product has such a cheap WiFi dongle that doesn't support 5GHz, but after hours of troubleshooting, configuring router settings, and turning receivers and routers off and on dozens of times, save yourself the headache and get a WiFi ethernet bridge if you can't hardwire it directly. 

The main difference will be interface. With a DAC playing a thumb drive, you are at the mercy of that DAC's interface (on-screen vs app-based, remote vs no remote etc.). If you have a huge amount of music, and depending on the thumb drive's folder structure and DAC's interface etc., it may be cludgey to navigate.

With a PC, you use the Application of your choice and can control it in a number of ways... physically manipulating the laptop, wireless keyboard with laptop hooked up to a large screen, or even using a mobile app to control the PC app etc. From a PC you can also access the internet and all streaming services.

I have a dedicated PC in my 2-channel setup and another dedicated PC in my HT setup... it's hard to go back once you're spoiled like this. PCs can do... everything :) And you can get good refurbs for super cheap nowadays.

I'm having insanely frustrating issues with my NAC C368 dropping wifi connection and have been going back and forth with NAD support on this for almost 3 months now with a solution. Before picking up the NAD C368, I was using an older (all analog) NAD amp with a BlueSound Node 2i in the exact same location, and the Node had almost zero issues with staying connected to the wifi. The C368 drops connection all the time. The only conclusion I can come to is that NAD really cheaped out (or just had terrible luck) in picking the wifi connectivity hardware for this, and it's crazy to me that they haven't worked out a solution yet - like, here's a firmware upgrade and a new dongle? Short of a hardwired connection, the best solution I have found has been to use an old Apple Airport Express as a network bridge - I have the Airport Express connected to the wifi network, and then connect it to the NAD C368 with a ethernet cable, and the NAD works just fine. 

I would LOVE to swap in a different USB wifi dongle and have this work as well as the Bluesound Node 2i did. Is there any chance anyone has figured out a way to do this, or sorted out a reason why it's not possible?  

@squashsquash  -  I was able to find a 3rd party Wi-Fi dongle that works great (going for a week strong at the far end of my house opposite the router).  it's available on amazon and cheap.  though, it's super bulky.  As I understand, the necessary compatibility requirement is the Qualcomm Atheros AR9271 chipset.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FVRKCZJ

given that, there's another device that works as well, but equally bulky. TP-Link TL-WN722N (MUST BE version 1.x, higher versions use different chipset). There are some available on ebay, I don't know a great way to tell version by packaging / UPC alone.. 
 

@dryfiboy good to know, thanks for posting! How's you come to find this solution? I'll probably order one just to test it out. In the meantime, I have had good results using an old Apple Airport Express as a wifi bridge, so your solution is certainly less bulky than that.