New streamer needed

Few observations:

- Do a wifi speed test near your router, and then where your streamer will be to determine whether you need anything to enhance speed (i.e., to get an idea of how much speed you lose with distance).

- A dongle is just a design feature; a Raspberry Pi has wifi capability without the need for a dongle.  The three wifi streamers i currently use all have dongles.  It’s just how they implement wifi.

- If you need something to enhance speed, I don’t see any reason why your original thought - TP Link with extender - wouldn’t work.  I use the mesh system network rather that my router’s network because I have 3 floors and my router is in the basement.  

Hope that helps.

oh, one more thought, to emphasize.  You don’t need to spend alot for wifi streamers.  Am pretty sure that all 5 of the units unde $1k I mentioned do wifi.  Finally, I highly recommend you keep the server separate from the streamer. just as you’re keeping the dac separate from the streamer.  

I am happy with my Innous streamer.

Does anyone know if a higher end wifi streamer is better able to 'neutralize'  the lower quality of the wireless connection (vs wired) than a cheaper streamer?

Probably not. What’s the speed on wifi you’re getting there?