You may start with checking what is your WiFi performance. Is it reliable? Indeed high speed? Does not lose connection to the router periodically? There are software tools for this.
Repeater/extenders are evil!
As highly recommended by dCS, I had the Xfinity tech move the router/modem to near the DAC and Streamer. All he had to do was run the coax line around the outside of the house and connect it to an existing cable coax that was already there in the wall. It took about an hour and only cost me $70 for the service call.
Guess if you have no existing wall port, it would be fairly simple to drill and create one. Maybe in that case there would be a bit more cost.
But go for it!
For decades, I was a die hard analog guy. Previously, I only used my DAC for TV. Music was way digital sounding. Edgy, hard, disturbing. No more.
It still does not sound more organic than analog, but I now find myself enjoying streaming and not listening much to my TT. I am finally enjoying the benefits of digital. Even though not perfect, the soul of the artists shine through.
If you are connecting by using an extender, get rid of it and hard wire directly to your modem/router.
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I don’t think anyone’s too worried about signal strength/drops when they have a 1gbps connection and hefty modems/routers these days...it’s the noise...
For example... Call some hifi nerd on your cellphone. Borrow wife’s phone and call another hifi nerd. Set both active cellphones next to the wifi receiver of your hifi streaming device. Sit back at your listening position and see how it goes... |
Hey curiousjim: my placebo brain tells me that Powerline adapters make the power dirty in your house - I have used these for various applications in my house but always unplug them for serious listening - I ended up running a 60 foot Cat6 cable but I'm thinking of moving my modem instead, which would require running the coax cable to a spot near my hifi rig I also turn off my fridge and hot tub at the breaker box.... don't forget the dimmers as well |
@curiousjim It is not your ears but it may be your neighborhood!! :) A good Wifi signal can do justice to any music, but wifi signals do go bad. I’m lucky enough to live in a detached home with excellent wall to wall signal coverage and no channel conflicts with my neighbors. When I lived in an apartment complex I was not so lucky and every channel on either band was swamped. Some of those problems were made worse because of the Xfinity routers which put out separate SID’s for their mobile service in addition to the one you paid for, so twice as many signals would be out per router. I'm also lucky enough to have a dedicated Ethernet from my data closet to my TV and entertainment center as well as my work PC, and I absolutely use it.
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@mglik congrats on the new Aurender streamer!!! I have good news and not so good news for you. Good news - Aurender caches your streamed music to a large SSD cache Not so good news - Because the Aurender caches the songs and or playlists onto its built in SSD cache, as long as you have adequate download speed, bringing the router over and hard wiring from router to Aurender or using mesh network or a good extender will unlikely to make any audible difference, so you kind of spent $70 that you didn’t need to spend. But you have a piece of mind which is priceless. Enjoy!!! As a side note…I’ve never compared direct vs. mesh network but I can tell you I have absolutely no issues with the EERO strategically placed around the house. |
Today, my Aurender W20SE arrives! Looking forward to a major improvement in SQ. But just using the built in streamer in my dCS Lina DAC it sounds really good after hard wiring. So much so that now for two days I have listened only to digital. Am accepting the deficiencies of digital and enjoying all the benefits. I have gone over to the dark side! Going down the digital rabbit hole, I have watched many YouTubes. Took a small step by ordering two tweaks from Amazon Prime. The Ifi LAN Silencer for $89 and their upscale wall wart for $69. If they don’t work I will send them back. Does anyone have experience with the Synergistic Research Network Switch and Router? These each are about $2K. I do not particularly care for that company. |
Maybe it’s my ears, but I don’t think I can hear any difference between my Netgear Nighthawk hard wired or WiFi. My current streamer doesn’t have WiFi, so I’m using a Netgear Powerline PLP2000 with great success.
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@erik_squires sure. but the amount of money we spend on equipment here, using wifi seems to me to be a poor choice. It's like buying a Ferrari when all you have for fuel is diesel and you have to detune it to 140 hp. I spent a lot of time and money upgrading my wireless, not for audio, but for normal use. and when I started streaming I didn't have a good way to run a wire to my audio location. So I was wireless for a while. I didn't figure out a way to get a wire to my system for longer than I had intended so finally I ran a wire across the floor and plugged it in to test it--to see if it was worth all the trouble. It was probably the biggest upgrade of any tweek I've done. And there will be those that say "But...error correction" But "FTP"....but "etc". no, that isn't how streaming works. So now there is a wire, that is visible but not too bad, to my audio system. If you're better decorator than I am, consider putting it under the mob board or installing a chair rail. It is worth it. Jerry |
They are not at all evil... but getting Wifi working well from point A to point B is sometimes a challenge. I always recommend the use of a free Wifi analyzer to make sure your router is on uncongested channels and your signal strength is good. Of course, I also hard wire my critical gear like my work PC and TV and stereo to avoid any such issues, but not everyone can. |
That’s interesting. I’ve often read running hardwired from an extender sounds better than using Wi-Fi, but this is the first comparison I recall between using an extender and going direct from the router. Definitely food for thought, and thanks a lot for sharing your experience. And congrats on rediscovering digital! |