Qute2 keeps dropping network connection

Alan, most if not all Naim devices will only activate the wireless if the wired Ethernet port has no signal on it, that is it's not connected to another active device like a switch or a router. So its one or the other.

however you are right the wireless interface will have a different physical layer 2 address (MAC address) than the wired connection, so if you plan for different configs,  then yes you should reserve against both addresses.

however I am intrigued, if you are reserving addresses you are still using DHCP.. So there is no great advantage.

if your DHCP operation is unreliable, then a work around is to manually assign the IP (Layer3) address of the Naim, on the Naim itself. Use an address that is free and outside the DHCP assignable range of IP addresses.

Just obviously ensure the new address is in the same subnet as your router

[ if your subnet mask ends in .0 , you have 254 possible IP addresses to use in the last IP address number.. Ie 192.168.1.X  with subnet mask 255.255.255.0   means  X can be between 1 and 254 if not being used elsewhere or in the DHCP range. ]

Simon

Er, could Naim just make a streamer which works with an ordinary router in an ordinary domestic set-up.  Is that so difficult?  Given that they can't even make the USB input of any great use, it obviously is

I am sure Simon's stuff is right, and thanks to him for offering something to those more au fait than me, but it could be in Urdu for the enlightenment it gives me!

Greetings from my own side of the Atlantic. Thanks for the summary, your explanations are clear Simon. I should just close what I've accidentally started by saying that I've never traced an issue to DHCP, and use reserved addresses for some equipment mainly to ensure I can mount devices by IP (that's the only way I know how to ensure I get the AFP:// mount to a non-Apple drive established reliably to  establish a TimeMachine since the auto discovery or device name is too late). Haha, pretty sure I've opened a new topic instead of letting this one rest! Your network knowledge (and the server and pi info) is awesome, I enjoy your posts very much. Regards alan

Alan, thank you, you are welcome.

Simon

@JSH: I have some mystifying Qute2 wireless behaviour, sounds similar to what you are experiencing. I'll try and type it all out this evening when I get a break. I had a similar problem many months ago in a different property (which one day just 'stopped'!)

hafler3o

Many thanks.  Look forward to it

I'm still observing mine.  Very odd.  Apparently "dead" this morning but when I switched input (iRadio>UpNP>iradio) it leapt into life and has been fine since.  Goes down overnight but not during the day.  Looking at n-Stream and the server to see if they have any influence.

For Damon, Alan and others

Last night's experiment was to switch off n-Stream after I've finished playing my music.  Usually, I simply let a track run to "stopped" and leave it at that

This morning everything perfect when I switched on n-Stream again. Router feed seems perfect for both internet and music - Audiophile Classical[recommended] - working perfectly.  So it's not a "crappy router" as some suggested with little evidence

So I'm coming to the conclusion that it's an n-Stream Qute issue for me

I also have intermittent network issues with a Qute2. Setup is as follows:

• Firmware 3.22
• Wirelessly connected with fixed IP address to good quality router (D-Link DIR-655 running as access point connected wired to Netgear WNDR3700 router). BT Infinity broadband.
• No n-stream: using a combination of BubbleUPnP/UPnP Play/Namote/Logitech Media Server app. (Naim, where is the Android n-stream? :-) )
• Using a variety of servers. Main server in Minim on Synology NAS transcoding FLAC to WAV24, also using Logitech Media Server on Synology and Windows, and Asset on Windows.
• The NAS is set to power off and automatically reboot overnight.

The problem is that the Qute regularly reports "No Network" when I start a listening session. The display says "Press OK to reconnect." In my case, the network nearly always reconnects this way and it is not necessary to power cycle. So, it's annoying (mainly because the display itself is out of sight and not easily accessible) but not the end of the world. Perhaps this is related to the NAS power-off but I haven't been able to narrow it down.

What is perhaps more annoying are the obvious buffering problems that the Qute has when using iRadio. I was listening to 6Music over the weekend, for example, which is not a high bitrate stream, and the Qute was cutting out regularly. The disappointing thing is that I also have a Squeezebox Receiver connected to digital in on the Qute, and it has no problems whatsoever with Internet radio playing the same streams connected to the same access point in the same location and therefore getting the same wireless signal. The Squeezebox also never drops the network connection...

I cannot easily get a wired connection to the Qute so while I have been avoiding doing so until now I think i will have to try and see if power over mains is more reliable.

Adrian

Welcome to the group Adrian.  Sorry that you have to join us if you see what I mean!

Your descriptions of "No Network connection" pretty much mirror my own, though I'm not having too much problem with iRadio, either R3 at 320 or Audiophile Classical at 320. 

It's the connection thing overnight for me.  Overnight and not during the day; Odd.  My NAS does not shut off overnight and reboot.  You might start by turning that off and see what happens

There seems as much chance of Naim producing an Android controller as there is of them making the USB connection less of a Public Convenience and more of a convenience as they claim it is.  Their boxes sound wonderful but the rest of the outfit seems pretty deaf to me

Like you, I'd prefer to use my Samsung phone than an iPhone but I'm ploughing on with n-Stream at the moment on a process of elimination.  if I get it to work with n-Stream I will then turn that off and try with UpNPlay and Namote

Meanwhile if you have any success with your experiments let us all know

Though I profess to have no idea as to what's coming down the pike, perhaps the release of new lifestyle streaming products next month might bring an updated n-Stream for Android-or not....

It all sounds rather fishy to me.

No - I really don't.  It just seems to make sense.

When you think of a better fish pun, let minnow.

To keep a long story short I have the same behaviour as detailed by AdrianP but don't have iRadio enabled. I keep the USB input enabled to cycle sources in order to kick-start the Qute into streaming again. My Qute exhibits the behaviour of working perfectly whilst playing music, no breaks, blips etc. However if the Qute is left not playing music it will slowly move backwards through the directory tree ie. say I'm playing the final track of Midnight Oil's 'Breathe' CD. When the track finishes and you hit display button on the RC you see the final track scrolling. Go away for 30 min to 2 hrs it might show the album amongst all the others by Midnight Oil, a few more hours and it's now showing the 'My Music' folder, by morning it's showing the Nas device or No Server message or worst of all No network. It must be mentioned during all this a SuperUniti connected in the same wireless manner, to the same NAS, by the same Router, using the same settings, will remain rock solid and has since I switched it on 6 weeks ago after moving house, the SU has not missed a beat.

this morning despite cycling the inputs and checking in 'network settings' that the Qute was connected wirelessly to my home modem (crappy SFR Neufbox!) the device refused to connect as there was no network apparently. the only way to get it to work was to reenter the network key, just like the old days In my previous property!

All control is via the RC as the iPad cannot reach the network from the room the Qute is in, there are no wireless repeaters or other fancy kit, the SU and Qute show near identical signal strength and quality but are in different areas (40 / 90 on average) today I fixed the wireless channel on the Neufbox, instead of it being Auto. All address assignments are dynamic, but they've not changed afaik.

Brilliant observations hafler3o

Your experience matches mine and explains why I have no problems during the day when the iRadio is on and it's only overnight when the connection is lost.  It also seems to me to go some way to explaining the issues Alan has too

So what's the answer?

• Well we could wait for Naim to get this thing to work properly; but we haven't got that long (They proudly say they supply hifi for Bentley cars; I'll bet Bentley cars work, and you just sit in them and drive, just like you should just sit down and listen to a Qute)
• So, ruling that out; I found last night actually turning off n-Stream and effectively shutting down the Qute rather than just letting the music finish seemed to work.  I'll try the same with Namote and UPnPlay tonight and report back.  It's a kludge but it's better than rebooting
• I wonder if switching to iRadio before turning off will fool it into thinking it's still got music coming, and would certainly stop the regression back hafler3o describes.  (I suppose any other input with no music list would work too)  I'll try that tomorrow night (Switch to iradio, hit stop with the RC so no music is flowing.)  But another kludge
• Listen to Radio Alan!  Are you on the Naim Choice list at all?

Let's beat this bloody thing in the end

JSH

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...99#29865740429700099

Hi JSH, I don't think trying to switch to iRadio will help, the link above includes a reference to a conversation with Steve Harris of Naim and he suggested I switch to Analogue after streaming but it made no difference. I'm not sure what did but I remember trying a few haphazard things and then the problem just seemed to stop by itself. It may have a hairline crack or dry joint in the wireless receiver area, sometimes the signal strength goes to zero with a light touch to the aerial, but again can we trust the readout!?

Can Naim now solve this bug?

Hafler3o's approach seemed to work.  I switched to Analogue, turned everything off in Namote and went to bed.  This morning switched back to UPnP and everything is there.

So the regression Hafler3o and the rest of us here has observed seems to be arrested.

Over to Naim.  And while they're doing this one, could they make the USB slightly less useless too and of course give us an Android n-Stream.  I have to say that i ma not holding my breath given my experience of them so far

Just another little bit of info. to add to the stack. Yesterday I set the Qute to play random tracks from the 'all tracks' folder. After playing for 12 hrs I paused the random track at 11:30 last night (about half way through). This morning the Qute woke from the exact position I left it in and resumed without all the network faff. I shall be pausing my listening sessions from now on to see if this eliminates the strange behaviour.

I'm thinking of re-naming Analogue to "Off" as so far it has worked as an off button!

Greetings all,

Here's my report after a few days playing with my troubled Qute by adding a "known awesome" Asus router as a simple access point to my home network (post above in this thread has my initial configuration). 

First the the good news: wired access via the gig-E switch worked a treat, no issues noted after extensive testing and fooling around and doing higher-than-usual network traffic as an attempt at a stress test. "Radio Alan" just worked...all day, all night, during NAS scans and file copying, etc. 

Second the bad news: wifi access via the Asus in access point mode was not better than just using the Sagemcom broadband router supplied by my ISP. Signal was 100%, quality as high as 75 and as low as mid-40's (from three feet away). Buffer on WAV streams routinely dropped to zero causing hiccups; sometimes the shuffle-all-songs would just stop; sometimes while stopped the Qute responded immediately to remote control "play" (ie was still connected) and other times unit displayed "network starting" or "connecting please wait" messages. 

There are a few other observations, but I'll leave it at that for now. 

Next step (not immediately) will be to set up a small network with the Asus in full router mode by connecting the NAS to the switch and disconnecting from my broadband. That way I guess I will have tested the main possibilities (even though routing and other functions worked fine when managed by the ISP broadband modem/router as long as the Qute was in a wired configuration). 

Thats it it for now, more later. 

Regards alan

Same issues here. I have been owning UQ2 for 3 months already and haven’t come across this much erratic behavior during the iRadio playback. In last two days there have been way too many dropouts and of course measly buffer levels. 320 kb and 128 kb stations are alike. DHCP is on yet it seems Qute cannot get along with the router anymore.   

I have no NAS. Qute is connected to a solid NetGear router via Cat6e Ethernet cable. Firmware 3.21. More than 100 MB broadband.

Having read this thread as well as some posts about network and set up issues I thank myself again that I did not go down to NAS route. iPod playback is very good via AQ Carbon USB. That’s the best Upnp implementation ever   

Alan,

Your experience is very similar to mine.

I switched my Qute2 to a powerline connector and it has been running solidly for the last few days -- no dropping the network connection, and no dropouts in iRadio or playing back music from the NAS transcoded to 24 bit WAV. It appears that dropping the network connection does not, therefore, have anything to do with my NAS shutdown/reboot overnight so I have left that as is. This does not cause any problems when the Qute is on the powerline.

What does appear to be the case is that the Qute2 has problems maintaining a network connection over wireless, even with a strong wireless signal, and that the buffering algorithm used with wireless is not smart enough to avoid dropouts.

Over the evidence of the past few days I will be leaving my Qute on the powerline connection rather than waste any more time troubleshooting wireless, but it does appear that Naim need to look into these wireless issues that are being experienced by several customers.

Adrian

Again the Qute2 was left overnight paused in between tracks and not stopped at the end, and again it started up immediately.. 

Naim must look at this.  Will they? We'll see but on past experience I'm not holding my breath

Adrian, I agree entirely about the Qute not being well enough designed to hold the wireless or the buffer.  Try a 24/192 and it breaks up all the time.  Hence my plea to Paul Stephenson of Naim for an improvement of the USB input which does hold.  But so far, I have just been fobbed off which I don't think is very good PR or customer support by Naim, especially from the MD

But good news for me is that Hafler3o's observations about the Naim regressing and then showing "No Network" overnight (see earlier posts) have given me a solution.  I have switched the machine to Analogue before going to bed, and next morning when I switch to iRadio or UPnp it has worked perfectly with n-Stream, Namote/UPnPlay and with the RC.  So in the interest of neatness I have renamed Analogue to "off" and I now "switch off" the Qute when I finish a session.  A kludge but better than the kerfuffle of rebooting.  So thanks Hafler3o and everyone else for your help

But we need to keep going with this so that we can poke Naim into some action