Wireless genius required

An Apple Airport Express is an example.  It will link to your wifi, and it has an ethernet port.

+1 for Airport Express. I've been running my Unitiserve/Superuniti like this for some time as a wired connection to the router would be difficult. Set the Airport Express to 'Extend a wireless network' in Airport Utility settings, and connect it to your HDX. If you need to connect other devices too, get a switch and connect everything, including the AE, to that. If I can do it, you don't need to be a genius!

Another vote for the Airport Express, which I'm using to connect my UnitiServe wirelessly to my existing network. Just be sure when you install the AE, to select the 'Join an existing network' option, as Chris mentions. Otherwise the AE defaults to creating a new network.

Enjoy !

Jan

Thanks guys!

Sounds much easier than i'd expected - have just been to the Apple Store!

Andy

Have just set up Airport Express - took no more than 5 mins and everything's now working perfectly - what a relief!

Thanks for the advice guys

I found that the built in WiFi in my Superuniti was incapable of reliable performance over a solid wireless network. Nothing I did would persuade it to maintain its connection, and 24/192 was a non starter. An Airport Express tucked behind the SU could maintain a wireless connection to my router, and fed my SU via a short Ethernet cable. With my wireless router in the right position in the next room, 24/192 over WiFi was just possible. So I'd say it's worth trying. Better still, if you can put your NAS close enough to this setup to connect it as well, via a switch. Then you should get 24/192 streaming with no problems, and greater stability.

The old style AE that plugs direct into a wall socket works fine, and used ones are cheap if you want to try it. As Wat says, there are non-apple equivalents; I dare say they'll work well too, and probably cost less.

Another advantage of the AE is that you can add an additional optical connection from there to your streamer. This is a great low-fi solution, for low -fi sources, such as the new Apple Music streaming service, if you fancy giving their 3 month free trial a go.

I think the extra explanations have probably already answered your concerns JSH, but here's some extra background that may help or at least may confirm that you've got it the right way round...

We are talking about using a wireless bridge to replace a single point-to-point Ethernet wire here (not quite the same use case as a wifi range extender). You might have a wired network near your home hub router with, say, a switch that you use for a NAS, a printer, a workstation, and whatever else.  Upstairs, or at least inconveniently far away, you have your Naim streamer. You can connect this to your Ethernet network (and, via your home hub router/modem to the Internet) via its wifi...but as you say, it can be problematic and sometimes unreliable. Replacing the Naim wifi with a wireless bridge really does improve things - whether due to naim's wifi implementation or otherwise is somewhat irrelevant IMHO. 

So now you buy a gizmo (I gave three devices I have personally used wiith excellent results as examples: an Apple Airport Express, an Asus RT-N66, and a TP Link RE200) and you locate it close to your Naim, connect this gizmo to your wifi network and then connect your Naim to the gizmo using an Ethernet cable. The Naim now thinks it's on a wired network (because it is...) and the gizmo acting as a wireless bridge saves you the work of pulling an awkward cable from your home hub and switch location to your listening location. This, of course, comes at the price of slower throughput than the wired option, but it can give most of what you need if the distances aren't too extreme, the walls aren't too thick, the high-res data banwidth isn't too high, or whatever. 

The confusing bit is that these gizmos are capable of operating in multiple modes - certainly as wifi bridges (the mode we've discussed) but also as wifi range extenders (or repeaters), which you'd place half way between the main wifi router/modem and your Naim and still connect via wifi to the (now stronger) signal. Of course the Asus is also a router in its own right, but that is a different story and not the easiest method to do what we need to do in the Naim scenario. The unconfusing bit is that we want the wireless bridge mode, and can choose that from the gizmo's web interface during setup. Thinking of it as a replacement for an Ethernet cable you choose not to pull is the easiest way forward. 

I hope oped this helps. In truth it's way easier to install than to describe! Buy from a place with a reasonable return policy and give it a go...if you're not happy, bite the bullet and pay to get an Ethernet cable pulled, knowing you've exhausted all other options. 

Regards, alan 

ps - on my Qute, the Apple Airport Express is well worth the price premium over the TP Link RE200 due to the optical digital out and the AirPlay connectivity, which open new doors to source selection. I don't think this is a low-fi extra since i think it supports red book cd rates, but that may be wrong; certainly it supports "lossy" streaming rates such as Spotify hi-quality with no trouble. 

jSH, as Alan says I think you should have most your answers, and great advice from Wat. Regarding 24/192 over wireless? The is certainly possible using the Apple Airport Express and with other access points supporting 802.11g (in almost perfect conditions) and 802.11n (in more normal conditions). The data bandwidth required for 24/192 is approx 10mbps. So if you have interference from electrical devices or are having to share radio spectrum for a given or neighbouring wifi channel you will almost certainly see 802..11g or even possibly 802.11n perform only with dropouts.

Assuming you don't have a wifi scanner, and you were getting occasional dropouts you could change the wifi Chanel on the wifi master access point (you could try 1 , 6,11, 14) to see if less dropouts occur. But to be fair 802.11g would be pushing it, better off with n or even 802.11ac if you can.

Simon

Alan, you're right that the AE optical connection will play 16/44 CD quality, but in my experience it still doesn't sound great. Not a problem, though, as of course this is in addition to the Ethernet connection, so proper CD and Hi-res is already dealt with by UPnP.

Many thanks to everyone for their advice.  I'm going to work on this over the next few days

JSH

I have ethernet ports located throughout my house in multiple locations, some in the same room as each other. 
However, they are not all "live" by default. The other end of the cable actually needs to be plugged into the router or switch possibly using patch cables to connect the ports to the system.
In my case, this is because I have so many ethernet ports, to have them all "live" would require a massively complex and expensive load of kit!
You might find that whoever installed your ethernet/network can simply "patch in" the other end of the cable, so it becomes live.
Your new Apple Express might not be required......

Please forgive what may be a very stupid question.  If it is, my apologies.

After all the wonderful advice, I was about to go and try an Airport Express.  But, do I need it?

My house is 3 years old with multiple phone points.  The Openreach Master socket is in the centre of the house and has two holes, of which one has the DSL cable running to the BT HomeHub5 router, which runs BT Infinity 1 fibre.  The other socket in the masterSocket is an ordinary phone connector I think. 

My Qute2 is in another room. Near it is a phone output which currently connects to the SKY HD+ box.

Now the question (at last you say).  If I run a cable from the router to the (phone) socket on the Master socket and then connect the Qute to the phone socket behind it (stuff Sky, they get enough out of me without free marketing advice) will that actually be a wired connection and will it give me more reliable connectivity than the current wireless. 

Or have I got all this ethernet cabling business totally round my ears?  Quite possibly

Many thanks

The cables and connectors for phone lines and Ethernet are different, so usually this won't work. But if your phone in now all voice-over-IP, and all your phone points are really Ethernet points then the connection may match (ie you will be able to physically plug it in) - but you'll need help from Sky to make the connection work properly because the router is almost certainly managing three separate networks simultaneously operating over your single physical infrastructure - one for Internet, one for TV, and one for telephone. It is very unusual for providers such as Sky to give you complete administrative privileges on their router, and even when they do, you have to really know what you're doing to keep everything working optimally. 

TL;DR : even in the event that you can plug it into the phone point, it likely won't work as you wish, but you won't break anything if you give it a try. 

Regards, alan 

Thanks Alan.  The key for me was the last sentence; I don't want to break anything.  I don't know if all the phone points are VOIP or not. 

The router is a BT not Sky.  The phone connection to the Sky box is just for SkyHD updates and marketing I was told

I'm going to pluck up courage and plug it all together and see; and if it doesn't work go down to PC World for the Apple

Once again many thanks

Right! Sorry I got mixed up with the in-house providers you're using.

If it turns out that you have a regular Ethernet connection right where you want it, then you can unplug the Sky thing, replace it with a switch, then plug both the Qute and the Sky thing into the switch. Think of the switch as a multi-point power strip, which lets you plug several things into a single electrical socket...same concept.

There would be ways to check this first if you are comfortable to log into your BT router and check status information (eg you could see the IP address of the Sky box), but it is likely to be as quick for you to unplug one thing and plug in another.

Note also that if this works and you add the switch, then you will have another wired port for other stuff, like your laptop, a silent NAS, an extra wifi access point, or any of the other amazing things people have been talking about on here...but your focus on wiring in your Qute is perfect as an important first step. 

Regards alan

ps - remember you have to power cycle the Qute after connecting the Ethernet cable to get it to switch from wifi to wired

After all the wonderful advice here, for which my sincere thanks, I think I will buy an Apple Express.  I'm going for the new one rather than one off ebay (cheap thought they are) because it has two ports and I'll fit my Nas drive to it.  The reason is that Hungry Halibut, in another thread, reckoned that wired sound was superior to wireless; I'm not sure why though.  I should then get the AE feeding the Qute2 for internet radio wirelessly but my stored music streamed from the NAS to the Qute by wire.  Does that all make sense?

I get 24/96 feeds OK at the moment but 24/192 stutters a little.  I'm hoping a wired feed will solve that

You need to connect the Qute and the NAS to a switch. Then add an AE to the switch and use that for the Internet radio. You cannot conect the NAS directly to the Qute. Well, actually you can, with a special cable, but there is no need. 

My my router is actually quite close to my stereo but even then, internet radio was flaky. Interestingly, since getting a new Asus router, I've dispensed with my Airport, and the system is rock solid. Router to switch, and switch to NAS and SU. 

I have recently started using an Airport Express solely for Iradio and its been working perfectly . The  

AE is connected wirelessly to my BTHH5 and then I use an ethernet cable into my streamer . I have been researching ethernet cables this evening and it seems I may need a switch as well ? Even though its working fine there may be a better way to set it up  ?

Peter .

Pete, do as I suggested above. A Netgear gs105 is what you need. £18.

Will do . Thanks .

Peter's set up pretty much mirrors mine except that I do not yet have the AE.  The Qute picks up iRadio wirelessly direct from the router.  Usually it's good.  For me the flakiness is with Minim and the UpnP

I think I shall follow HH's solution.  Because of the locations, the AE will have to connect wirelessly to the BT HH5, but wiring the Qute2, NAS and the AE to the Netgear switch should improve reliability and SQ; right?

Thanks

JSH

For me, there was certainly an all round improvement in sound quality going from wireless to wired from server to streamer, even though I still use WiFi to connect to the router for iRadio etc.