Naim Unitiqute 2 network issues

I suggest that you have your answer: find a way of running a wire. My Qb is only 5m from our (very powerful) router and yet it judders if there is a lot of wifi traffic, so I've had to resort to running a wire. See if you can find a way of doing it neatly. 

I ran external grade CAT 6 cable down the outside wall next to cable TV cable, neat and works a treat.

Nice idea Dave. I have satellite that runs from the attic through internal walls unfortunately.

I've made my peace with the situation anyway. Spotify behaved today with only 1 cutout in 2 hours. I'll have to accept that the wireless network connection is poor sometimes. It's only Spotify at least. Most times I'm connecting an iPod or hard drive so it's not like I'm without music or options. The joy of the unitiqute is there are so many ways to get it to play music. Spotify from my iPhone via bluetooth doesn't actually sound too bad.

I believe the Bluetooth receiver may be the same as the one Arcam use in their rblink in that it receives AAC losslessly. In theory it's no different to connecting your i device by cable and playing Spotify that way. 

Another thing I've noticed is that Spotify on the qute is a bit flat sounding anyway. Dynamics are poorer than usual in particular. Anyone else find this?

Newguy posted:

Thanks for your detailed answer. I may explore this route, I have seen an older g network Apple express that's not too expensive. Would this be sufficient do you think? Is an Airport express generally compatible with a regular wifi router, also g network? I don't know much about the airport express. Thanks.

Sorry to come late to this discussion but in case it helps you and others the g only Airport Express did not pass network traffic onto the Ethernet port. For this you need at least a first generation Airport Express that also supports 802.11n (in fact giving a/b/g/n support). I have posted how to do this under my Qb in the Kitchen topic.

By the way, strictly speaking, the Airport Express is not itself the bridge between the two Ethernet segments but the adapter that creates the client-side connection to the Wifi network that itself forms the bridge. If you are having network issues with the Qute then you might well have network issues with the Airport Express in the same location.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking might happen, I go the the hassle and extra expense of adding the express to find the same issue anyway. The location isn't really the issue I'm convinced, the unitiqute wifi reception isn't stable, simple as that. I can see it being addressed as one of the unitiqute 3s incremental upgrades. I'll continue with my workarounds for now until I run cable to it. Thanks for the advise.

Hi all,

I've not as yet had time to try any of the helpful suggestions as I've been pretty busy. What I have noticed however is that the network dropping issue seems to be exclusive to Spotify connect.

I've had a few extended iradio sessions, Naim radio and radio paradise streaming at 320. There have been zero dropouts, and only one or two very brief buffering stutters.

Is this an issue with Spotify connect so? It seems it can't handle anything but a perfectly solid stream. Any buffering, stuttering and it's dropping connection. Does the unitiqute 2 have any small amount of built in memory for buffering? Spotify pre downloads tracks as you listen to them. Perhaps this is the issue? Solid stream or suffer dropouts. Even if it would auto resume I wouldn't mind the occasional stop, but the input has to reboot, find connection again and requires you to manually start a track or album again. On other devices it might stop momentarily but then resumes playing automatically.

If iRadio is buffering less than 100% at times, it sounds to me as if you still have a network problem, not something specific to Spotify. Even a slow broadband connection should be able to maintain a full buffer with any of these streams quite easily.

I've been a bit misleading. The iradio stuttering only happens upon initial boot up, once running for a few minutes it's solid.

Not sure whether this helps or prolongs the discussion but I have very similar issues.  My UQ2 and Synology NAS are all hard wired through an unmanaged network switch.  This is the second UQ2 I have had since buying new in October when the first one had similar issues but Naim were excellent in replacing it hassle free - apparently there were a few that had issues with network cards.

All was fine until last week when the same thing started happening - the UQ2 stopped 'seeing' the NAS despite still being on the network (iRadio worked).  Rebooting and restarting did nada.

I spoke to Naim directly and they suggested it may be the UPnP software on the NAS which, being Synology, is their Audio Station.  True enough it needed an update but still didn't work straightaway and needed several reboots of both the NAS and the UQ2 to get them to play nicely.  Everything else on the network is stable.

I'm sceptical as, prior to changing to Naim last year, I was a Linn owner for some 15 years latterly with an MDSM wired exactly the same way and with zero issues despite the UPnP updates.

So - is the Naim simply more fussy about UPnP software or do I have an issue with a second unit?  I must admit I am baffled.

After many ups and downs I've added an airport express via ethernet cable to my Unitiqute 2. Problem well and truly solved, no connection drop outs ever.

Naim seriously need to work on and improve the wireless connection performance of the Unitiqute 2. It's perhaps my imagination but the sound quality of Spotify connect seems much improved too.

P.S. Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.

PaulQ, it seems we resurrected my thread at the same time . Anyway may I suggest an airport express, it is the only solution that has worked for me. Far from acceptable though. I picked up an older n model for €30 so not a big deal, it's connected now and hidden away. Can forget about it now and get on with listening to music which through the Unitiqute2/ Nap 100 is a joy I must say.

Hi

Looks like it and glad to hear you got your issues sorted.

An AE actually wouldn't help me as I already have both the source and the UQ2 hard wired in to a switch which in turn is wired into the router so I don't have the variable that you had in trying to bridge a wireless connection.  Hence I am absolutely convinced that the network configuration is ok.  My issue is either that I have a dodgy UQ2 or that it's particularly fussy/doesn't like the UPnP server that I use.

Installing different ones on Synology is not easy though I have managed to install MinimServer today.  I just haven't got it to work yet....