Mu-so - 24/192 streamed over wi-fi from NAS

Streaming 24/192 over WiFi isn't ideal. I found a considerable improvement by connecting an Airport Express to the Ethernet port of my streamer instead of using its built in WiFi.

Mr Frog posted:

Hi

For various reasons, I have had to recently revert to using Wi-Fi, as opposed to wired ethernet connection.

I fully appreciate that wired is the preferred method.

Sometimes, the 24/192 material plays absolutely perfectly and yet (more often than not), there are several dropouts throughout the track ..... whilst it is being streamed (UPnP) from the QNAP NAS (using MinimServer)

I also experience similar dropouts when listening to Radio Paradise.

The modem is supplied by the ISP (Fibre Installation) and I am actually getting a full 100Mbps.

I have switched off the Wi-Fi function on the ISP supplied router and instead, have connected an Apple Time Capsule - which I use for all Wi-Fi in the home. It is set to "Bridge Mode" 

Is this likely to be a network issue or a potential problem with the Mu-So itself (which is 7 months old and still under warranty)?

 

 

Almost certainly to do with how you have set up your wifi. Having a single wifi access point for your whole house with higher bandwidth transfers is probably asking for trouble. You may well benefit in having multiple access points that are wired back to your switch/router. 

If definitely wanting to go the wifi route it's probably best to implement properly and put in overlapping wired access point zones on the wireless LAN. Look at solutions from Ruckus or Ubiquiti amongst others. You may be able to use Apple Extreme directly wired to multiple Expresses, there is anecdotal evidence that Apple may support some sort of handoff techniques  on their APs when set in this way but they don't appear to publish support of the appropriate standards unlike for their iOS devices so could be hit or miss.. 

Thanks Simon

I'm happy to follow you recommendation but wouldn't have a clue where to start, I'm afraid.

The Apple TC is in "Bridge Mode" and we simply use WiFi for everything (iPhones, iOads and Mac etc)

Could you kindly point me in he right direction?

kind regards

Mark

So a simple way I know that does work would be to get multiple (two or three) Ubiquiti AC Lite access points, install them so they overlap like a Venn diagram preferably whete you have the highest load density and wire them back to a switch... set the access point to load share on the setup... I think there are several  guides out there as well as YouTube videos.

A single access point will work for clients if in range, but as the WLAN gets more loaded off that access point the performance drops off rapidly. Not really an issue for bursts web type traffic, but streaming would be something else. Also a single implemented  access point is more susceptible to interference again impacting total wlan performance.

Great - much appreciated ��

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Mr Frog posted:

Hi

For various reasons, I have had to recently revert to using Wi-Fi, as opposed to wired ethernet connection.

I fully appreciate that wired is the preferred method.

Sometimes, the 24/192 material plays absolutely perfectly and yet (more often than not), there are several dropouts throughout the track ..... whilst it is being streamed (UPnP) from the QNAP NAS (using MinimServer)

I also experience similar dropouts when listening to Radio Paradise.

The modem is supplied by the ISP (Fibre Installation) and I am actually getting a full 100Mbps.

I have switched off the Wi-Fi function on the ISP supplied router and instead, have connected an Apple Time Capsule - which I use for all Wi-Fi in the home. It is set to "Bridge Mode" 

Is this likely to be a network issue or a potential problem with the Mu-So itself (which is 7 months old and still under warranty)?

 

 

 You may well benefit in having multiple access points that are wired back to your switch/router. 

If you're going to wire the house, why not just run a wire to the Muso?

Naim's new streamer range uses 802.11ac WiFi, and these newer (commercial) WIFi devices make Apple's Airport look a little dated, so maybe streaming over WiFi will become more robust and consumer friendly, but for most of us, that requires a complete change of hardware  

Hi -

Not sure I understand you correctly, but if you are using your Airport Time Capsule as the only wifi connection point to your network (and it in turn is wired to your router modem, where you have disabled its internal wifi capability), then you should choose "access point" mode rather than "bridge mode". To just "replace" the built-in wifi functionality of your router with that of the Time Capsule, see if there is something with a name closer to "access point".

The other mode, a "bridge", establishes a wireless link between two points (eg where you can no longer run a wire) but you can't use your Naim as the other end afaik... you can instead use the Time Capsule on one side and a second Apple device, such as the Airport Express mentioned by ChrisSU, for this purpose, placing it beside your MuSo and connecting the two with a short length of Ethernet cable. This works better than using the internal Naim wifi connection for lots of people (myself included), but usually with older gear (I have a v1 Qute connected this way). 

This is also different (and is much faster / higher throughout) than using a wireless extender, where you would attach other things (eg your MuSo) to the Express via wifi (again) instead of via a wire (Ethernet). Since the radio in the Express would be listening and talking on "both sides" to connect the Time Capsule to the MuSo (say), you cut the transmission speed in half. It looks appealing, because the MySo would see a much stronger wifi signal for its connection, but it is already severely restricted and not the best for high-bandwidth real-time audio streaming. 

Sorry if this confuses you, but getting the terminology right and having a basic understanding of which mode functions in which way might help with your choices. Simon is suggesting a sort of "family" of intelligent (and lower powered) wifi access points, each hard wired back to a central switch...which is certainly a better way of establishing wifi coverage throughout your house than the usual single (and high powered, hence prone to interference issues) wifi access point that comes with your ISP router / modem. But you can try a few other games first...

Regards alan

Alan, you might have got a little confused...Apple Airport devices when in 'bridge' mean they have become a layer 2 network bridge i.e. an access point on the subnet. It doesn't mean wifi ad-hoc mode which would be used for point to point connections which I think is what you are thinking of.

Therefore if you are using the Apple device to replace or even add to the broadband router wifi, and you are using the broadband router's DHCP capability then you should put the Apple device into 'Bridge' mode which is exactly what Mr Frog has done... ie he has set it up correctly...

Ah, thanks Simon - it is a wired-to-wireless "bridge mode" (and non-router mode), rather than a "wireless bridge" as I thought... other devices I've used differentiate wireless access point from wireless bridge and obviously I don't have experience with the Time Capsule (just the Express). Cheers. 

Regards alan