Naim app, audio dropouts and wi-fi interference

Posted by: Alley Cat on 16 February 2018

For many years the kitchen microwave has been a source of annoyance interfering with wi-fi signals, and was a real nuisance with an early Airport Express and more primitive wi-fi protocols.

Can someone clarify how streaming from NAS works here.

My understanding was that the app provides the Nova with the URLs on the local network to allow it to access the track directly, and that it does not pull the track data over wi-fi and then send it back over wi-fi to the Nova.

My Nova and NAS are on ethernet, only my iPhones/iPads (and a Mac Mini) are on wi-fi, all other devices are on ethernet.

I'm wondering how then I get audio dropouts in the middle of a song that's playing if the Nova is getting the audio directly from the NAS on ethernet?

Posted on: 16 February 2018 by Adam Zielinski

iPad app is merely a controller - it does not do any ‘assignments’. IP addresses are assigned by a switch.

It’s best to look at the network diagram prepared by Mike-B.

Posted on: 16 February 2018 by Alley Cat

Thanks Adam - I appreciate the iPhone/iPad will not be assigning IP addresses, but could have swron that somene mentioned that when the Naim app gets it's media list from a NAS via UPnP, that the app then just passes on the list of tracks, and their network locations to the streamer which then accesses them directly. Perhaps I confused this with Chromecast providing similar info to the Nova say when streaming from the Qobuz app with non-downloaded or cached audio, but that doesn't seem quite right.

Ultimately if the Naim app has to get the track data and then send it to the streamer it's a shame the newer units can only be controlled via wi-fi based apps unlike the older units which could be controlled via the front panel display for searching NAS shares.

Posted on: 16 February 2018 by Adam Zielinski

I’m not sure how to say it - you seem to be mixing all the functionalities

The easiest way to see it:

It is the server software that ‘sends’ the tracks / albums / playlists to a receiving unit (e.g Naim NDX, Nova etc). The easiest way to control what is being ‘sent’ is via the Naim App. Conventional remote control does the same thing really.

Posted on: 17 February 2018 by Alley Cat

crazy Must remember not to think too hard late at night!

Right, so the Nova gets the media library list and the app merely controls the Nova searching this to initiate playback.

Confusion still remains as to why the microwave running in an adjacent room then causes audio dropouts -perhaps several minutes into a track playing if someone uses the microwave at that point. Assuming the track bitstream is not relayed via the app, I can't see how a wired Nova experiences dropouts when accessing the NAS data over ethernet. I find this quite odd - if the Naim app was unresponsive or lost connection to the Nova when microwave running it would be understandable, unless loss of connection somehow halts audio playback transiently.

Posted on: 17 February 2018 by David Hendon

You can demonstrate for yourself that the iPhone isn't involved in passing data once the track or album is playing by turning your iPhone off completely (or maybe easier to just put it into flight mode.) The Nova will continue to play the music.

The cause of your dropouts is a bit of a mystery because if your Nova and NAS are wired, there is no wifi involved to be interfered with. Also the Nova has a big buffer and you would need a big interruption in the stream to cause an audible effect, by big I mean half a minute or so, depending what bit rate you are streaming at.

If you really are certain that the problem is coming from your microwave oven, then maybe buying a new microwave oven is the simple thing to do. They don't cost much.

Best

David

Posted on: 17 February 2018 by Alley Cat

David Hendon posted:
You can demonstrate for yourself that the iPhone isn't involved in passing data once the track or album is playing by turning your iPhone off completely (or maybe easier to just put it into flight mode.) The Nova will continue to play the music.
The cause of your dropouts is a bit of a mystery because if your Nova and NAS are wired, there is no wifi involved to be interfered with. Also the Nova has a big buffer and you would need a big interruption in the stream to cause an audible effect, by big I mean half a minute or so, depending what bit rate you are streaming at.
If you really are certain that the problem is coming from your microwave oven, then maybe buying a new microwave oven is the simple thing to do. They don't cost much.
Best
David

Microwaves are renowned for interference on the 2.4GHz band unfortunately and 5GHz may not have the range I need in this old house!

The dropouts is what's puzzling me - yes I could understand losing contol via the App but that in itself just like disabling wifi or turning off iphone should not affect playback if the track is going from NAS to Nova. This is a fairly new thing so will reboot the Airport Express doing wi-fi duties. I intend to get some Ubiquiti access points to complement my Ubiquiti router at some stage.