WiFi Stress Test

Hi Kevin yes 803.11g/n are certainly more than capable of supporting 192/24/2 hidef.. however there are so many variables such as channel sharing, traffic sharing, interference and channel width. Unfortunately with most consumer wifi setups it's more a case of plug and pray rather than knowing how it's going to perform.

if you use a 'prosumer' setup like UniFi or equivalent you will be able to see through the management controller what is happening.. and whether it's external interference, channel sharing or load on the ESSID. Higher end wifi setups have 'fareness' settings or equivalent which helps prevent clients hogging the capacity etc.

What I will say if you get a multi access point UniFi setup with some overlapping coverage where your streamer is you will find wifi and hidef will work most likely flawlessly..

you can probably tell I have just done this in my house...

Kevin,  I too have run my NDX on wifi for a period during a room overhaul of about 1 week & although I intended only to use it with iRadio,  it was OK & played from NAS including some 24/192.  However on one session I played a 24/96 & it dropped out,  it was OK with 16/44, but had problem keeping buffer at 100% with 24/96.   I ran a wireless hub restart & it fixed it.  My issue with wifi is its variable & therefore has a higher risk of being unreliable.

I'm using the new ac protocol(? Or whatever it should be called) I get 866 Mb/s connection between my NDX connected Airport and the "main" airport router.

I've invested heavily in the Apple solution. Too bad it doesn't have all those features which I had on my previous Linksys setup. At least the look nicer....

Mike-B posted:

Kevin,  I too have run my NDX on wifi for a period during a room overhaul of about 1 week & although I intended only to use it with iRadio,  it was OK & played from NAS including some 24/192.  However on one session I played a 24/96 & it dropped out,  it was OK with 16/44, but had problem keeping buffer at 100% with 24/96.   I ran a wireless hub restart & it fixed it.  My issue with wifi is its variable & therefore has a higher risk of being unreliable.

Just to be clear, I run Ethernet from my NDX into the Airport WiFi "Access point". That is extending the network from the first floor. (The NDX one is sitting on the floor directly above the main router. The distance is only about 8 feet.)

It is just perplexing since it only happens once a week or even less frequently. Normally I'll just restart the current track and it doesn't happen again. The real issue is it can be embarrassing when it happens while a friend who "thinks I must be crazy to spend real $ on a stereo system" hears my system for the first time. ��

Kevin Richardson posted:

I'm using the new ac protocol(? Or whatever it should be called) I get 866 Mb/s connection between my NDX connected Airport and the "main" airport router.

I've invested heavily in the Apple solution. Too bad it doesn't have all those features which I had on my previous Linksys setup. At least the look nicer....

 

Hi, yes 802.11ac is one of the best protocols to use but uses the 5GHz channels. 802.11n is an earlier protocol that can use 2.4 or 5 GHz channels. You might want to force your Apple devices to use 80.11n on 2.4 GHz to see if the glitch goes .. unlikely but possible but may indicate if it's an external wifi or interference issue. It the end it might just be a limitation of the Apple devices with how they are working underneath the covers or impacting  the carried web streaming transfer in the bridge mode you have set up. Have you tried to see whether the issue still occurs on wired? Also can you set up the Apple wifi in 'Adhoc' mode which is the right and optimum configuration to use in peer to peer bridge type setups. If not the Apple devices just might not be optimal with what you are trying to do and are not working efficiently as a bridge.

Kevin Richardson posted:

Mike-B posted:

Kevin,  I too have run my NDX on wifi for a period during a room overhaul of about 1 week & although I intended only to use it with iRadio,  it was OK & played from NAS including some 24/192.  However on one session I played a 24/96 & it dropped out,  it was OK with 16/44, but had problem keeping buffer at 100% with 24/96.   I ran a wireless hub restart & it fixed it.  My issue with wifi is its variable & therefore has a higher risk of being unreliable.

Just to be clear, I run Ethernet from my NDX into the Airport WiFi "Access point". That is extending the network from the first floor. (The NDX one is sitting on the floor directly above the main router. The distance is only about 8 feet.)

Can you put the NAS on the first floor and connect it to the Airport there, so that it no longer has to work over WiFi?

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Kevin Richardson posted:

I'm using the new ac protocol(? Or whatever it should be called) I get 866 Mb/s connection between my NDX connected Airport and the "main" airport router.

I've invested heavily in the Apple solution. Too bad it doesn't have all those features which I had on my previous Linksys setup. At least the look nicer....

 

Hi, yes 802.11ac is one of the best protocols to use but uses the 5GHz channels. 802.11n is an earlier protocol that can use 2.4 or 5 GHz channels. You might want to force your Apple devices to use 80.11n on 2.4 GHz to see if the glitch goes .. unlikely but possible but may indicate if it's an external wifi or interference issue. It the end it might just be a limitation of the Apple devices with how they are working underneath the covers or impacting  the carried web streaming transfer in the bridge mode you have set up. Have you tried to see whether the issue still occurs on wired? Also can you set up the Apple wifi in 'Adhoc' mode which is the right and optimum configuration to use in peer to peer bridge type setups. If not the Apple devices just might not be optimal with what you are trying to do and are not working efficiently as a bridge.

Unfortunately Apple dumbed down their routers a few years ago (like 8 years how time flies) I can't configure anything.

It works 99.9% of the time so either I stop worrying or move to a new server on the same switch as my NDX (Naim Core at top of my list)

ChrisSU posted:

Kevin Richardson posted:

Mike-B posted:

Kevin,  I too have run my NDX on wifi for a period during a room overhaul of about 1 week & although I intended only to use it with iRadio,  it was OK & played from NAS including some 24/192.  However on one session I played a 24/96 & it dropped out,  it was OK with 16/44, but had problem keeping buffer at 100% with 24/96.   I ran a wireless hub restart & it fixed it.  My issue with wifi is its variable & therefore has a higher risk of being unreliable.

Just to be clear, I run Ethernet from my NDX into the Airport WiFi "Access point". That is extending the network from the first floor. (The NDX one is sitting on the floor directly above the main router. The distance is only about 8 feet.)

Can you put the NAS on the first floor and connect it to the Airport there, so that it no longer has to work over WiFi?

I don't use a NAS. I have an iMac with JRiver and direct connected drive via thunderbolt. Probably easiest solution is just get a 2TB SSD USB drive and connect it directly to my NDX.

Kevin Richardson posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Kevin Richardson posted:

Mike-B posted:

Kevin,  I too have run my NDX on wifi for a period during a room overhaul of about 1 week & although I intended only to use it with iRadio,  it was OK & played from NAS including some 24/192.  However on one session I played a 24/96 & it dropped out,  it was OK with 16/44, but had problem keeping buffer at 100% with 24/96.   I ran a wireless hub restart & it fixed it.  My issue with wifi is its variable & therefore has a higher risk of being unreliable.

Just to be clear, I run Ethernet from my NDX into the Airport WiFi "Access point". That is extending the network from the first floor. (The NDX one is sitting on the floor directly above the main router. The distance is only about 8 feet.)

Can you put the NAS on the first floor and connect it to the Airport there, so that it no longer has to work over WiFi?

I don't use a NAS. I have an iMac with JRiver and direct connected drive via thunderbolt. Probably easiest solution is just get a 2TB SSD USB drive and connect it directly to my NDX.

Sorry, you mentioned you had a server, so I assumed maybe you had a music server on a NAS. A 2TB SSD drive will almost certainly not work through the USB drive on an NDX, and would probably cost more than a decent 2TB NAS with a music server on it. That's what Naim streamers are designed to work with, so I still think that could be a good solution for you.

Kevin Richardson posted:

It is just perplexing since it only happens once a week or even less frequently. Normally I'll just restart the current track and it doesn't happen again. The real issue is it can be embarrassing when it happens while a friend who "thinks I must be crazy to spend real $ on a stereo system" hears my system for the first time. ��

If it happens only once a week, you could try not to care about it. If your friend is a good friend, he/she will understand. If not, again, I would not care what he/she thinks.