Is there a device count where a wifi router starts to degrade and run into connectivity or latency issues?
I just ran the modem diagnostic tool and it says we have 13 active devices connected which seems to check out… We have 2 laptops, 3 tablets, 3 roku streamers, 2 music streamers, and 3 phones.
Here is the channel setting not sure if I should try a different one?
Yeah, those are the extenders I had issues with, it’s connection to the primary wifi get’s “spotty” and it looks like you have a good signal, the net result is your sending to the extender, but it’s having problems sending to the primary access point. They also dramatically in some cases increase latency.
I would try directly connecting the device with easily reproduced issues directly to the primary Wifi, and see if that fixes it. If it does I’d look at replacing the WiFiwith a Mesh rather than a repeater like that.
Mesh networks use a different protocol to communicate between devices on the Mesh, rather than old school extenders that instead use the Wifi Itself. Mesh networks also appear like a single network, and correctly deal with multicast so it can fix issues with some software.
The linked page says it’s being retired.
It may not be the issue, but I personally would replace it, My 2c If they will let you buy a dedicated Modem (rather than renting one) and move to one of the Mesh based WIFI systems. They are pretty much all Wifi 6 these days, which doesn’t really help with the final connection to endpoint devices (since most don’t support Wifi 6) but can help with relaying connections through the mesh, especially if your airwaves are “busy”.
I use EERO, while I have my issues with it as a product because it has no web interface and no diagnostics an end user can see, it’s mostly configuration free and I haven’t had any real issues with it. But Googles offering or any of the others are probably all fine.
The channels aren’t actually all discrete near by numbers overlap.
If you want to try a different one, try 1, whatever the maximum is and exactly in the middle, if none of those solve it, it’s likely none of the others will.
Overall ive enjoyed Asus XT8. Its tools have helped me diagnose or at least narrow down the wired issues i had. It has an app and can be controlled remotely. I do mot use the remote-not-in-network control though
This looks interesting.
Just bought this for my main floor wireless access point and still researching modems that are compatible with CenturyLink. We shall see
Did a few speed tests and seems pretty decent this far. Now need to test signals strength throughout the house.
Looking fancy as hell
WiFi 7! Let’s gooooooo!
Nice little setup
Had an interesting 4-way comparison of ethernet switches at a friend’s house yesterday. He runs a Unifi ethernet from one room w/ his NAS server into his listening room, and then from the wall we had:
The most surprisingly thing was that the optical into the Tempus was better than an Amazon ethernet CAT cable from the wall, but when we replaced the latter with an audiophile cable (QSA-Lanedri Gamma) it was WAY better than the optical… in fact, we went back to the EtherRegen using just cat->cat instead of SFP->cat, and the host preferred this as well.
All 3 of us had different music tastes, and of course varying familiarity w/ his system’s sound (it was my first time at his house). However, as we spent the afternoon A/B’ing various configurations, we found that the power cord and power conditioning feeding the switch, and incoming signal cables, matter greatly, and in some cases even a larger effect than switch-switch differences.
We all agreed the Tempus was the preferred switch (review upcoming), but the host declared he will probably upgrade his incoming cable before doing anything else. While all systems vary greatly, one of my considerations was actually drilling a direct optical conduit from my main cable hub to my listening room, thereby bypassing multiple CAT/Switch interfaces, but after this I will no longer do so…
Given your testing, isn’t this still the best plan of action unless you’re willing to throw a lot of money at the “multiple CAT/Switch interfaces” in between?
It’s a shame you guys didn’t throw in some of the cheap switch alternatives with GOOD power supplies as they can come very close to audiophile gear. And as you say, throwing the savings into quality cabling and power.
What DAC is he using BTW, don’t recognize it?
Also I don’t understand the first scenario (baseline) was this just for testing purposes? Why would he use the optical chain when he’s got the K50 and can simply plug the clean Ethernet directly into that?
Or do you mean he was using a Sonore opticalModule and not the Sonore opticalRendu?
Sorry for the confusion and my lack of familiarity with the Sonore stuff. Yes it was the Opticalmodule.
The host’s current setup, which I referred to as baseline, is house in-wall ethernet all the way to the jack in his audio room, and from there, he put in the optical connection from the wall jack to his audio system as a means to isolate the network noise.
Did you mean cheap switches like ones from Amazon? That’d be a really cool experiment if it levels the playing field w/ a good PSU. We did intend to plug the Tempus PSU into the EtherRegen but then we forgot… and were distracted by the Mediterranean food and pinot…
He uses a Gustard dac.
In his system, it seemed like upgrading the last cable/switch just before the audio system did a huge difference, and I wouldn’t know if running optical from somewhere else in my house is better… guess it could be an experiment, but in reality the need to drill and get into the crawl space might be too much even for this audiophile…
My point in the lesson learned was that even though all 3 of us present assumed that the optical moat should have helped, we ended up preferring the sound of audiophile CAT cable instead. So, yet another time that for me, I can’t really ever predict what might sound good regardless of theory, and better I just let the ears decide…
Thank you, you confused the hell out of me! I’m trying to have m brain make it work. lol
The guys over at AlphaAudio do a very nice comparison of a number of switches and it’s how learned about the Meraki switches when I was researching switches with SFP cages. Their conclusions aren’t surprising but in the end synergy with the system helped to cement preference and good power helped improve the sound of even cheap switches.
I will also say this, the longer the cable run the more susceptible to noise Ethernet is, so you’re likely to see more improvement in a long run than in a short run especially when you’re using high end audio grade switches. Short cables pick up less noise.
In my continuing “experiment” to see how much audio quality I can squeeze out of a Raspberry Pi based streamer; I picked up a Network Acoustics ENO Ethernet filter. This was the first one introduced by Network Acoustics and now they have the ENO 2 and Muon Pro but for less than $0.33 on the dollar, why not.
I’ve got a Meraki switch that I’ve heavily customized, I’m feeding it with an iFi Power Elite power supply and I had a decent Ethernet cable connected to the Pi2AES so I wasn’t expecting much of an impact. Wow was I wrong. I mean not a night & day difference but very noticeable step further for the sound of the Pi. Bigger stage presentation and further detail, with an extremely black background for my modest HP chain.
One item of note, after pulling my hair our for a few minutes with the Pi not being able to connect tot he network properly, bouncing every time I tried to access it. I realized that the Ethernet cable it comes with is directional. For about ten minutes I thought I’d pissed away four hundred bucks. 
Flipped it around and boom, solid.
Most bad-ass Pi thingy around 
Wasn’t sure where to post this question but this seems a reasonable place. I have to use wifi to connect my system to the internet. My LAN music connection is as follows:
Modem/router > ethernet cable > Dedicated 5g network bridge (sender) > ••• wifi ••• > Dedicated 5g network bridge (receiver) > ethernet cable > Innuos streamer/server
My question is, should I be concerned about any potential SMPS power supply noise from the router’s wall wart being sent via wifi? I’m wondering if it’s worth getting a LPSU for the router if I’m not directly wired to it. TIA
No, it’s isolated from that. You only really care about what’s connected to the receiver and beyond.
It can get you through house power, or it could just pump out enough EMF to affect something, but that’s true of every switching supply in your house. And most are reasonably well behaved anyway.
Thank you. You just saved me hundreds of dollars and a few wrinkles in my forehead 
I do have LPSUs on the dedicated 5g bridge units, just because I had them
For the endpoints the Ifi noise cancelling switched power supplies are relatively inexpensive and a great way to not “worry”.
Cool, that’s a good option, will keep that in mind
cool idea
