Reasons to move player to wired ethernet?

[Goodsounds]

Yes, if everything is running stable, the main reason for switching to Ethernet in my opinion is to free up wireless bandwidth for other things. Let me see. Streaming a normal 44.1/16 FLAC uses around .76 mbps. A wireless-G router has ~54 mbps available (if the signal is good)..

Some years ago, Sean Adams (Slim Devices founder) shared a conversation he'd had with an engineer from one of the networking companies. This guy said the practical throughput to expect in a home environment (I think it was from G) was something less than 15 mbps. Is anyone doing anything better than that?

So, for one normal FLAC stream, switching to wired will save you ~1.4% of the available wireless bandwidth..

So at the reduced capacity, it's a bigger percentage, but I'd doubt for most home situations it would really matter. Most people use up their internet bandwidth long before they get near their home network's limits. Except for times of data backup or large file transfers, when having a wired connection does make a difference.

[pski]

Some years ago, Sean Adams (Slim Devices founder) shared a conversation he'd had with an engineer from one of the networking companies. This guy said the practical throughput to expect in a home environment (I think it was from G) was something less than 15 mbps. Is anyone doing anything better than that?


So at the reduced capacity, it's a bigger percentage, but I'd doubt for most home situations it would really matter. Most people use up their internet bandwidth long before they get near their home network's limits. Except for times of data backup or large file transfers, when having a wired connection does make a difference.

Paranoia. Please find and use inSSIDer.

The only time a G connection has been an issue, a microwave was right next to the WAP.

Of course, it's a good idea to turn off the B radio.

p

[JJZolx]

Are there good reasons to prefer a wired connection over a wireless connection to the player?

At the moment I'm wireless as I have no choice, but next week I have the choice. Everything is currently running just fine, so why change?

I can see that a wired connection may be more reliable, but if the wireless is out, then the controller won't work, so having the player wired wouldn't help.

Sure it would. The main problem that people experience with wireless connections is brief dropouts due to a temporary interruption of the wireless connection to the player. The availability of the Controller plays no part in that. So your wireless could go out, briefly or for an extended period of time, and music would continue to play without interruption.

I've been running my Squeezeboxes wirelessly for years, with excellent results, even synching up to four players at once, plus another one or two players connected. But if I had the opportunity to connect a player via ethernet, I'd do it without a second thought.

[maggior]

I have a good number of squeezeboxes in my house (see my sig). The only ones that I *had* to connect via wired ethernet were my Receivers. The one in the kitchen I understood the need because of the microwave. My other one which is in the living room would randomly start sputtering and stopping until I did a reset on it. Once I set it up for wired ethernet, I've never had a problem.

My SB3s, Booms, and Touch have never (knock on wood) had a problem with dropouts. The are spread all over the house so they have varying levels of signal strength.

I could easily wire some of them, but I haven't felt the need. If on location starts giving me problems, then I'd wire them.

[Soulkeeper]

something less than 15 mbps. Is anyone doing anything better than that?

When I was using G routers, I usually got 2-3 MB/s (+ overhead), which translates to more than 16-24 mbps. Long distance and concrete walls, though. With N routers I usually get twice as much. And even though the SBs all use 802.11g, the bandwidth available due to N is still better than if the router was G.

I've been running my Squeezeboxes wirelessly for years, with excellent results, even synching up to four players at once, plus another one or two players connected. But if I had the opportunity to connect a player via ethernet, I'd do it without a second thought.

+1

I have a good number of squeezeboxes in my house (see my sig). The only ones that I *had* to connect via wired ethernet were my Receivers. The one in the kitchen I understood the need because of the microwave. My other one which is in the living room would randomly start sputtering and stopping until I did a reset on it. Once I set it up for wired ethernet, I've never had a problem.

I've heard other people complain about the wireless reception of the Receiver too. Some say it has the worst wireless reception of all Squeezeboxen (except the Ethernet-only models, naturally...) My Receiver has generally worked well both wired and wireless.

But anyway, I run as much as possible wired ... because I can. It's a mix of pure geekism, a desire to save as much wireless bandwidth as possible for other uses, and irrational paranoia (hacking many wireless protocols depends on collecting a certain number of packets; the less throughput the longer this will take, but OTOH I do not actually suspect my neighbors to be out to get me).

[tcutting]

In my opinion wired would ALWAYS be preferable. I had a boom in my kitchen running wireless for a while - it worked fine except when the microwave was running, and it would drop out. We remodeled the kitchen, I added dedicated ethernet wire for the Boom, no problems now. I've pulled ethernet to key locations as I have had opportunities, and now most of my players are wired. My bedroom Radio is an exception, but in that case I have batteries in the Radio, so running wireless allows me to use the Radio wherever I want without hassle. Running wired if possible just eliminates the major source of most problems seen - wireless issues due to interference (neighbors' wi-fi, cordless phones, baby monitors, microwaves, etc).

[Mnyb]

In my opinion wired would ALWAYS be preferable. I had a boom in my kitchen running wireless for a while - it worked fine except when the microwave was running, and it would drop out. We remodeled the kitchen, I added dedicated ethernet wire for the Boom, no problems now. I've pulled ethernet to key locations as I have had opportunities, and now most of my players are wired. My bedroom Radio is an exception, but in that case I have batteries in the Radio, so running wireless allows me to use the Radio wherever I want without hassle. Running wired if possible just eliminates the major source of most problems seen - wireless issues due to interference (neighbors' wi-fi, cordless phones, baby monitors, microwaves, etc).

++1000

I do wireless when wired is not possible, if two devices stay at the same place all the time they can be wired a KISS solution a wire is much simpler and more reliable than a complicated low power radio working on bands deemed "useless" by ftc and similar (and therefore free to use ) . Don't get me started on all misguided "interior design" paranoia.....

[AlexM]

In a friend's very highly resolving system, the quality difference between Wi-Fi and Ethernet was quite marked using the SBT's analogue outputs. I was genuinely surprised by how much better it sounded. The sound stage, detail and tonal colour was much improved over a wired connection.

In my own system using an external DAC, the improvement is less marked, but still there to an extent I think.

I would be quite satisfied with Wireless if I didn't have a GigE switch and network throughout my house. Another benefit is the delay before playback starts, and responsiveness to the controls is improved when using Ethernet.

Regards,
Alex

[Mnyb]

The oldest fw version could stutter at 24/96 playback on wifi, that was eventually resolved with some more time delay before playback starts but ethernet is so much faster so you won't notice .
And I think further fw improvement have been done so now even 24/96 should be a viable option over wifi.

[kjetilho]

Let me see. Streaming a normal 44.1/16 FLAC uses around .76 mbps. A wireless-G router has ~54 mbps available (if the signal is good). So, for one normal FLAC stream, switching to wired will save you ~1.4% of the available wireless bandwidth.

You forget to multiply by two for stereo, so it is 1.4 Mbps.

My take on this: always wire it if you can hide the cabling. It's one less potential source of problems.