I’ll be setting up my new Dac jr in my stereo room in the basement. The problem is, my modem/router is on the second floor, and there’s no easy way to run Cat 5 wire into the basement. Was hoping that one of these ethernet over power devices might work, but I’m concerned that it might be a doubled edged sword, by introducing unwanted signals into the power line feeding the dac and the rest of the system. Has anyone actually tired using one of these devices to get an ethernet connection to their system?
I’ve used a Netgear Powerline adapter to get to parts of my house. It’s a better solution than wireless. I’ve not really noticed a negative effect on the audio devices attached. My main rig is hard wired with 100 ft of Cat5e. It cost as much as a good component to have a pro run the wire through the house.
Thanks watchdog. I’m sure if I hired a pro they could run the wire to my basement, but like you said, the cost isn’t cheap. Guess I’ll give one of these devices a shot, although I’ll never know if a hardwire connection would sound better.
My secondary system was based around a Woo WA5-LE and a Mytek Brooklyn with Utopia’s for headphones. This was very revealing and I didn’t really hear any detrimental sound from the ethernet over power. I also use Cat7 cable wherever I can because of the standards that support speed and shielding.
They are relatively cheap devices and take minimal configuration, so it would be worth a try. I have used TP Link power!ine adapters for several years and their performance has been excellent. Injecting RF into the public mains has had no negative effect on sound quality that I am aware of.
I have done EOP with Linksys Plek 500. Be aware of where you position to modules. Electric inference gremlins can show up. I still have a couple around the house, but for my main system I ended up running a hard line to the media center. A better option than EOP, is mesh wifi (I use Eero) where you can establish wifi access points within the home as you have an Eero module placed near the equipment. I’ve tried lots of routers, and Eero has been far and away the best setup I’ve tried.
Another system is MoCA - ethernet over cable (TV). Worked similar to EOP.
Perhaps I’m not understanding everything here. I thought the dac jr needed a wired ethernet connection. Looks like the Eero device only provides a wireless connection.
The eero has multiple hardwire ports on the main box. The Orbi has multiple hardwire ports on most all units. You can plug any Ethernet item into any of the hardwire ports just like any other Ethernet setup. I have my NAS plugged into one, and I use the another as my router. The DVR’s plug into others and my wife and I use wireless from our laptops. It just all works.
I’m new to all this and fumbling in the dark, so thanks to all for pointing out the options.
With my new Comcast modem/router I’m able to get over 400 mbps to wireless devices when in close proximity. In the basement it’s still over 150 mbps when connecting my mobile phone. With that in mind, could I get by streaming high rez audio with just using a wireless to ethernet bridge, or is the Eero or EOP still a better option?
Hard wiring is best, but I’d pick Eero over EOP every time. If you use a traditional router with range extenders, the signal is reduced. There are several types of mesh wifi like eero, so you may want to research what would be best for you. I use eero and their eero plus subscription service. I’ve had my four module setup for more than two years. It’s been trouble free. Support is good if you have questions.
If you are consistently getting that strong of a signal in the basement, Hi-res audio should not be a problem. I’ve used this particular bridge as shown in the link.
We routinely recommend the use of a wireless bridge to provide the link to your router if you don’t have a dedicated ethernet connection available. I use wireless bridges throughout my home and for video streaming as well as audio.
+1 for the Netgear Orbi. The Orbi uses a dedicated channel for backhaul from the satellites to the base router. This means you get no interference from your user WiFi. I have my Bluesound Vault 2 connected to the satellite using AQ Cinnamon Ethernet cable and it works great. My Roon core was connected via WiFi to the base router and the Vault worked flawlessly as a Roon endpoint.
Just switched from Unifi as it won’t work consistently when my internet is down. I have too many wifi controlled devices to tolerate this any longer. Orbi setup was as simple as I’ve seen.