I started out with a $25 Amazon converter and used the wall wart that came with it. Imagine my horror when I spent what, $3xx on the fancy Small Green Computer version and another $3xx on a power supply for the same. In the end they sounded the same to me. The Fancy SGC model is in a box somewhere. I’m not in a hurry to find it.
I can hear many things, but apparently I cannot hear Networking component differences. I think of this as a blessing.
If you want to experiment with Ethernet to Optical, start cheap, stay cheap. People way up in the industry have confided in me that they can’t hear the difference between fiber and Ethernet either. If you can, I am sad for you.
I knew I was a sucker of this kind of thing, so I went wireless. A satellite, a short piece of ethernet cable connected to a Lan filter, then connected to the streamer. No additional boxes because I was afraid that I might hear every little thing from tons of options out there.
This was the best decision I ever made in the world of audio streaming.
I understand the AirLens to have wireless capability and I would assume I would use the same hookup. If the unit and the router are in the same location, would there be any advantage to going hard wired with a short high quality Ethernet cable? Don’t cringe Al, I’m a streaming virgin.
I’ve used the Audioquest Diamond, Vodka, and Carbon Ethernet cables and I couldn’t hear a difference over a Blue Jean cable that costs 1/8th the price. I also had the EtherREGEN and it made things sound worse on my system. When I went to the Auralic I liberated myself from Ethernet to my streamer and use Wi-Fi.
And Paul is the winner. If your streamer is Wi-Fi capable and you have a strong and stable Wi-Fi signal then use it and keep the money wasted on Ethernet cables and isolation devices in your bank account. I run four streamers at two different houses on two different ISP’s all wireless and they all work flawlessly. I never have to worry about what is the best Ethernet cable or money grab switch or isolation device.
Done deal. There are very few absolutes in hi-end audio but this one makes sense to me. I know my wireless streaming 4k video looks great. The audio should sound good too.
The CEO and designer of Auralic has been telling people for years to stay away from wired Ethernet if at all possible. With the advancements in Mesh technology over the years to WiFi 6 it is easier and cheaper to improve your WiFi signal than it is to worry about eliminating Ethernet noise. Good Mesh systems are a third the cost of the EtheRegen even before you add the other parts and pieces.
Other than wireless, my network to the Rendu is fiber from my network core to the Rendu. I don’t think I could isolate it any more if I tried… Oh wait, … I did try
Living in my steel reinforced concrete bunker, I need to use hard lines. Though I do have mesh units spread across the house at ethernet jacks which have power points.
If I went back seven years when the place was refurbed, I could have put in a couple fiber lines to support the set up Vince has.
I suppose I could put in different mesh net units in the media rooms to broadcast on different networks though. That might be fun.
It is all good. And some things the guys here have are better. Try what makes sense for your facility.
Depending on your system, you might be able to create a second wireless network with it own IP range and a dedicated percentage of your total bandwidth. The rest of the family won’t be able to degrade the music network performance.
Here’s my home truths about wireless streaming, which I’ve been doing for about 13 years. Back in the day, there were all sorts of things that could go wrong. Not now.
My first set-up initially did not work. It took me a day to find out the problem was that the switch was too slow. Nowadays a Netgear GS108 for $20 is all you will ever need.
Sonos pioneered wireless streaming and it is a budget system. It worked flawlessly because of their wireless Bridge. Basically, it created a wireless channel separate from the rest of the wifi system. They appreciated that wifi installations are the crunch issue over which they had no control, so it had to be proprietary.
Devialet did the same, with Devialet Air, launched around 2012/13. It’s a proprietary wireless protocol that can accept data up to 24/192, and it was faultless. It still is. It was their preferred streaming route. I used it for several years.
Audio manufacturers hated wifi because when it went wrong, which was often, 95% of the time it was not their equipment, it was the customer’s wifi network. That’s why they always recommended wired.
Mesh is sometimes a problem. Many mesh systems lose a lot of signal strength. They also lose speed. I use Ubiquiti access points (@vkennedy61 recommended) as (a) you can switch mesh on or off (b) you can fix IP’s to access points, preventing them from roaming (c) the app tells you the signal strength on each device (d) they use PoE, so installation is a breeze. Mesh is rapidly improving and can be done cheap.
I have fibre and CAT6a in parallel. I can’t hear the difference. Fortunately the cable is nowhere near power lines. Fibre is just easy and cheap. One of my access points, at the end of the garden, uses a 50m CAT6a cable and PoE at the sending end and it works absolutely fine.
There really is not a lot to it, perhaps $5 on Alibaba.
The reason why some manufacturers like Innuos choose not to implement wifi is because it is added electrical noise and processing power inside the streaming device. The same applies for video processing, which is much worse, and why these devices don’t have any sort of screen.
Wifi done well can be exceptional. These units are in my ceilings, I have 24 of them. They have faultless wifi that operates at 24/192. The units are completely sealed in aluminium. In each group there is a master unit that receives and sends to up to 8 other devices. One of the key issues is latency, which is why things like D&D 8c and Kiii are wired together. These have latency under 0.1 milliseconds, so they all produce the same sound at the same time. It is very sophisticated tech that cost a lot to develop, but it will become commonplace.
These units have far more streaming tech than Air Lens. They are Roon Ready, have Spotify Connect, Apple Music, Amazon HD, Tidal, Radio, AirPlay, Bluetooth and Alexa onboard. They also have a 75w amplifier, 24/192 DAC, two speaker drivers and a lighting system second to none.
It costs £375, less than $500, which is what some people are prepared to pay for a 9v 0.6A power supply for a $5 media converter.
10 years ago I struggled to get my state of the art Linn wifi system to play 24/192 files. Now I can play them through multiple wireless units without even a second thought. It can also be done very cheaply indeed.
I took the plunge and just ordered the Innuos ZENith MK 3 4 Tb bye bye MacMini.
Tomorrow will be here (the dealer has one demo in stock at a good price).
If and when the AirLens arrives I’ll use it directly connected via ethernet port (the second one) to the Innuos running at that time as a Roon Core only. Roon Lab always recommends to go ethernet.
Let’s see (hear) if I can grow as “digital guy”.
Without too many boxes and cables Al suggests to be overwhelmed (and this is by itself a remarkable news).
Excellent! Congrats! With 4TB onboard you even have room for some DSD files. Hopefully the streaming is good enough for PCM materials. Keep it simple! I generally do not recommend to folks to get as crazy as I am about collecting the same music in different file versions… FLAC 16-bit, FLAC 24-bit, vinyl scanned to 24-bit, DSD in various densities… My kids say that they will wipe it all when I am dead, if they cannot sell it first!
The Zenith is also optimised for usb. One of the internal power supplies is dedicated to that output. You should try running usb to your DAC, using the Sense app.
