Wifi VS ethernet for sound quality on Wiim Amp Ultra?

[jjue1979]

A general rule with home networking is if a device is a fixed in location, it’s better to have it on ethernet if you can. This leaves your WiFi bandwidth for mobile devices that require it.

I do the same thing at my house, which is why my home network may be more complicated with multiple network switches and access points than what most people want to manage.

 

[Aquaman]

I do the same thing at my house, which is why my home network may be more complicated with multiple network switches and access points than what most people want to manage.

If required this is one way of doing it.
I chose to use the available ethernet ports on my router to feed multiple wifi access points around the house. Some of them have individual SSIDs so I can assign stationary devices specifically to single access points. Thus the bandwidth load is very limited for each of them. No switches other than the one in the router. This saves me a lot of cabling.

 

[jjue1979]

If required this is one way of doing it.
I chose to use the available ethernet ports on my router to feed multiple wifi access points around the house. Some of them have individual SSIDs so I can assign stationary devices specifically to single access points. Thus the bandwidth load is very limited for each of them. No switches other than the one in the router. This saves me a lot of cabling.

I wish that I could keep it this simple--maybe on a nice plot of land where I'm not close enough to get interference from neighbors. Unfortunately, all the McMansions in my neighborhood are too close together and have networks setup wrong, and the only way for me to fix my wifi woes was to switch to a business class access point system with a few strategically placed with specific bands and narrow bandwidth per AP to minimize the interference from my neighbors. As a result, I also ended up pulling more drops after moving in than I had the contractors pull during construction because I didn't fully study my needs and how neighbors' wifi will affect my IoT performance.

 

[dominikz]

Pardon the (potential) ignorance when reading through this thread but the same question keeps popping into my head.

Data (in this case sound) is transferred digitally as ones & zeros to be recompiled into analogue by the DAC for us mere humans to be able to listen to. How does the transport method eg ethernet or wireless, affect the quality of the audio whilst that audio is in data form? Surely it's not possible?

I could understand some "corruption" from missing packets (assuming any buffering and the DAC can't iron this out) but "affecting the soundstage" - how?

Your understanding is in principle correct.

Actually a big benefit of digital data transmission is its higher resistance to noise and the ability to correct for various kinds of errors in transmission.

As has been mentioned, drops in WiFi signal could cause dropouts in audio, of course, but in case the signal is solid there is no difference in audio quality between WiFi and ethernet (or fiber).
It was also mentioned that a wired ethernet connection might cause ground hum in certain cases, but the same can happen with any kind of (electrical) wired connection. If there's no hum, there's no issue - regardless of the method.

IMHO people simply tend to overthink these things.

 

[TonyE]

...

‚Soundstage‘ is the most commonly used effect that self acclaimed audiophiles bring forward. Only they can ‚hear‘ it. That‘s because they have a nail in their heads big-time.
..

Nope... sorry.... the "soundstage" is a very important part of audio reproduction. Likely the single most important quality of an audio ( for movies too ) system!

The best way to learn what a "soundstage" is... go to a live concert. Hopefully acoustic instruments in a live hall. Then listen to such performances in your home audio system. You can then clearly hear differences between speakers, amplifiers, bit rates, etc... Listen to a live kick drum, a saxophone from 20 feet away, a big concert piano, etc.. listen to how they sound from a little ways, how they present themselves so you know where they are.

SOUNDSTAGE it is the single most important aspect of music reproduction. You can hear the instruments play loud or soft ( dynamics ), can you hear the separation between the front row ( soloist ) and the back rows ( orchestra )... can you hear the sound and position in space of each instrument separate from others ( detail )... when an instrument goes loud, does it hide the soft playing instruments ( mycrodynamics )... voice harmonies, massed strings not sounding harsh, etc, etc...

This is fundamentally affected by how the performance was recorded. It is possible for a relatively low fidelity recording to present a good soundstage if properly recorded.

Movies are different, because those are artificially produced soundstage... even so, a good soundstage for a movie is fundamental as well. The aural clues of a good sound track also depend on dynamics, detail, etc..

We saw the movie Blue Thunder in the 80 at the Fox (now Regency Westwood Village ) Theater in Westwood, CA. In one of the helicopter chase scenes, the camera is flying through an urban canyon with tall buildings on either side. one chopper comes from behind and above the audience and then pops onto the top of the screen... then a second chopper comes from behind and BELOW the audience.

How they did that, I have no clue, but it was incredible... I doubt anyone can do this at home.

You want to learn what true soundstage in a movie is? You gotta go to one of those very good theaters... not just a "THX movie" or even an IMAX... you have to experience it in a World Class Movie Theater. You don't need to be an audiophile to feel that helicopter under you feet!

For a while I was lucky in working at R&D in Internet movies and media... in the 90s, in Westwood. We'd go on weekly company paid trips to watch matinees in the nearby movie houses. Our own company's theater was a 9.4 channel system with full blown Infinity speakers, High End amps, state of the art prototype (available only for evaluation) THX processors, BIG widescreen, tweaked video projectors... we had state of the art source servers, etc... that system soundstaged like crazy!

Don't poopooh soundstage. It's real.

(Oh, they closed the Regency in Westwood... for a bunch of years we've been going to the IMAX in the Regal Irvine Spectrum which is also a very good sounding theater).

If required this is one way of doing it.
I chose to use the available ethernet ports on my router to feed multiple wifi access points around the house. Some of them have individual SSIDs so I can assign stationary devices specifically to single access points. Thus the bandwidth load is very limited for each of them. No switches other than the one in the router. This saves me a lot of cabling.

I think it's not just the SSID but the channels.

Chez moi we did a similar thing. But eventually I settled by using the same SSID for two APs with different channels -roaming- and a different SSID for my home office -again with different channels.

I'm not quite sure that just having different SSIDs is sufficient to prevent interference... and you have no configurable user control over the bandwidth of a given radio... it's all about the base frequency and the encoding schema.

As it is, most of my non mobile units are wired with static IP addresses. Only mobile units use DHCP. I used managed switches with spanning tree.

 

[FreakyKiwi]

Pardon the (potential) ignorance when reading through this thread but the same question keeps popping into my head.

Data (in this case sound) is transferred digitally as ones & zeros to be recompiled into analogue by the DAC for us mere humans to be able to listen to. How does the transport method eg ethernet or wireless, affect the quality of the audio whilst that audio is in data form? Surely it's not possible?

I could understand some "corruption" from missing packets (assuming any buffering and the DAC can't iron this out) but "affecting the soundstage" - how?

The only plausible explanation is if there is electrical interference introduced through the network cable from faulty networking equipment, or introduced along the cable run which could be interfere with the analog signal.

This would be a similar argument to using expensive power supplies, cables, or filters/conditioners for a digital device.

This should be solvable if it is even exists and suggests a bigger issue (a nail through a network cable into a mains cable?) and/or poor equipment design, but using wireless networking or an optical coupling for a wired connection is a sure way to have galvanic isolation.

Using the same logic, even though I can hear no difference, I use an optical digital connector from my Wiim to my DAC rather than coaxial, in my case because it is a free option.

No amount of logic, blind testing, or scientific measurement will solve the audiophile cable debate or other snake oil claims to improve soundstage.