Seeking Gyan on NAS/Routers for audio

[Fiftyfifty]

Hi

I have a reasonably decent audio setup, but have not yet made any effort to upgrade my NAS or router. I stream music from the NAS to one of my streamers connected via Ethernet cable or wifi.

My NAS is a 6 year old WD My Cloud with 2tb data. My router is a basic Dlink model. It is connected by Ethernet cable to my Google mesh wifi to which all my streamers are connected. The WD NAS is also connected via Ethernet to the Google wifi primary node.

I do not have any expertise in networking and do not know if any audible benefits are achievable by upgrading the router or the NAS.

Would appreciate opinions of experts on the forum along with recommendations for specific models.

Many thanks

 

[argho]

In my view - none.

The only benefit from upgrading router and NAS is higher speeds fro copying files from PC to NAS, which matters when you are copying say a 5GB video file.

For playback of an audio file, I do not believe it will make any difference.

Even the oldest NAS and router should give you 10mbps on a wired ethernet.

My only suggestion would be to use ethernet rather than wifi for your streamers.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

In my view - none.

The only benefit from upgrading router and NAS is higher speeds fro copying files from PC to NAS, which matters when you are copying say a 5GB video file.

For playback of an audio file, I do not believe it will make any difference.

Even the oldest NAS and router should give you 10mbps on a wired ethernet.

My only suggestion would be to use ethernet rather than wifi for your streamers.

As recommended on some forums, I tried powering the router with an LPS in place of the wall wart.... It made no difference

 

[rsjaurr]

Hi

I have a reasonably decent audio setup, but have not yet made any effort to upgrade my NAS or router. I stream music from the NAS to one of my streamers connected via Ethernet cable or wifi.

My NAS is a 6 year old WD My Cloud with 2tb data. My router is a basic Dlink model. It is connected by Ethernet cable to my Google mesh wifi to which all my streamers are connected. The WD NAS is also connected via Ethernet to the Google wifi primary node.

I do not have any expertise in networking and do not know if any audible benefits are achievable by upgrading the router or the NAS.

Would appreciate opinions of experts on the forum along with recommendations for specific models.

Many thanks

I do not have personal experience but based on my online research there are many options you can try.

1. Power router and/or NAS with good LPS.
2. Use good quality Ethernet cable
2. Buy something like EtherRegen, SOtM or a similar switch. Read more here.
4. Upgrade your streamer to something like dCS Network Bridge. It has clock input also for supposedly better results.
5. If you plan to use computer based audio transport in the future keep in mind PCIe to USB cards like Jcat, PangPaul and Matrix.

 

[bloredude]

Would appreciate opinions of experts on the forum along with recommendations for specific models.

Before spending money on anything else, please try this:

(1) Bring your DLink router physically as close to your streamer as possible.
(2) Connect both the streamer, and the NAS to the router via CAT 6/7 Ethernet cable.

If this makes no difference then makes no sense to spend money on other stuff. Because the headache may not be worth the effort.

If it does, it will need further investigation to determine the weaker link in your streaming chain. This will be a long and arduous journey.

 

[sydney]

Check my post here

SFP, Media Converter, Fiber optic, Copper isolation

Discontinued product sir.. Just checked.. Also I am running Windows 7 for the music laptop so looking at a simple but effective USB clean up.. Ifi and uptone Regen don't bring a substantial change even though they are simple and easy to use and install.. If Uptone Regen didn't do much for you...

www.hifivision.com

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Before spending money on anything else, please try this:

(1) Bring your DLink router physically as close to your streamer as possible.
(2) Connect both the streamer, and the NAS to the router via CAT 6/7 Ethernet cable.

If this makes no difference then makes no sense to spend money on other stuff. Because the headache may not be worth the effort.

If it does, it will need further investigation to determine the weaker link in your streaming chain. This will be a long and arduous journey.

Thanks. I've done this and it makes no difference

 

[jbkar]

Six year old NAS boxes were having at least 100 MBPS link speed (May be even 1000 MBPS). D-Link also must be 100MBPS. I do not think you need any immediate upgradation

 

[rikhav]

If the upgrades are only for audio quality improvement and has nothing to do with speed or disconnection issue with wifi I would say be content with you have.

Changing the router or using a home grade switch or changing the nas wpuld bring about miniscule improvement or maybe none. As per my knowledge using a ethernet cable through out the house is a complete no for you.

Investing in audio grade switches or network cards or reclockers is not a cheap excercise also.

So I would suggest keep all non critical listening with network related device's and don't bother about it too much and for critical listening you already have a superb CD transport

 

[OM_2K19]

Hi

I have a reasonably decent audio setup, but have not yet made any effort to upgrade my NAS or router. I stream music from the NAS to one of my streamers connected via Ethernet cable or wifi.

My NAS is a 6 year old WD My Cloud with 2tb data. My router is a basic Dlink model. It is connected by Ethernet cable to my Google mesh wifi to which all my streamers are connected. The WD NAS is also connected via Ethernet to the Google wifi primary node.

I do not have any expertise in networking and do not know if any audible benefits are achievable by upgrading the router or the NAS.

Would appreciate opinions of experts on the forum along with recommendations for specific models.

Many thanks

You are good; from the Audio Fidelity perspective, no changes are required. If possible, connect the streamers via LAN cable; audio packets are susceptible to packet loss over Wi-Fi, which may take its toll on overall audio quality. Last, make sure you regularly monitor the condition of the NAS drives to prevent any data loss in case of any failure.