Streaming with wifi on K50

Hi – I have a K50, and am moving to a new home. Unlike my current home, it doesn’t have an ethernet port in my audio room. Before I go to the expense of adding a port, I was wondering how well the K50 can work streaming off of wifi… I seem to recall that there is a dongle that will allow that. What do you recommend? Thanks. – David

I have the same issue in my house David. For a long time I used powerline adapters, but then an audio equipment broker friend told me I could also use a Wi-Fi extender. After I had a failure or two with the PLA’s I moved my Wi-Fi extender, which just so happened to be in the same room, closer to my K50 and ran an Ethernet cable from the extender to the K50. Later on I added a switch and a Network Audio ENO between the extender and the K50. This extender/ENO combination has worked very well for me, both as to reliability and sq.
Greg

Greg, thanks for the info!

With my former DX and now with my K40 I have used a Netgear WNCE3001 Dual Band Wi-Fi to Ethernet adapter. It has proven to be extremely stable. Although I believe this particular model is out of production, it is available on eBay. I think I paid originally $30 USD or so. Good luck.

Hiya, don’t really want to be the voice of doom, but here goes.
Wifi is not recommended.
We certainly have users that use wifi as the posters here indicate.
I would draw your attention to the Roon article on networking best practice.

Networking Best Practice

1 Like

Hi Mark. I don’t disagree with you. I took the convenient and poor man’s way out with the Netgear WNCE3001. Running direct Ethernet was not a viable option for me. Question for you based on your experience - is mesh networking a step up specifically having to do with Antipodes and its connectivity - both stability and overall sonic quality?

Greg, thanks for your info! – David

Thanks for your info!

Mark, thanks. I am working with an electrician to get a dedicated ethernet port in the audio room, with a dedicated CAT 6 run to the router. He’s there doing the same thing with a power outlet, so there are some efficiencies in taking care of both.

1 Like

You don’t strictly speaking need to get an ethernet point wired, as such. Whilst I could quite easily have wired one myself I simply ran a very long ethernet cable from the router/modem. So long as you can find a path to do so, than it’s a very cheap solution. Would that be at all possible? Many of the cables available are now flat which makes hiding/routing them much easier too.

P.S I always meant to run points into every room, but this was the main priority & worked so well that I never quite got around to it.

I had a similar issue and I took a fibre optic cable from my router externally around the house to my listening room to a switch inside that room. An ethernet cable connects from that switch to a PhoenixNET which is what my K50 is plugged into.

I rarely stream music despite having a Qubuz sublime subscription but this arrangement allows me to control the playing of my locally stored files on the K50 via Material or iPeng via the Squeeze/Squeezelite apps and also to copy downloaded or ripped CDs to the K50.

1 Like

It would be nice to be able control the K50 without plugging in ethernet and all that comes with it. I’m sure that’ll be sorted soon. Thought control may take a while longer…

I long for the day when high-end music servers gain the ability for playback to be controlled with an infrared remote. I guess our old CD players were a bit more advanced in that area.

Like you, I own a K50 and, unlike our previous house, our new house, built in 2016 isn’t hardwired for ethernet.

I have been using an Orbi mesh setup since we moved in (2019) with very good results. The Orbi router is in my media room closet downstairs where the modem and my HT equipment reside. The Orbi satellite is upstairs in my 2-channel room and is connected to a Sonore opticalModule Deluxe via a Blue Jeans Cat 6a cable and then I run fiber out from the Sonore to my Melco S100 switch (it has the Pink Faun mod) and then use Pink Faun LAN cables to my K50 and then from the K50 to a Linn KDSM Organik streamer.

The power supply for the Orbi has been replaced with a Farad Super3, and Super 3’s also power the Sonore and the Melco switch.

While I don’t have a hard wired LAN connection to compare to, it sounds very good to me and I don’t have problems with dropouts.

BTW, the Pink Faun LAN cables are great cables. I had both these cables and Shunyata Omega LAN cables in for audition and the Pink Faun cables won. Great performance and a huge value for the money.

@7Ryder Would you kindly take a look at my posts in the “Is K40 discontinued” thread. I am interested in your experience with streaming versus playing local files from your K50 - specifically sonics. I am running a K40 with LAN connections between the K40 and Linn KDSM Organik streamer, so very similar to your set-up. I will be interested in your comments. Thank you.

Hi. Using the K50 as a server only (I bought it used and have not had a chance to use the player functions b/c it has an issue and is in Denver for repairs), using Roon I don’t hear any difference between files streamed from Qobuz or the same files downloaded and played locally.

@7Ryder Thank you. I have been using MinimServer and not Roon. It would be interesting to hear what sonic differences, if any, are the result of one server versus the other. In theory, there should not be sonic differences, but…

I would say each different OS/software would/should sound different. Listen to them all, pick the one you like and live happily ever after.

Chilli, thanks. In my new house, getting to the router meant traversing a floor to the lower floor. An electrician is installing a “home run” power line to the service box, so he’s also doing a run of ethernet cable that will terminate as a port in the audio room. – David

1 Like

Thanks for your comment! - David