Dropout with D Premier and AIR

[georgev]

So i am streaming wirelessly to my D Premier, but experience "dropout" now and again.
The Access Point is less than a meter from the D Premier.
How can i solve this.
i don't experience it with my Od'A whci is hardwired.

Will a more powerful/stronger AP help? or should i just get a Streamer that is Roon Ready? e.g a Logitech Touc?

[David A]

When I got my 130 back in 2017, well before the CI board upgrade which included fitting an external wifi antenna, I had difficulty getting a reliable wifi connection, even when placing an Apple Airport device closer than a metre from the amp. The only thing that provided a reliable connection was connecting via ethernet to the Airport device. The 130's internal antenna seemed incapable of providing a reliable connection. I ended up having an installer run a wired connection from a wall point near the amp back to the router in another room and using a wired connection all the way back to the router. I tried wifi again as a matter of interest after I got the amp back with that CI board upgrade and it seemed to work better but I didn't swap back to wifi. I had learnt that wired connections are much more reliable,

If you can connect via ethernet to your access point, simply try that. It will almost certainly solve your problem or at least minimise it. There's no way to totally avoid dropouts, simply because there's lots of things which can trigger then and networks do occasionally have problems. With a wired connection you should be assured of mostly trouble free streaming with extremely rare dropouts.

If you want to buy a streamer, fine, but how are you going to stream to it? If you're going to use wifi, then borrow one for a home trial to make sure that it doesn't have the same connection problems that you're currently having. Wifi works best with a clear line of sight connection and anything that interferes with that clear line of sight such as walls or furniture can result in weakened signal strength for the receiving device, whether that's your amp or a streamer, and can result in dropouts.

The simplest solution, if you can connect via ethernet to your nearby access point, is simply to do that.

[georgev]

When I got my 130 back in 2017, well before the CI board upgrade which included fitting an external wifi antenna, I had difficulty getting a reliable wifi connection, even when placing an Apple Airport device closer than a metre from the amp. The only thing that provided a reliable connection was connecting via ethernet to the Airport device. The 130's internal antenna seemed incapable of providing a reliable connection. I ended up having an installer run a wired connection from a wall point near the amp back to the router in another room and using a wired connection all the way back to the router. I tried wifi again as a matter of interest after I got the amp back with that CI board upgrade and it seemed to work better but I didn't swap back to wifi. I had learnt that wired connections are much more reliable,

If you can connect via ethernet to your access point, simply try that. It will almost certainly solve your problem or at least minimise it. There's no way to totally avoid dropouts, simply because there's lots of things which can trigger then and networks do occasionally have problems. With a wired connection you should be assured of mostly trouble free streaming with extremely rare dropouts.

If you want to buy a streamer, fine, but how are you going to stream to it? If you're going to use wifi, then borrow one for a home trial to make sure that it doesn't have the same connection problems that you're currently having. Wifi works best with a clear line of sight connection and anything that interferes with that clear line of sight such as walls or furniture can result in weakened signal strength for the receiving device, whether that's your amp or a streamer, and can result in dropouts.

The simplest solution, if you can connect via ethernet to your nearby access point, is simply to do that.

So my AP Is hard wired to the router. And the AP is right next to the Devialet.

[David A]

Given the proximity of the AP to the Devialet, then the simplest solution is an ethernet cable from AP to Devialet provided the AP has a free ethernet port.

[Edgeyboy]

Given the proximity of the AP to the Devialet, then the simplest solution is an ethernet cable from AP to Devialet provided the AP has a free ethernet port.

The D Premier doesn't have an ethernet port, this is the issue. 

I had a similar situation with a Ubiquiti AP 10cm from the D Premier and a hard wired Roon core - still got dropouts regularly. If you want a reliable experience I would forget Devialet Air, even via Roon. It is simply not robust enough on a D Premier with it's internal wi-fi antennas.

I would look into using a good quality transport or streamer with the D Premier.

I trialed an Auralic Aries G1 last year, connected to the D Premier by AES. Sounded extremely good.

I have just taken delivery of the Meridian 218 (Roon Tested) and the Meridian 210 (Roon Ready) for evaluation. The 218 also sounded excellent through coaxial digital output into the D Premier. The 210 also does Bluetooth and Spotify and has Wi-Fi should it be required. Evaluation to follow although I would expect it to sound very similar to the 218.

[David A]

The D Premier doesn't have an ethernet port, this is the issue. 
…

Oops, forgot that. That leaves a streamer as probably the best option.

[georgev]

The D Premier doesn't have an ethernet port, this is the issue. 
…

Oops, forgot that. That leaves a streamer as probably the best option.

My thinking too, that i need a streamer. One with simply a digital out. 
One on the mind would be a Logitech Squeezebox Touch. Discontinued but available second hand.
must fond out if Meridian is still represented here in SA. That 210 looks good. The Lumin U1mini would be great but quite a hefty cost.
I was wondering if i have a more powerful AP, whether that would make any difference?That would be a less expensive way to approach it.
Any thoughts on this? A more powerful AP?

[thumb5]

A RaspberryPi-based streamer would probably be cheaper than upgrading your AP, and more reliable. (If you don't mind a bit of DIY, and an extra box, of course.)

[georgev]

Now you have me Ian.
I am really a technical disaster.
Can you guide me?
I can get the Squeezebox Touch for about 160GBP.
Would the Rasperry Pi based streamer e less? better?

[thumb5]

First, I should say that I am not speaking from first hand experience here - I'm sure others on the forum are better qualified to talk in detail about the best way to do this with an RPi.  If you're interested you might also want to take a look at this video tutorial by Darko.

The basic idea would be to buy a Raspberry Pi (perhaps a Pi 3 model B+) and a so-called HAT (plug-in) that provides a digital audio output -- something like the HiFiBerry Digi+ or Digi+ Pro should probably do the job.  You'll also need a case, plenty to choose from there.  That would give you the streaming hardware.  You then need software to run on the Pi to turn it into a streamer; since you're using Roon, Ropieee would be a good choice.  This comes as a software "image" that you can install on an SD card which the Pi boots from.

You'll then have a Roon-capable streamer that feeds S/P-DIF into your D-Premier.  Cost would be around GBP 100 based on the components I suggested, depending on how fancy you want the case to be.  You can spend more to get (possibly) better-quality audio output - for example using the Allo DigiOne HAT.  In fact you can buy a ready-built streamer using that HAT, the DigiOne Player, although the cost is then on a par with your used Squeezebox.