07-Feb-2022, 23:33
(02-Feb-2022, 03:28)scotthar Wrote: FWIW- never had any great reliability using wireless anything in the phantom system new or old. Ethernet between all devices and using an Optical input is the most stable even with a dialog in the mix. IMO the only way to go. Bluetooth YMMV for short periods but really never found it to have great SQ for any length of time. Not tried AirPlay so no thoughts other than if its over WIFI, forget it. IMO the wireless connectivity (all of it) is a bit of oversell because networking is not easy - not that it wont or cant work but there are a lot of variables and different implementations that all need to work together reliably. Wireless is just adding a bit of extra complexity to an already complex system.
Wi-Fi can work well but it is far from a given. I have had a really frustrating last couple of weeks when my system (wired Roon core with wirelessly connected Phantoms) started skipping to the next track after a minute-or-so and the message about Qobuz loading slowly would flash up. Previous to this my system had been working without problem for a long time so I suspected the latest firmware update had screwed something up. I spent hours and hours trying to isolate the problem and finally today I succeeded, learning a couple of useful lessons in the process.
The cause of the problem turned out to be my network. I have two Wi-Fi access points (APs) as I have quite a long apartment, one is in the same room as the Phantoms and the other is at the other end of the apartment. While I was tinkering with the network I noticed that while the left hand Phantom was connected to the nearest AP the right hand Phantom was connected to the farthest one, two rooms and two load-bearing walls away.
So I created a new wireless network only for the Phantoms. I restricted it to 5GHz only which significantly reduced congestion (I can "see" about 60 other Wi-Fi networks from my apartment, 55 of them are on 2.4GHz) and configured it to only use the AP nearest the Phantoms. After reconfiguring the Phantoms to connect to this network the skipping stopped immediately and the system has now been playing all day without missing a beat.
So I agree wireless can be tricky. Signal attenuation from walls etc. and interference, particularly on the 2.4GHz band which is shared with Bluetooth, DECT, ANT+, baby monitors etc., but most of all other Wi-Fi APs, can really spoil your day. Lessons learned:
1. The nearer the speakers are to the AP the better. In the same room with line-of-sight is best.
2. If you have multiple APs force Phantoms in a stereo pair to connect to the same (nearest) one.
3. Force them to use the 5GHz band.
If you are having problems and for whatever reason can't do the above then I agree with you, wired is definitely the way to go!
