Ethernet vs wireless - Does it make a difference?

[davidovada]

Today, for no real reason, I decided to try wired(ethernet) to connect my iMac to the router(Telecomitalia) for the first time. The connection has always been wireless. The improvement was not subtle. The soundstage tightened up, highs shimmered and bass became pinpoint rather than generic. Holy shit, batman! I've been at this hobby for forty something years. This was not a tweak that you talk yourself into believing is real. This was the motherload. I'm in shock and wanted to share this with my favorite site. Now - back to the music.

 

[ItemAudio]

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but any wireless transmitter close to the motherboard really fouls things up. If you have to go wireless and aren't using USB as an output path for audio, a USB-powered dongle transmitter is less lossy than a card.

 

With all those twisted pairs, ethernet has excellent interference rejection: unless you're using mains-ethernet (!!), I'd always recommend wired.

 

[I. G.]

I hate wireless and proud of it.

 

[4est]

the DAC connection or the NAS.

 

[ItemAudio]

Or at least, everywhere there is a conductive connection between a wireless transmitter and a transport or DAC.

 

[Audio_ELF]

I think at the end of the day it depends on your system and setup how much Wireless vs Wired makes a difference (if any). It's worth getting a long cable and trying it, but in some domestic situations the difficulty of neatly installing Cat5e / Cat6 will override any possible sound quality improvements.

 

Technically there should be no difference in transmission via wired or wireless though wireless *may* cause problems due to RFI in badly designed systems. There may also be a difference as with wireless you may be getting less than stellar connection speeds: generally the an ISP supplied router is build down to a price and as a result not the best quality - adding a good standalone wireless access point may provide similar improvement.

 

Eloise

 

[davidovada]

Eloise, those are some interesting points. I connected the iMac to the modem/router via a .5 meter cable. I'm still wireless, for the reasons you mentioned, from the Pirelli to the Transporter. This does not negate the huge improvement made by the wired connection to the router. I've tries connecting to the Transporter via ethernet, but cannot get this to function. Your suggestion about replacing the Telecom/Pirelli is intriguing. Grazie. I always find your posts to be interesting and informative.

 

david

 

[RankStranger]

Is that some Monster Beats! sort of rare Dr Dre! tourettes you Headphones! have there?

 

Beats!

 

RS