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Which is best Wi-Fi or ethernet?

Jim Audiomisc said:
You mean that NASA use the same short-range systems and 'domestic' wifi kit as consumers?

I'd suspect the circumstances are rather different. e.g. Mars may not have as many adjacent wifi systems sharing the same bandspace and time slots as many homes on Earth. Nor be subject to 'drive by' data hoovering, etc.

I've stayed with wired ethernet because it simply works well and is reliable.
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Of course you joke and I was careful in my post to say "radio communications" for a reason. Home networks (WiFi or structured cabling) use LAN protocols whilst at distance we employ WAN protocols.

I've never worked for NASA but I did work with them when I was with the European Space Agency. The ESA ERS used a bastardised version of X.25 as they only had one shot at getting the data to our ground stations whilst they passed overhead as each pass was over different Earth terrain. Any idea what xmission rate they used? Even the kit suppliers laffed when I asked them to retain an X.25 port at 2.4Kbps. This was 30 years ago! They did interesting things such as having ships at sea measuring the water temperature to keep the ERS calibrated.

I use WiFi (now a mesh) because it works over all 3 floors of this detached house. You could say that installing structured cabling in a home is old/ancient technology - well in truth it is (I was designing office systems using the AT&T PDS 35 years ago) but then we still employ other old technologies where they can add value.

The future is radio and lots of it at very high data rates and using flea power.

As for Mars, The signal from Earth will be very weak over such a long distance and also buried by noise from the Universe - a far more hostile comms environment than having a few hot spot stations on 2.4 & 5GHz nearby. I regularly see around 30 SSIDs surrounding us as there are a lot of people living in flats nearby with the sea just around the corner so to speak.

Cheers,

DV
 
Darth Vader said:
Of course you joke and I was careful in my post to say "radio communications" for a reason. Home networks (WiFi or structured cabling) use LAN protocols whilst at distance we employ WAN protocols.

The future is radio and lots of it at very high data rates and using flea power.

As for Mars, The signal from Earth will be very weak over such a long distance and also buried by noise from the Universe - a far more hostile comms environment than having a few hot spot stations on 2.4 & 5GHz nearby. I regularly see around 30 SSIDs surrounding us as there are a lot of people living in flats nearby with the sea just around the corner so to speak.

Cheers,


DV
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Agreed I was joking. :) However I am less confident that having an RX on mars is a harsher *radio* environment than the middle of a tower block in a city on Earth. Albeit it may need more hardening against cosmic rays. :)

Dealing with the in-band noise for an RX on Mars is more likely to be a coding issue against the noise level, not it being blocked by transmitted signals that are coded in the same ways which may overload the system.

Wasn't there something in 'Spectrum' a year or two ago on the antenna design being novel, though? I keep being impressed by what they report.

I still prefer wired. Good bandwidth and SNR. Also helps avoid snooping or intrusions/attacks.
 
This answer may seem like a fudge, but I've never had a problem provided we are talking about "one hop" - I have a separate NAS, LMS server pi and various player devices. I am happy having the player devices on wifi but have the nas and the LMS server pi hard wired. I have found that having more than one of the 3 on wifi can cause the wheels to spin a bit especially if you are trying to play while it's indexing..
In any event this is no hardship because there is no reason for the server and nas to be anywhere near a hifi.
If the bluesound is an all-in-one then I wouldn't worry.
 
Oddly enough, the semi conductor shortage is hitting Cisco in a big way and they’re telling us some WAPs and switches now have a 6-9 month lead time. I’ve asked my people to order a lot of patch cables as I can see a run on them very soon. And for staff to make sure they haven’t lost the Ethernet adapters that came with their laptops!
 
mansr said:
Because they couldn't think of a way to charge money for air.
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Seems like somebody should come up with an audiophile air purifier with a whisper-silent fan, linear power supply, and copper chassis. Benefits should be obvious, not only would it eliminate harmful reflection points for WiFi signals and sound waves alike in the form of dust particles, etc. it would also decrease congestion in listeners with the obvious benefit of clearer hearing.

You know what, forget I said this, I need to call a friend at the patent office...
 
pocketkitchen said:
In terms of networking, absolutely. Wi-Fi doesn’t work everywhere, however.
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I agree, stuff gets in the way of wifi.

My point was more aimed that both ethernet and USB are packet based, with FEC/CRC, if there is no change to the sound between packets over wired ethernet and to those over WiFi then the cable, with a packetised transmission format, has no effect on the sound and ergo, a wired USB cable can't either.
 
russel said:
Yep, hopeless in seawater and you trying to get a connection in an ionised gas.
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Your facetious comment is welcome but until you’ve tried to get a Sonos system to work in a room in which, after 3 hours of swearing, the client informs you that this is where he keeps the guns and the whole room is lined with half inch steel plate…. Buildings don’t always announce their secret to you.
 
I used to use a laptop at the edge of my wifi coverage, and occasionally had issues. I stuck in one of these TP-Link Archer T9UH USB Wifi adaptors which uses all sorts of whizz-prang smart stuff that I don't really understand to improve reception. It most certainly worked - my Speedtest results were several times faster.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/adapter/archer-t9uh/

There are similar devices with ethernet output, like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01560JGQW/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Ah, well, thank you. A lively debate full of info. Overall I’ve decided to put the Silvo away for another day. I have tried the Ethernet without a slight ground tremble and found no audible difference. So, Wi-Fi does it now.
 
I stream from my laptop via usb cable into an Audiolab cd 8300
I once compared WiFi to Ethernet using Metallica s Black album and Ethernet had much better PRAT so for "serious' listening i use that.
But often late at night or for a quick listen i'll use wifi.
 
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