BS Node 2i: WiFi or Ethernet..?

Hello,
I have found it’s about the quality of the product signal and the shielding of the cables used.  I have tested all of this. Bottom line it all makes a difference. I have an Eero WiFi mesh system that lets me put the WiFi signal close to the BSN 2i. Triplite has a CAT8 cable. This gives you better signal cable to the source. I tried the Nordost Purple Flair PC and it made a difference in the sound just like a PC does on the rest of the system.  Partly in the sound and the other due to the shielding in the PC. The stock cable has no shielding. It’s 15’ of cat5 - cat 8 cable. If you are in the Chicagoland area I go to https://holmaudio.com/
Please try to support your local Hifi store. If we don’t in the future there will be no place to audition gear. 

Using a wireless access point would be worse than straight WiFi connection, cause it adds extra powering circuits means extra interference and instability. Switch to 10 feet 8-cat Ethernet cable in my case was big improvement in SQ.
What’s a problem to run 15 feet shielded cable in your case!? Don’t think twice. Do it ASAP. 

If it’s not hard for you to run a cable, why don’t you just try it. If you prefer the results wired keep it, if you don’t, go back to wi-fi. Avoid repeaters if you can, add a network switch in between the router and node. Hardwired is more resistant to interference and all things being equal your system should sound better, but as I say try it and hear for yourself. This thread won’t give you the definitive answer, because every other post will give you the opposite answer to the previous post. 

I haven't noticed any difference in sound quality between wired and wireless with my node 2i. However, recently, I started experiencing a couple of annoying instances of my app "losing" my player. Some of the forums suggested that wired was more stable as far as the interface between the device and app, so I switched to wired. But since I couldn't run ethernet cable directly to the device, I used ethernet over powerline adapters. These have plenty of bandwidth to handle any audio format. One word of caution when using these devices: if you have two phase wiring in your house, don't place them on two different circuits that are on different phases, as the signal then has to travel out of your house to the utility's step-down transformer, reducing bandwidth. Try to keep them on the same circuit if possible, or at least on two circuits of the same phase (either both black wires or both red wires in your electrical panel). 

Based on my experience and in my setup I consider the ethernet connection is better. 

It is important to remark that I followed a hint from another forum and I confirmed that the great benefits occurred when the equipment to be connected has lan isolator transformer on its ethernet input providing galvanic isolation. Take a look if your router and equipments have that.

Looking to the Node 2i, it does not have an isolator transformer on its ethernet  input. In this case, I recomend the use of a medical lan isolator just before the ethernet input. In my setup I use a MI 1005 lan medical isolator with good results. You can find other types on the net.

Depending on your setup a good shielded ethernet cable will be important. As a hint, I found an  ethernet cable  at Amazon:  Linkup Cat8 that I consider meets the audiophile requirements with a good cost ratio.

Regards,  QJA