BS Node 2i: WiFi or Ethernet..?


Greetings from snowy Chicago.

My rig:

Bluesound Node 2i
Chord Qutest (with Teddy Pardo LPS)
Belles Soloist 1 int am
Dynaudio Special 40s

I stream Tidal mostly and my router is in the same room as my Node in the basement and I have very strong wifi signal.
But, cant direct connect the Node to network w/o running a 15’ cable.

My question:

- Has anyone heard better SQ results by using ethernet connectivity with Node 2i compared to just using WiFi?
- Am curious if using a wireless "access point" then connecting it to Node 2i via ethernet would sound "better".

Any thoughts or experiences out there?
Thanks.

ianrmack
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
I use Ethernet for most of my connections (my house was prewired) not because of sound quality but to keep the Jewish laser satellites from stealing my music and then wiping my hard-drive soft...

On a serious note, if ever in doubt keep in mind an access point to ethernet is no more than a wifi receiver like the one in a Node 2i (or whatever a person may be using) with a wire hanging out. 

A good way to see whether it is adding speed or throughput (which is more important and not the same thing) is to test these wirelessly on a laptop near your equipment and then test again using an access point while remembering throughput is the most important aspect of any given means of DATA transport. 
The problem with the 15’ run is that you’re potentially introducing noise from your router, so treat that either way, but that impact will be more pronounced with a longer run.  Then, there’s the price.  I’ve toyed with Monoprice Entigrade as a cheap option, but you’re probably going to need to spend a few hundred for a decent 15’ run.  Another option could be to get two TP-Link media converters on the cheap and do a fiber-optic run.  Easy to hide the fiber cable, and use a quality 0.5m Ethernet run on each end.  
Hi, All - 

I am the OP and this is my conclusion:

I use Wifi and it sounds good, works reliably and I have no issues.
Will continue to do so happily.

Thanks.