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To extend Ethernet to remote location, are Powerline extenders or Mesh systems better?

I am trying to get Ethernet into a listening room that is not prewired, and it is not practical to run the hard cable through the old house into that room. I am planning to use a new music streamer that requires Ethernet connection (no wifi).

For hifi purposes, for passing the music signal, not just for computer equipment, are ethernet over powerline units better, or are wifi mesh router systems (which bring an ethernet port into a room using wireless transfer between the mesh devices) better?

For Ethernet over powerlines, I am worried about contaminating the power lines feeding the stereo preamplifier/amplifier, I don’t know if hifi power conditioners will filter out that super high frequency noise well enough.

For wifi mesh, it seems that the wireless handling of the music signal to feed the remote Ethernet port might somehow degrade the sound and introduce other problems that a connected wireline would avoid.

I am not a person that understands these technologies deeply, so I would value perspectives from others here who are users and who may be technically more qualified to understand this stuff.

troidelover1499
hshifi
572 posts
 

Hello,

I found out that Nordost has this QBase power supply system that powers 4 QPoints and two other selectable pieces like a Roon Core and maybe your DC powered tt. I realized at that point that some of these Roon products are DC based power with basic switch mode power supplies or wall warts. If you are not doing the Q Nordost products then maybe get an SBooster linear power supply for you Roon. The SBooster is nice. When you power it down it can take a minute for the green light to turn off. This means there is a constant power to the Roon unit or your favorite DAC or piece of gear. Computers do not like interruption in power. This SBooster could really solve a lot of Roon issues. Plus you should get better sound. You do have to order the correct power output when you order one. These are sold all over. If you are in the Chicagoland area this store is a dealer. 
holmaudio.com

So if you want to take out some of the Roon headaches and improve the sound for around $400 this seams like a no brainer. 
I hope this helps. 

yyzsantabarbara
5,565 posts
 

My issue was related to the extra bandwidth requirements of hi-res. I had no issue in the past with non-highres. However, now I have solved the issue for highres.

erik_squires
17,557 posts
 

Oh, yeah, Roon core really consumes the Wifi bits.  The issue is that it has to read and write at the same time, which bogs it down.  I keep my core on wired Ethernet and the devices vary from wired to Wifi.  All is good this way.

yyzsantabarbara
5,565 posts
 

I am not sure about the implementation details of ROON Core but if I were to write the streaming engine for it, I would not be writing anything to disk. I would be writing to super-fast RAM for TIDAL or Qobuz and for streaming from disk-based FLAC files, I would write nothing to disk. So mostly fast reads in both cases.

WIFI should not have any issue with the CORE other than the quality of WIFI could degraded the transmission of the TCP Broadcast of the bits. Here again I am assuming the Broadcast protocol is used for ROON Rock.

WIFI is OK until the inventible when it totally fails on music streaming. This was a regular occurrence when I tested out ROON WIFI streaming with a Matrix Mini I-3 Pro DAC. It was my WIFI and not ROON that was the weak link.

 

jerrybj
892 posts
 

Flat roof from modem to stereo means I cannot install ethernet cable. I do however have cable that used to run Sky Cable to a T-Box for my TV.

Also have a coax cable installed, that I never used. Are either of these cables able to run internet to my streamer, so I eliminate streaming via wifi?

 

I was never Robert.

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