Diagnosing a streaming failure


 

I have an VERY intermittent streaming failure, let’s say once a month, if that, with daily playing. I have a LAN connected Aurender N150 connected via Cardas Clear USB to my Qutest DAC playing Qobuz. 

The failure occurs only at the start, no sound, conductor shows streaming. A couple times rebooting N150 & Qutest works… 2 times (including this afternoon), rebooting doesn’t work and swapping USB cables gets it working again. 

So bad USB cable… not necessarily as putting the Cardas back, still works. 

When failure occurs, my CD player always works (connected via coax BNC) to my Qutest. So that eliminates everything in my mind but the N150 and the USB portion of my Qutest. 

My N150 only has USB out, so can’t check other outputs. I used to think it was an Qutest issue, but now not sure as a couple of times recently the Aurender skipped songs.

Thoughts?Any diagnostic recommendations would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

 

signaforce

Thinking out load: What router are you using and is a ping test part of the test scenario? I would try Speed Test by Ookla abd make sure your ping is less the 8ms.  Anything more would indicate some latency and the app/device is buffering before it plays to eliminate drops in the middle.

Second is never use the providers router.  This allows them to throttle your service during peak times.  Some carriers share your bandwidth and collect date from you using that device in your home.

 

 

OP:  

Measuring download speed is good, but if you can observe other networks using a wifi analyzer that’s better.   You may not get those speeds when other networks get busier. 

Also, routers DO go bad, sometimes 1 band at a time.  For instance, I had to replace my last router because the 5 GHz channel would just stop working until a router reboot.  They are especially susceptible to heat to make sure they remain well ventilated and away from an area that gets hot during the day.

Best,

 

Erik 

@erik_squires @sholladay 

My network. My main router is less than 6 months old. The AT&T router is disabled. I do have a lot of devices. I don’t know how to test latency for an Ethernet connected streamer.