For the record I am using a generic ethernet cable I had in a box in my storage room.
I appreciate the feedback. I can say on my system, in my three story home with my equipment, and my mini-PC, using my T-Mobile 5g Home Internet, listening with my USB external DAC that there is a difference in clarity with ethernet over wifi.
Some people may have better and more consistent wifi signals than me, have different Roon servers than me, and different home environments from me. My router was one floor up previously using wifi and now it is on the same floor using ethernet.
My take is that just because I can hear a difference in my setting doesn’t mean that there will be a difference in every setting.
I spend at least an hour a day just listening to music and there is a difference and I am happy to hear other’s perception of what I am hearing.
I am convinced as I entered not hoping for a difference, just to see and I did not purchase any new equipment.
Just out of curiosity are you comparing using Roon with RAAT in both scenarios? OR were you using WiFi and something other than Roon in the first instance?
Assuming your transport was RAAT in both cases then this is likely placebo unless you were hearing actual dropouts. Provided you were not getting dropouts entirely, the data received by the end device would be the same whether it is via Ethernet or WiFi.
RAAT abdicates (rightfully) error correction and retransmission to TCP which sits above the physical layer. Now “reliability” may well be an issue, no amount of error detection and retransmission can overcome a terrible enough network but it would not be in the realm of “soundstage” it would be in the realm of “why does it keep stopping”.
Assuming all other things were equal and no changes were made to DSP settings or volume levelling or any other thing that actually varies the data at the source, there is no reason that successfully transmitted data should not be exactly the same. Even clocking is entirely done at the endpoint with RAAT.
You may be overlooking some other variance but assuming the data arrives at all in both scenarios then it will be identical.
@Peter Bruderer, thanks for the link. I read about groundnoise before and how this can hardly be isolated when using usb.
I wonder what is wrong with high-frequencies in my home, it sounds like some wrong compressor-expander setting in the recording but it is not always the case. HF can sound “spiky” and harsch, compared to analog. Happens with tidal and also local files. Maybe I should buy an Etherregen isolator.
The statement “ethernet sounds better than wi-fi” can be explained in one word: Psychoacoustics.
The only reason for using ethernet over wi-fi, and it is admittedly a big one, is the reliability of the connection. Nothing more.
Indeed. I’ve never had the issue of doing a bank transfer via an iPad wherein the wifi caused a data loss problem such that my transfer arrived at the other end £5 short!
I’m sorry, I cannot give you advice on this. It would only be guessing try this, try that.
In any case a good point to start is always to optimise grounding and separate signal cables and power cables.
In my case I bought an oscilloscope and started to measure. I ended up in having star grounding and symmetric connections between the devices. I stream via wireless. The streamer connects via AES to the DAC. Yes that limits digital transfer to 192kHz, but so what …
You don’t say what your endpoint is. IMO, the difference in sound is most likely down to how the digital data is converted in the endpoint. The Wifi module may not be implemented as well as the ethernet input in your device. I know many on here say ones and zeros have no influence on sound quality (which is largely true to a degree until) but those ones and zeros eventually need to be converted to analog (don’t forget the A part in DAC), and don’t magically do that themselves, and use electricity, hardware, and software to do that.
In my High End Audio universe there is a significant difference in SQ between WiFi and LAN. And also if I stream from a PC or from a high end streamer like Antipodes Oladra G2. I think it depends strongly on personal expectations and the audio set up in general.
Very weak WiFi or a poorly shielded microwave oven? I have never had any detectable interference in either of my homes with different appliances and WiFi systems………very interesting.
That’s wild, now I’m in the states possibly a different standard of allowable leakage? Our FCC is pretty tight on this kind of issue. Sharp, Panasonic, Whirlpool ovens and I’ve never had any issues?
