I’ve been getting this a lot, and I assume it’s coming from upstream; I guess my question amounts to “is it my NAS or is it my wifi connection?”
For the purposes of today’s discussion my system consists of:
Roon Core on a Macbook Mini
Time Capsule used as NAS
wifi to raspberry pi 3/hifiberry digi+
optical out to powered speaker
When this error message occurs can it be narrowed down to the NAS or the wifi connection? I know not a lot of people are using Time Capsule as an NAS so I didn’t know if that could be the problem.
Hard to say… Is the Time Capsule connected wirelessly as well? What generation is? Is the mini connected through 802.11n or ac?
The tricky part is that there’s a double wireless loop: the mini core gets the data off the NAS wirelessly, while sending it out in full PCM over the same wireless connection. The Pi3’s Wifi is notoriously weak. The TC’s Wifi is generally OK, but file transfer is rather slow.
Can you make the connection Mac mini < > Time Capsule wired (if only just for testing) and see what happens?
Wifi for a remote is fine…generally wifi for core or endpoints is asking trouble…for both I would pretty much count on issues.
As for a time capsule as a has that’s pushing the friendship too…time capsule is not a fast rated drive now is it a fast transfer speed.
Get a proper NAS and use wired connections everywhere you can…or scale back your streaming expectations as the results will seldom be favorable as you are experiencing now.
I agree 100%–the raspberry wifi units I"m using are more for ambient music. I have a microrendu hardwired for my main system.
This does get to the issue of what I can do now to improve my signal. I’m renovating a new home and am putting whole-home power conditioner/surge protectors in, as well as hardwired ethernet next to the coax wall outputs. I also agree it’s time when I move to change from the Time Capsule to a real NAS, and upgrade the wifi network.
Do you guys have any suggestion for NAS and wifi hardware?
Depending on the age and specs of the mini, you (and your Roon install) may be happier by skipping the NAS and just hooking up one or more external disks for data. I use these guys with my NUC and found them to be quiet (not really important in my case, as all server stuff resides in a separate room) and reliable:
The Time Capsule can be relegated to its native functionality of backing it all up.
My 2 cents - I have the Synology NAS solution for a few years with 13TB hard drive slots - also installed a commercial grade Ruckus WiFi. In recent times I have noticed that I really do not need the NAS server as I am increasingly relying on streaming for both video and audio- in fact my kids only use streaming. So I would not recommend the NAS solution today as it is becoming surperflous. I would look at a simpler solution here rather than a home server. Just require good cable broadband- and these days this option is becoming much cheaper.
In terms of WiFi routers - I would invest on a robust solution here and most routers like netgear and Cisco for the retail punter is less than sufficient for HD Video or Hi Res audio. -There is nothing more annoying than intermittent or buffering interruptions whilst watching a HD movie or listening to music. So I opted for a commercial grade solution and have never looked back.
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I would look at a simpler solution here rather than a home server. Just require good cable broadband- and these days this option is becoming much cheaper. [/quote]
Not an option for those of us stuck with a piece of wet string for our internet connection, I’m afraid.
Thanks guys. I definitely need NAS, but really like Synology and am definitely upgrading the wifi router as well. There are maybe two or three rooms where I will run an ethernet behind the wall since I’m gutting my house currently (TV room, music room, bedroom.) I just don’t want to run it to the whole house.
