I tried a 3 pack Velop mesh system and returned it within 2 hours. One dropout was enough for me to say no thanks. Probably a 4th unit would have solved the issue but I got an installation price for 4 ethernet points and Cat 6 cable throughout the 2 story house and it came out 50% more than the already expensive 4 Velop nodes.
If the installation price was double the price of 4 Velops I would have passed on the Cat 6 network.
But $1000 for WiFi vs $1500 for Cat 6 network, it was an easy decision for reliability.
Btw if youāre wondering why 3 Velops couldnāt cover the house in WiFi, that wasnāt the issue. Two velops, one in the office (connected to the modem) and one Velop in the center of the house provided WiFi to the entire house but I need an additional 2 units working in bridged to work with the 2 listening rooms (for Roon). For best reliability, I wanted the listening room to have mesh units in bridge mode rather than routers or wifi bridges, hence the need for 4 wifi mesh units.
I tested DSD512 from one end of the house to the other end (just a single hop in between) and it stuttered a few times and one stutter was enough for me to pass on it, especially for $1000 (Roon Core i7 at processing rate of 2.6x so that wasnāt the issue)
Wait ā $1000 for four Velops? US$560 here (at Amazon.com).
Youāre right, though ā wiring the whole house for Ethernet is probably worthwhile in your case. DSD512 implementation = quite a few extra simoleons.
I can vouch for Google Wifi, 3 APs. Great price for a mesh network with a fast, hassle-free setup. I have no dead spots in any room of my two story house. Each AP has two Ethernet ports which can also be used to attach to the network. I have my APs placed near my Roon endpoints so that they attach via Ethernet. Very little upkeep on the system as updates are automatic. It has some advanced router features like DHCP reservations and port forwarding, but not near what youād find on a stand-alone router. So far it has been worth every penny.
The Aussie tax! With the exchange rate improving Iām sure the price will drop at some point later but $1000 for Wifi (currently) vs $1500 for Cat 6, it was a somewhat easy decision. Especially for the reliability factor.
Ya of course, the current WiFi router in the middle of the house (connected by powerline adapter to the front room modem) is sufficient for that. A drop out with web browsing (caused by the powerline adapters) is no big deal. But as we all know an audio dropout can take fun out of Rooning
I use Ubiquity UniFi access points. They work perfectly. With these I replaced a network of 4 Apple WiFi routers. Two UniFi HD give me a better coverage than the Apples before. An since it is a WiFi Mesh network I am always connected to the best access point.
I wouldnāt recommend the orbi. It has too many caveats and mixed reviews on Reddit and Amazon.
I settled on Ubiquiti Unifi to cover a large Victorian home with thick brick walls (in UK). Needed 5 access points and uses Ethernet to link them all. That would be my suggestion if wiring is possible.
If not then provided you donāt need near gigabit speeds (the install above did) then I can highly recommend Ubiquitiās new Amplifi range for the home.
Just did an install with it in an even bigger old brick house and the basic two repeaters and a base station did the trick. Very polished and easy to use and great software - which you canāt say about many of the other wifi mesh packages out there.
Cat 6 job has been installed in my parents place and itās been flawless, with Roon up-sampling 4 different albums to 32/384 to 4 HiFiBerry DAC+ Proās at the same time, never skipping a beat.
I ran a speed test and every point is getting ~ 950Mbps which is my switchās limitation (I had 2 computers directly connected to the switch with a short 5 ft Blue Jeans Cable Cat 6 cable and still got 950Mbps between them).
This weekend Iāll upgrade the router to the Roon recommended ASUS RT-5300 which can now be placed in the middle of the house and thatās sufficient to reach all corners of the house.
If you can get away with 2 or 3 Mesh points then the cost difference is probably too large in favour of the WiFi Mesh. But I recommend anyone thinking about getting 4 Mesh points (for a large multi level house) to maybe get a quote for ethernet because the price difference vs the reliability factor may sway you to spending that little bit more (4 Mesh points isnāt cheap in the first instance).
@dabassgoesboomboom You are wrong. I can get a 4 Point Mesh Network for under 500 Dollars. If I would need to run Ethernet to my house to the areas do not already have ethernet, The quotes average: 10 drops or more about 120 dollars a drop, Anything less than 10 drops is 150 dollars a drop. And if you request Plenum or anything more than your standard the price sky rocketsā¦
I gotten many quotesā¦ I am going to remodel my house and I am upgrading my ethernet drops from Cat 5e to Cat 6a and in some areas fiber drops.
The reliability factor has no price in my book hence why to me Ethernet will always take presidencyā¦ But to say its a ābitā moreā¦ Without knowing each individual caseā¦ I would be careful
On another note: I do use wireless around my house quite heavilyā¦ Tablets, Smart Phones, Home Automation, WiFi Speakers, etcā¦
I have about 100 devices on my wireless.
It costs $0 to get a quote usually which is all I recommended. Not sure what there is to be careful about
Also I mentioned earlier prices shown were for Australia where we pay the hefty Aussie tax althought exchange rates are improving at the moment. Everyone elseās mileage may/will vary of course.
