I find that RPi wifi is pretty mediocre at best and trying to get better than 44.1/16 over it is often unreliable.
Agreedā¦with a decent dongle though itās fine - in fact Iāve reliably streamed 384Khz that way (though I wouldnāt generally bother with an RPi endpoint).
Just in case anyone else comes across this, the firmware appears fine. A systematic restart of all my network devices (modem, router, switches, APs, devices) appears to have resolved the issueā¦havenāt had a drop out for at least a week.
Again, just in case anyone else comes across this, I can also reliably produce intermittent dropouts by moving the baby monitor too close to the RPi (both operate on frequencies in the 2.4GHz band). Makes me wonder if this issue affects others who may be unaware. Simply resolvedā¦move it further away or switch to 5GHz.
Hi guys, I just want to bring this topic in the top 
What is the best router you used for audio and especially for ROON?
Thank you!
I stopped mixing routers with WiFi a few years ago. In fact my router is just a router my WiFi is just WiFi and my switches are just switches. I canāt honestly say there was any audible change but network stability and performance has been stellar. All Ubiquiti UniFi gear here.
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I use a blend of hard wire ethernet connections, switches, and mesh wifi (eero). No more wifi problems.
Quite a number of people like Ubiquiti products here. I have to replace our dying WiFi access point, so I studied the UniFi WiFi access point (not router) product line. Hereās my executive summary for home use or small office:
- UAP-AC-HD is the choice for Wave 2 MU-MIMO based on Qualcomm chipset. Thereās a lower end Wave 2 model (using an alternate low-cost chipset) that I would not buy.
- The older models UAP-AC-PRO and UAP-AC-LR, using older Qualcomm chipsets, are less expensive, suitable for people who want higher throughput (if their devices have 3x3 antenna) or longer range
(For most home users without special requirements or range problems, I still think one single WiFi router is simpler to use than a router plus another WiFi access point.)
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This will very much depend on your home size and construction.
I have replaced all of my home network with Ubiquiti Unifi products. I am now using the USG as the router, us-8 150W Poe switch, two other 8 port managed switches and the AC-Pro access point. My Internet connection is BT infinity, fibre to the cabinet. I am also running the cloud key controller. This replaced various HP and Netgear switches and a Netgear R8000 router. I was having to reset the Netgear router every so often as WiFi May be dropped or internet connection stalled. I have had the ubiquiti stuff for a couple of months now and it is rock solid. If I feel like probing I have access to a lot of data/info to see what my kids are up to, for example. The only thing I miss is the inclusion of Disney Circle which was integrated into the Netgear. WiFi connection is great throughout the house which is a typical 1930s semi with a loft conversion. Thoroughly recommend ubiquiti.
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Not a fan of the 150W 8port as it runs extremely hotā¦keep your airflow up where itās installed. Even the 60W gets pretty toasty. Cooling or lack of is your enemy with these devices. Oddly enough Iāve had 2 Ubiquiti devices at different clients fail in the last 3 weeks. And my Fibre modem failed this weekend too (power supply died) and both my upsā need batteriesā¦letās hope that is it for the year.
I still highly recommend unifi gear.
I also highly recommend ubiquiti unifi. Iāve got quite a complex setup with a usg, cloudkey and 20 switches and aps and itās rock solid.
Ubiquiti Unifi here for router, main switch and two WiFi access points. Never been more stable. I was using a Netgear R8000 before and it was useless and like others had to reboot more often than I would like. I added one Unifi AC Pro at first and this made WiFi so much more reliable but the router still gave me grief and I had some black spots upstairs so I decided to get the USG router and the 60w PoE switch and another AC lite AP for upstairs powered by PoE. Works really well but took me a while to optimise it and get good balance between the two access points.
I use a further 2 x Cisco 2960 8 port switches in the audio setups in lounge and dining room zones.
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I really like Unifi WiFi gear too and have 2 AC-Pros and an AC-M-Pro. However, itās not without its share of glitches - a recent firmware bug for the 4.x series saw WiFi signal strength on 2.4Ghz drop to a third of what it should have been - I was surprised this wasnāt identified in testing. Fixed in firmware 4.0.29 and later. Back to topic, Iām considering getting a USG as a router - would be interested in othersā experience of this (esp. anyone using with IPTV e.g. BT TV). Everyone seems pretty happy with it so far on this thread?
I recommend you read the other threads involving USG.
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Thanks @wklieā¦I seem to recall experiences reported on other forums seem to be a bit more equivocalā¦hence I parked it in my āIāll worry about it another timeā category 
will do more hunting on this forum tooā¦
Iptv often has some red flags like vlans and whatnot that seem to trip up a lot of non supplied equipment setups. If you are looking at UniFi there is a lot of this kind of thing discussed in the forums
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Update: It turns out to have a shorter range than the dying RT-AC3200 it replaced, and is not as good in passing through obstructions. It is stable, but Iāll need to explain to coworkers why their WiFi reception deteriorated. Iāll have to purchase additional units to compensate for the range in the future. Apparently not having a long range is a feature and is a good thing for high density usage according to fans at Ubiquiti forum.
Iām a cheapskate UK user. I bought the business version of the standard BT router (Ā£30 off eBay) and disabled the wireless side substituting BT Wholehome mesh wireless. (Ā£150 for 3 stations). Work very well with roon. Not very configurable on the mesh side but does the job in a simple domestic setting.
I got the business router as it allows the DNS servers to be changed.
Iād like to offer a contrarian view to Roon Labs, and most others so far. I really donāt think bandwidth and speed have much to do with it. I think range and signal strength are important, but the router software and configuration are very important.
Itās been a while, but I bought the most expensive Asus router I could find, I think it was the Nighthawk. Had great specs, great reviews, etc., but it didnāt work and the software is terrible.
The Asus implementation of some very basic network services like DHCP, DNS, NAT, etc. were bizarre and the configuration screens looked nothing like most routers for last couple of decades. I really donāt understand why they would re-invent the wheel on configuration and implementation of basic TCP/IP network services like DHCP, etc. I see people on this thread talking about using third party firmware on the Asus. Thatās just ridiculous. The firmware IS the router, if the firmware isnāt good, the router is crap. Why recommend that to someone? Why is Roon recommending a router with such bad firmware?
But, the biggest problem I had was that the Asus could not support the shear number of devices we have in our home. We have at least a dozen devices, or more. I donāt think it is bandwidth etc. and I think bandwidth is highly overrated, just the total number of devices that had requested IP addresses through DHCP. I believe I found the total device number limit in the documentation. Whether 12 or 24, etc., it should be more like 256, or some function of address or array limits, not some arbitrarily small number.
So, I bought a Cisco RV125W and most of our problems were solved. We have so many devices. The configuration console looked as it should, like any other business class router.
I still struggle sometimes chasing signal strength, and the mesh network devices now on the market may be real game changers. I am trying a Ubi device at work and it looks very clever. Some on this thread have mentioned eero. Personally, Iām trying to get away from Wifi EMF and I am trying powerline ethernet technology.
Iāll never buy another Asus router again. The software was really amateurish, and unfortunately I donāt think the Roon guys doing basic network support really know the difference and are just going with whatās popular, not an engineering solution. Their knowledgebase articles read like they were written by marketing people, not engineers.
Jamie
Sorry, a couple more quick points, or things I donāt understand. Several folks are reporting interference from 2.4 ghz devices, and Roon gives this as reason to use 5 ghz, AC, or use their recommended routers etc.
Given that most routers ship with default channel idās, and these can be changed, wouldnāt the first attempt to fix overlap in Apartment complexes, devices, etc., be just to assign different Wifi channel idās to Roon devices, or all the devices in a users Apt.? Instead of changing routers or ghz signal?
Similar to changing TCP/IP port or socket for an application from the default. Why should any address or channel conflict be treated as a hardware problem and not a software problem? Doesnāt 802.11a/b/c/n, whatever address this with channel assignment?
Yes, this might also require changing a setting in the network device on the client OS, but this really is pretty fundamental to the Wifi protocol, isnāt it?
I really donāt understand much of what I see Roon or these threads saying about networking and how to solve typical problems, or how such poor firmware and admin console configuration software can be tolerated. Within a good LAN/WAN/Wifi admin console you should be able to solve any conflict issue. Instead there appears to just be a rush to use whatever new gizmo is on the market and to accept the promotional BS without question.
Sorry for the rant, but unless Iām wrong, changing the Wifi Channel Idās could really help some people.
Jamie