I’m new to the world of streaming and I have a question with regard to the use of BubbleUPnP on my system. Please excuse my ignorance, but I’ve looked at all the information I can find on the forum and on the web and I’m still scratching my head. I should say I am not very technical so please bear with me.
My system is a 272/XPS DR/250 DR. It’s connected via WiFi to the router due to limitations in the layout of the house and it’s rock solid with internet radio and Tidal. I do not have any sort of NAS.
I was intrigued to hear what the Hi Res Qobuz tracks sounded like, so I’ve signed up for the one month free trial. I then installed the BubbleUpnP app on my Android Phone and I could immediately see the 272 as a renderer. I then logged into Qobuz via the Buble app and could play the 24/96 tracks with no issues. On the 272 they show up correctly as FLAC 24/96. And to me they sounded much better than Tidal.
However, when I try 24/192, the track plays for around 30 secs, stops for a couple of secs and then continues. So my question is: could this be due to the fact I’m using WiFi instead of wired Ethernet, or have I totally missed the point in how Bubble should be setup and used to get the best sound quality?
From memory when I first installed my 272 there was an upper limit on what can be streamed via wifi, hence the suggestion to connect via ethernet where possible.
Have a look in the 272’s manual to find that reference.
It may be that the limitation was in the nd5xs that I had prior to that. It’s a long time ago.
It sounds like a buffering issue. Try running a cable as a temporary measure to see if it works. I wasn’t aware that you could do this from a phone. I’ve got bubble on my nas and it works fine.
I don’t have exactly the same issues as you but, my Superuniti is on a different floor than my modem, so initially I was using WiFi to stream. It sounded okay, but I was very glad I still had my Linn Unidisk 1.1 to play CDs when I wanted the music to sound really good.
Then an audio forum member mention his new Tera Grand Cat 7 double shielded ethernet cable, and raved about it.
So I looked it up, and a 50 foot cable was $20 USD. $40 to me in Canada. So I ordered it, and got it a week later, and just ran it along the floor and up the stairs to just test the theory.
I have an excellent WiFi connection, but the difference was amazing. With WiFi, I just didn’t get what other people were talking about. The sound was lacking. But now, I just sold my Linn CDP, and Tidal and iradio is what I listen to. Qobuz isn’t available in Canada yet, but I’m saving up for an NDX2, and hopefully it will be here when I get the NDX2. I have an Supernait2 as well to run it thru.
I have since, run the cable thru the walls to hide it. It was an arduous task, but well worth it.
Anyway, my point is that for 30 or 40 bucks you can test an ethernet connection, and you may be very surprised how much better it sounds, and maybe there’s a way to run a cable. (Around the outside?). Their 100 foot cable doesn’t cost much more.
Best of luck.
That’s very useful information, thank you. For the money it’s worth giving the cable a try. Hopefully it will improve a) the overall sound quality and b) the dropouts.
I can then work out the best way to run it seamlessly through the house in the future.
It’s possible to stream 24/192 over WiFi if your network can handle it, although the weak point is likely to be the WiFi module in your streamer. The small buffer in the 272 will soon empty if the network is struggling, and you can use the screen on the 272 to view the buffer level to see what is going on. A very long, inexpensive Cat5e cable (or move the streamer close to your router to test it with a short patch cable) would probably show you what a wired connection will solve the problem.
To me, there is little or no difference between Qobuz 24/96 an 24/192 so I would just set it to 24/96 if that is reliable for you.
It seems from the replies that there won’t be much difference between 96 and 192, so I won’t go down the path of chasing that.
But I am intrigued as to whether there will be a diffence in overall sound quality (at 96) between WiFi and Ethernet. So I will do a test somehow and take it from there.
I’ve also decided to go with Qobuz and ditch Tidal. To me there is a noticeable difference.
BubbleUPnP on a Raspberry Pi is a neat way to do that. You can hide them anywhere and leave them on permanently. Hooked into a NAS it creates a nice way of getting audio into the streamer without needing the phone to be in range, and the PC doesn’t need to be on whenever you’re listening.
