My download speed in rural France is a bit wet string mode at max 4 mbps. I don’t suffer dropouts in radio or hd video streaming. I don’t stream qobuz but do download bought hires albums. Again they download without issue. I suspect there is something within the local home network that’s amiss. You say you use ethernet. Why is that rather than wifi?
There are a few issues getting confused here.
Wired ethernet will be fast enough for audio, and as others have said, the larger numbers (above 5) cables are just different constructions that come into play for very high bandwidths, well beyond what you are needing.
So it’s not the cables as such causing the issues. They may well affect the sound quality, and see the multitude of threads on here for discussions as to what will help and what won’t.
Now, an intermittent fault could be a termination issue, though ethernet cables do tend to either work or not. Try different ports and/or different cables if you can - and/or buy a £10 continuity tester for ethernet on Amazon which will show if the cable is ok - jiggle and wiggle it, and you should see.
I expect it to be neither of these.
So we’re now down to the internet into the house, or demands on the network elsewhere. If others are watching streaming TV/Netflix or gaming then it may cause similar issues - kick them off 
If not that, then it’s likely to be broadband issues into the house - run things like broadbandspeedchecker.com to give you a sense of the speed you’re actually getting, and run it when you have issues too. The other option is a contention issue, which is when your neighbours stream etc. and use up some of the bandwidth that you had before.
The only other thing I can think of if the other service is fine is that the server you are getting hi-res audio from is somewhat glitchy in its response, but I don’t think Qobuz falls into that category, to be honest.
Hi Bruss,
Ethernet over WiFi is down to signal strength. The walls are 1m thick, in some places 1.5m and due to location of hifi, Ethernet is the only stable option. With iPads, phones, TVs and who knows what else there’s a lot of devices fighting for the WiFi.
I ran another check last week and got a reading of 4mps so I called up BT who agreed the service was well below standard. They went onto say that distance from the exchange and infrastructure that’s currently in place is the reason why the connection is choppy. Surprisingly they said there was no point in upgrading my tariff as the houses here are all suffering from the same problem… which neighbours have confirmed.
Fair enough.
If BT can’t supply then all you can do is work on the internal connections. Unless you have some really crap cables then the changing cbles wont help. As said by others the weak point is always the connections not the cable itself. Faultfinding could start with a laptop in the same room as the BT router. Connect a cable, listen to a hires download. If it works move to the next access point or end of cable run. Repeat. You might find a duff connection that way. Better if you can get hold of a network cable tester.
On my 3-4 mbps Orange service here I run an Orbi mesh system the walls are about 500 mm thick and I can get a service through any three of them point to point all the way out to the barn 30 metres away.
It’s a mystery to me. Qobuz more often than not works fine… but… there are times when playing hires it will just stop completely. I switch to radio paradise @ 320kbs and it plays perfectly. At other parts of the day it will resume and business as usual. I’ve been reading about network switches but again, will this make a difference? From what I understand without a switch all the devices are connected and the router simply shares out the load, would a switch help by telling other devices “you’re not needed. The streamer needs this” or is it simply I just hope to get the best of bad BT connection. I will look into mesh system now, thanks, I’m sure I’ll have a few more questions to boot
Switches are basically an intelligent hub that routes information without causing clashes. Most routers are a combination of router and switch, if your router has more than one network cable connection it is likely a switch. That brings e nicely to 2 questions. Do you need a switch or can you plug whatever devices you have directly in to the router? Second question is where is the switch if you do need it. Generally it is better to have a single long catx cable from the switch to the router and then shorter catx s to each plugged in component. Small things but it all helps.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.