The 1st gen streamers were developed for streaming from a local server on your home network, before the use of internet streaming services like Tidal were around. For this they only needed a very small buffer, which is why it can sometimes empty with a lossless stream from Tidal.
Line speed it not normally the problem. 100MB is much more than you need: it will only be using around 2 or 3MB. Latency is usually the issue, and this is largely outside your control.
There is a small chance that a fault on your network is contributing to this. For example, a damaged Ethernet cable can be a bottleneck. However itâs more likely to be caused by delays in the multiple hops around the globe as the stream is routed from Tidalâs servers to your router.
This issue used to be much more common amongst Tidal/Naim users than it is today, and Naim went to great lengths to address it, but the limitations of the small buffer will always be there.
I have an ND5 XS and it too is hard wired. No problems for me, no buffering issue. However, when I first tried it out using WiFi it suffered similar buffering issues to those you describe.
Which makes me wonder⌠Is it possible that it is actually connecting via wi-fi? (Even with an Ethernet cable plugged in.) I canât recall if plugging a network cable in forces it to use that connection, possibly it does, but just in case check to make sure it is indeed using that connection and not wi-fi.
Many thanks for your help - I think I have narrowed it down to being latency in the streamer. I will change the ethernet cable thoâ to rule out that possibility. Also in reply to zani, it is definitely connected via cable as it says âwireless not used - wiredâ under wireless settings. Also if I disconnect the ethernet cable there is no connection.
Ahh. Thanks for that information. So does this imply it is the internet stream from tidal that is initiating the problem that the streamer was not designed for?
Itâs the latency on the route over the internet from your local Tidal server to you that is potentially the problem. The old streamers were designed to stream from a local server (ie inside your home). The new platform streamers are designed to deal with higher latency streams by having a large buffer.
Tidal often works perfectly well with the old streamers. It all depends on Tidal.
Well after all this angst and research it appears that for the last week Tidal has behaved itself and things are back to normal. - Tidal acts in mysterious ways! Thank you all for your suggestions along the way - and I no longer have the excuse to upgrade my streamer!