Streaming audio is an amazing development in the world of hi-fi. We have access to – in theory – all the music ever made. All at the touch of a smartphone or tablet. Who wouldn’t want that? However, things can go wrong.
Now we can tell you in advance that this is not often due to the player or the Internet. It’s often in the network. Let’s go over what can go wrong and how you can fix it.
Restart
There’s a running gag in the IT world. “Did you try turning it off and on again?” … Fact is: often a problem is then solved. Restart the streamer first. If that doesn’t help, reboot the modem router (leave it off for at least 30 seconds so that all internal tables are cleared).
Find the problem
Doesn’t reboot help…
Step one in looking for AND finding the problem is to make the problem small. By that, we mean isolate the problem. Remove all possible, unnecessary links. So suppose you can’t play back (the track won’t start) with a streamer. If that streamer has a touchscreen, or physical buttons, you may be able to play from a USB disk. If that is not possible, but there is a digital input, then it may be possible to try a TV or laptop with an optical output. This will allow you to see if the player plays at all. In many cases, you will find that the player itself does work.
If that is the case, you can move on. Now connect the streamer directly to your provider’s modem router. No switches in between. If the player can be controlled with a laptop / PC, connect it directly to the modem router as well. Preferably also a cable to avoid errors and eliminate variables. Now start a track. Again: preferably from a fixed source. Think of a NAS, or perhaps a (USB) disk on the player. The reason is that we do not want to play from the Internet or a NAS for a while. This to further isolate the problem.
If you can now start a track without any problems (from a directly connected disk), then the problem is not in this chain. After all: everything is working as expected. Now slowly build back the normal links. Consider, for example, the switch between the modem router and your streamer (if you had one in between, of course). Now also try to put the wireless connections back in use, if you did normally. If things go wrong again, you now know where to look.
Is everything still working now? Then you can test online sources or streams from the NAS. That’s probably where the problem is. Or, of course, it could have been a temporary problem. Sometimes Internet sources are down for a while. They are computers, after all… ;-).
Two networks?
A VERY common problem is that people “suddenly” don’t see the streamer in the app. Now crazy problems with streamers and data networks are certainly possible. But in our experience, these kinds of problems can be traced back to changes in a network. Or “human error.
What we are seeing more and more is that people are installing their own Wi-Fi networks because of Wi-Fi problems. Or they get those ‘handy’ satellites, cubes or plugs from the provider. In a lot of cases (not always!) these products set up a new network. And what the consumer then forgets is to turn off the wifi on the provider’s modem router. Two wifi networks are then active. And since the job of a router is to set up a new network and shield the “external” network (security), it is exactly not the intention that anyone sees that streamer. Indeed, that would be extremely unsafe.
The solution in this case is simple. Only use the provider’s modem router to transmit the Internet. Preferably put it in bridge mode (it then effectively becomes a modem) and use one network port (usually port 1) to connect to the new router setting up the new mesh network. If the provider’s modem router cannot be in bridge mode (for example, KPN, because of telephony), then it is important to turn off the wifi on this modem router and use one port to connect it to the new mesh network. Do not use any other port: that will only cause problems (after all, this is a different network!), unless you know exactly what you are doing.
Unpredictable hick-ups
Sometimes a problem is very hard to find. Usually, because sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. Consider zone outages. In our experience, this rarely happens with a stable, wired network where all zones are also wired. It usually happens with systems that operate with a wireless connection.
While wireless connections can work very well, we don’t see “high-end” wireless equipment in consumers’ homes very often. In many cases, it’s included stuff from the provider. And they work fine if you want to send a WhatsApp, or view an Internet page. And even downloading files still works fine, but make no mistake: streaming media, and especially multiroom audio which has to work synchronously, is many times more complex than downloading a file. And this more complex load – multicast traffic being one of them – sometimes causes these access points or repeaters to crash.
Our first step would be to cable everything we can cable. There are several reasons for this:
- A wired connection allows data traffic in two directions (full duplex)
- A wired connection has guaranteed bandwidth (and it is stable!)
- By wiring everything we can wire, the wifi stays free for devices that really need it
So step one is to see where you can possibly put in Ethernet cables. Or where you can replace old phone lines for Ethernet cables, for example. You’ll be surprised where sometimes there are dead cables or where there are still old cables that aren’t being used. Use these to run network cables. Or, of course, fiber optics, although it’s very difficult – practically impossible – to weld connectors on those yourself. POF makes it a little easier, but we see very little used.
Now it is not always possible to pull an Ethernet cable. Correction: it can always be done, but it is not always desirable because, for example, holes have to be drilled. But there are more possibilities. Think of Hirschmann’s Moca . That technology makes it possible to use coaxial cables to transport data. Very convenient. Just know that the speed depends on the quality of the coaxial cables. But once it is installed and it works well, it is very stable and fast. Unlike powerline adapters which show very variable results. Avoid these.
If this solution is not possible either, then the only solution is to build a high-quality WiFi network. There are several options:
- A ready-made, high-performance mesh system (Orbi, Covr, etc…)
- A separate router with (software or hardware) controller and separate access points (ceiling mount for example)
Solution one is of course much simpler and in many cases recommended. If a home is very complex and large, then option two would work better, because option one often works with wireless backlinks (backhaul). If those links are not strong enough, the system does not work well. Now some of these systems also allow a wired link (backhaul), but then you are actually better off going for option two.
Rounding off
We’ve covered the most common problems here. Of course, there are many more things to think of and, above all, there are countless variations on these previously covered problems. However, it remains especially important to make the problem “small. Isolate the problem to gain insight into what is going on now. If you can do that, the solution often comes naturally!
We hope these tips can help you further in solving difficult problems.