Router for Audio Streaming

@dougthebiker , thanks.

Digital representation of sound is not by square waves. There are no square waves in digital audio. There are square waves (before filtering) in inverters generating AC from DC but that’s a totally different story.

The sound level at a sampled point in time is represented by a numerical value in binary form. No sound is 0 and maximum sound level is the highest value possible with the number of bits used. The more bits (0’s or 1’s) are used to represent the numerical value (e.g. 24 vs 16) the better resolution is possible (discrimination between the closest sound levels). When we have 16 bits, we can have 2^16 distinct values, or sound levels, from 0 to 65535.

The sampling rate, or how frequently these numbers are sampled, defines the frequency response, or rather, what is the highest frequency that can be transmitted. For instance, CD sampling rate is 44,100 times (values) per second, and the highest frequency is around 20 kHz.

What you get in digital sound is a stream of numerical values in binary format which represent the sound level at each sampled point in time during the music. The frequency, or pitch of the sound, is determined by the fluctuation of consecutive numerical values. Converting these numerical values to analog voltages and "connecting" or "smoothing" them is done by the DAC. Digital transmission devices do not modify the numerical stream, only ensure it is received as it was sent or report errors.

For simplicity, if you use 4 bits, then 0001 = 1, and 1111 = 15. So 1000 (which = 8) is not greater by 1 vs 0000 (which = 0). The packet transfer protocols check for errors both in wifi and ethernet. If your wifi signal is strong and stable and you have sufficient bandwidth you get the same stream as via ethernet, otherwise you get drops or buffering.

For whatever it’s worth, there is a technical review of the UpTone Audio EtherRegen in audiosciencereview.com. You can look it up.

Not really.

BTW, if you believe Audio Science Review, you should be switching to lamp cord for your speakers and snapping up used Radio Shack interconnects.

Seriously, the guy doesn't want to admit he doesn't know which variables to measure or at what scale.

OK, I get what you were after, @dougthebiker ... The "square waves" defining the individual bits...

In fact they are not and do not need to be square at all. They "just" need to meet specified tolerance windows of high and low values inside a specified clock window.

Both wifi and ethernet signals need to meet this. Both wifi and wired routers and switches need to comply with these window specs. Good ones do, really bad ones may not.

What I was trying to explain is that an error in the level of one or more bits (1 instead of 0 or vice versa) does not create distortion, it creates a numerical error vs. the check bits which either can be corrected or results in a drop or buffering or really obvious noise, not harmonic distortion or amplitude or phase shift.

Of course wifi is susceptible to range and strength and bandwidth/speed issues. The point is that once you have a properly set up network with decent equipment and the signal is stable (sufficient speed and strength), the signal you will get via wifi will be identical to the one you get via ethernet.

Low quality or too long ethernet cables can also cause your bit signal to shift outside of the tolerance windows and cause transmission errors due to out of spec resistance, capacitance or inductance.

Think of streaming HD TV on your wifi Amazon Fire Stick vs. via digital cable. If you have enough bandwidth and signal strength, the picture on the same TV will be the same. The colors will be the same, the resolution will be the same, etc. The one on the Fire Stick will not be "distorted".

Same thing with audio. I took care to specify and locate my existing router and streamer such that there is no buffering or drops. I now need at minimum to replicate this. To my knowledge there are indeed subtle, incremental sound quality improvement opportunities in better routers due to clocking accuracy and electrical noise, and that’s the reason for my original post. But that applies to both ethernet and wifi.

I believe we beat this horse to death.

Cheers!