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Router for Audio Streaming

I have been streaming Pandora, Spotify and Qobuz through a wifi network streamer from a Netgear AC1750 R6400v2 router with no sound quality complaints.

Recently a router firmware update failed (a known issue with these) and as a result it is no longer accessible for administration.  It still seems to perform ok and accepts new devices however the network settings are "frozen" and I am unable to view device IP addresses or traffic, neither via desktop browser nor via the Nighthawk app.

I will try a factory reset but have read that quite often this does not work in these situations, so I started investigating getting a new router to be able to pull the trigger quickly if needed.

I heard/read that routers can make a difference in sound quality, beyond just being able to keep up with streaming with no buffering.  I'm wondering what router experience and recommendations folks have here for reliable audio streaming with superior sound quality at a reasonable price.

Thanks!

yoramguy1
yage
400 posts
 

Personally, I'd take a pass on the X60 if you're getting good coverage with your existing router.

 

We've got a mesh system in our house (ASUS XT8). The WAN port is in the basement and now that my wife works from home, she needs to have a better signal on the second floor. We also have a combiner box for our solar system on an outside wall that was sometimes dropping connection when there was only a single access point.

 

It looks like the X60 doesn't have a dedicated wireless backhaul. That means the mesh nodes will have to contend with devices for bandwidth back to the main access point if you don't want to run Ethernet cabling between the nodes. You might want to consider a product that has this feature, sometimes advertised as 'tri-band mesh'.

 

The good news is that even if your router stops being officially supported by Netgear, you have the option of installing DD-WRT, an open source Linux-based firmware. ASUS sometimes even takes features from DD-WRT to use in their official firmware releases.

yoramguy1 OP
68 posts
 

@yage , thanks! I am really trying to avoid running ethernet wires -- no easy way to do it in this house cleanly and cheaply. Maybe a mesh system is an overkill in our situation? There is one line I ran from the router (ground floor) to my wife’s office upstairs. All other devices are fine accessing the router via wifi.

Per @nmolnar ’s advice I might be inclined to update to a newer tech router but do not want to create new issues where there are none at present...

yoramguy1 OP
68 posts
 

P.S., just to confirm my understanding: the tri-band mesh has a wireless backhaul which does not rob bandwidth from the devices and does not need ethernet backhaul, correct?

nmolnar
42 posts
 

This system doesn’t offer a dedicated radio band for wireless backhaul. Instead it uses a "dynamic" approach where the wireless backhaul uses the least trafficked WiFi frequency/channel rather than a separate & dedicated one. The TP-Link Deco M9 system does have a dedicated wireless backhaul.

yoramguy1 OP
68 posts
 

Thank you, @nmolnar !! It is awesome to synthesize inputs from our expert panel!  This is the beauty of this forum.

I will look into the M9.

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