Streamer on Office WiFi?


So I recently went about setting up a modest streaming system for my office at a large research university and have run into a problem I didn’t anticipate in the least. I’m curious if anyone might have any suggestions as to a workaround.

I bought an Audiolab 6000N to use, only to discover that while it supports WPA2, I can’t get onto my work’s WiFi because it apparently doesn’t support WPA2 enterprise requirements. I have tried everything I can think of to work around this: I tried using the guest network, I tried using a mini router to deliver the office ethernet to the steamer (my work’s IT won’t register the mini router to the network), I tried bringing ethernet directly to the streamer (IT won’t register the streamer either).

Is there anything I might be able to do here to get this streamer hooked up to the WiFi despite the WPA2 Enterprise issue?

It’s not the end of the world if not, I can run my MacBook Pro to an outboard DAC if I have to, but I did buy this streamer just for this application, which is frustrating!

Thanks in advance!

zm

The issue is you are trying to use corporate wifi for personal use. IT generally frowns on that since it could jeapardize IT security. Ask the IT folks and maybe they can be helpful but most will not just due to the risk on their end. Maybe stream from your phone or a public wifi spot if it exists.

So a good IT system will lock everything down by the MAC address.  Meaning, absolutely ZERO unauthorized / unregistered systems.  This even includes desktop switches, and of course any personal wifi devices.

When I first learned of this I was using a desktop switch to simplify my 3 laptop workstyle.  I brought an unused switch to the office, plugged it in and the IT department's scanners would pick it up and disable my cubicle's Ethernet port completely. 

Best suggestion I can think of is to use Bluetooth from your work PC.

Thanks for the replies!  

@yage, I do think I am going to end up using the MacBook to accomplish this.  I'm not quite familiar with the procedure you describe, but I thought I might run a digital signal out to an external DAC (even though from what I understand, the DAC in the MacBook Pro is supposed to be pretty good these days?). Is there any reason why the BubbleUPnP would be superior to going straight out of the MacBook?

@jbs I see now what the issue is; previously, it had not occurred to me that adding a device like this to the network would be any different than say, using my MacBook on the company WiFi.   I just thought, hey, I stream from my computer on the company WiFi, why would it be any different?  (I was wrong.)  I'll probably end up going up the chain and arguing that it isn't so much a personal use case, it's something I need to be productive in my office and since I'm pretty senior around here, there is at least a decent chance they'll do it for me.

I appreciate the thoughts, everyone. 

@zm, the only thing you gain by installing Kodi on the MacBook would be the ability to control playback and stream from a phone or tablet. If you're going to be at your computer anyway, then there's no need for Kodi.

I agree about the IT security issues.  Given the ransomware/malware issues out there, if I was an IT guy I would never countenance letting anyone use a streamer.

If the Audiolab has a usb slot try playing music from a flash drive or hard drive if you can do by bypassing the internet.  Otherwise use a CD player.