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Bluesound Node2i and wifi frustrations: Mesh!

Much as I've enjoyed the convenience of the Node2i and ability to surf not only my own library but pretty much the world's music, one of the MOST frustrating things for me has been its propensity to lose connectivity. Hardwiring pretty much is a non-starter in this home as the cable and router need to be where they are(upstairs) and the Node2i needs to be where it is(downstairs). And at opposite corners of our home no less. I tried using a wifi extender, and even ugraded that, to no avail. I still would get annoying drop-outs. Pretty darned frustrating when you want to enjoy Friday evening cocktails with the missus and the music suddenly quits. Grrr...
I had upgraded our router a couple months ago from our 6 year old ASUS to a new ASUS RT-AX86U. That helped a but not enough. So yesterday I had a mental lightbulb come on and remembered that the RT-AX86U also supports AiMesh. Amazon to the rescue... I got it last night and just finished setting it up this morning, which was very, very easy. I went ahead and installed the new ASUS RP-AC1900 in my hifi cabinet and ran some Cat5 from it to the Node2i and voila! No more drop outs.
Using the ASUS router admin utility I checked and the signal and it's rock solid. Sounds good too! Placebo? Maybe. Or maybe it's that I'm a much happier camper and not have to worry about when the music is going to quit anymore.
There are plenty of other brands out there that support Mesh technology, ASUS isn't your only option. But from even from just early results, I really recommend looking into upgrading your wifi to Mesh if you're having issues.

Happy listening.
128x128musicfan2349
mlsstl
1,440 posts
 
"...why do when you can overdo?"

Audio is a great example of a common human tendency to think that if this much is good, then more must be better.

Sometimes that works, most often it makes no difference (other than to spend more money), and sometimes it makes things worse or brings in new problems that didn’t previously exist.
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,593 posts
 
+1, jetter.
Supra CAT 8 is a worthy upgrade for Node 2i. If you find this cable overkill then it seems streaming is not your focus :-) If you use Node 2i for background music then please don’t waste your money on Supra.

PS: I would not use powerline network adaptors, that’s the absolute worst thing for your streaming.
musicfan2349's avatar
musicfan2349 OP
242 posts
 
@lalitk
Agreed on the powerline adapters.
As for the Node2i existing for background music vs being my "focus", about 95% of the time it conveniently provides the soundtrack to our end of the week cocktail hour. But for that other 5% I’m still exploring how much more prevalent it might be in my serious listening sessions. (Hence my upgrading to a Border Patrol DAC not too long ago.)When I reconsidered where the mesh node has to be relocated and where the cable would need to be routed, perhaps the Cat8 with it’s shielding isn’t such a bad idea. It needs to follow along my preamp cables, past the speakers and their cables, and the sub and amplifier to get to the other side of the room where the node will be moved to.
I can think of worse ways to spend $150 bucks.Happy listening.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,593 posts
 
@musicfan2349,

Great move on buying the Border Patrol DAC to get the best sound out of Node 2i. I’m not clear on why you need long CAT8 cable if you’re using a mesh router. If you worried about EMI/RFI interferences from mesh, I suggest you use Stillpoints ERS cloth to treat the mesh. My Apple router (treated with ERS) is only 4 feet away from my streamer in my main system. 
https://www.tweekgeek.com/stillpoints-ers/
musicfan2349's avatar
musicfan2349 OP
242 posts
 
@lalitk 
Ah you didn't see my update from a few days ago then.

"Turns out having the mesh node in the stereo cabinet is a bad idea with regards to my C-J Premier 6 pre-preamp... It's VERY sensitive to EMI".
So I simply need to move the node from its current location to about 20' across the room. No big deal and the effort is still way worth the improvement in wifi generally in our home vs. the extenders I'd tried previously.

Happy listening.

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