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 , thanks!  Here is the tcp dump:

tcp:
    0 packet sent
        0 data packet (0 byte)
        0 data packet (0 byte) retransmitted
        0 resend initiated by MTU discovery
        0 ack-only packet (0 delayed)
        0 URG only packet
        0 window probe packet
        0 window update packet
        0 control packet
        0 data packet sent after flow control
        0 challenge ACK sent due to unexpected SYN
        0 challenge ACK sent due to unexpected RST
        0 checksummed in software
            0 segment (0 byte) over IPv4
            0 segment (0 byte) over IPv6
    0 packet received
        0 ack (for 0 byte)
        0 duplicate ack
        0 ack for unsent data
        0 packet (0 byte) received in-sequence
        0 completely duplicate packet (0 byte)
        0 old duplicate packet
        0 received packet dropped due to low memory
        0 packet with some dup. data (0 byte duped)
        0 out-of-order packet (0 byte)
        0 packet (0 byte) of data after window
        0 window probe
        0 window update packet
        0 packet recovered after loss
        0 packet received after close
        0 bad reset
        0 discarded for bad checksum
        0 checksummed in software
            0 segment (0 byte) over IPv4
            0 segment (0 byte) over IPv6
        0 discarded for bad header offset field
        0 discarded because packet too short
    0 connection request
    0 connection accept
    0 bad connection attempt
    0 listen queue overflow
    0 connection established (including accepts)
    0 connection closed (including 0 drop)
        0 connection updated cached RTT on close
        0 connection updated cached RTT variance on close
        0 connection updated cached ssthresh on close
        0 connection initialized RTT from route cache
        0 connection initialized RTT variance from route cache
        0 connection initialized ssthresh from route cache
    0 embryonic connection dropped
    0 segment updated rtt (of 0 attempt)
    0 retransmit timeout
        0 connection dropped by rexmit timeout
        0 connection dropped after retransmitting FIN
        0 unnecessary packet retransmissions
    0 persist timeout
        0 connection dropped by persist timeout
    0 keepalive timeout
        0 keepalive probe sent
        0 connection dropped by keepalive
        0 connection dropped by keepalive offload
    0 correct ACK header prediction
    0 correct data packet header prediction
    0 SACK recovery episode
    0 segment rexmit in SACK recovery episodes
    0 byte rexmit in SACK recovery episodes
    0 SACK option (SACK blocks) received
    0 SACK option (SACK blocks) sent
    0 SACK scoreboard overflow
    0 limited transmit done
    0 early retransmit done
    0 time cumulative ack advanced along with SACK
    0 probe timeout
        0 time retransmit timeout triggered after probe
        0 time probe packets were sent for an interface
        0 time couldn't send probe packets for an interface
        0 time fast recovery after tail loss
        0 time recovered last packet
        0 SACK based rescue retransmit
    0 client connection attempted to negotiate ECN
        0 client connection successfully negotiated ECN
        0 time graceful fallback to Non-ECN connection
        0 time lost ECN negotiating SYN, followed by retransmission
        0 server connection attempted to negotiate ECN
        0 server connection successfully negotiated ECN
        0 time lost ECN negotiating SYN-ACK, followed by retransmission
        0 time received congestion experienced (CE) notification
        0 time CWR was sent in response to ECE
        0 time sent ECE notification
        0 connection received CE atleast once
        0 connection received ECE atleast once
        0 connection using ECN have seen packet loss but no CE
        0 connection using ECN have seen packet loss and CE
        0 connection using ECN received CE but no packet loss
        0 connection fell back to non-ECN due to SYN-loss
        0 connection fell back to non-ECN due to reordering
        0 connection fell back to non-ECN due to excessive CE-markings
        0 connection fell back caused by connection drop due to RST
        0 connection fell back due to drop after multiple retransmits
        0 connection fell back due to RST after SYN
    0 time packet reordering was detected on a connection
        0 time transmitted packets were reordered
        0 time fast recovery was delayed to handle reordering
        0 time retransmission was avoided by delaying recovery
        0 retransmission not needed
    0 retransmission due to tail loss
    0 time DSACK option was sent
        0 time DSACK option was received
        0 time DSACK was disabled on a connection
        0 time recovered from bad retransmission using DSACK
        0 time ignored DSACK due to ack loss
        0 time ignored old DSACK options
    0 time PMTU Blackhole detection, size reverted
    0 connection were dropped after long sleep
    0 connection had stretch ack algorithm disabled
    0 time a TFO-cookie has been announced
    0 SYN with data and a valid TFO-cookie have been received
    0 SYN with TFO-cookie-request received
    0 time an invalid TFO-cookie has been received
    0 time we requested a TFO-cookie
        0 time the peer announced a TFO-cookie
    0 time we combined SYN with data and a TFO-cookie
        0 time our SYN with data has been acknowledged
    0 time a connection-attempt with TFO fell back to regular TCP
    0 time a TFO-connection blackhole'd
    0 time a TFO-cookie we sent was wrong
    0 time did not received a TFO-cookie we asked for
    0 time TFO got disabled due to heuristicsn
    0 time TFO got blackholed in the sending direction
    0 time maximum segment size was changed to default
    0 time maximum segment size was changed to medium
    0 time maximum segment size was changed to low
    0 timer drift less or equal to 1 ms
    0 timer drift less or equal to 10 ms
    0 timer drift less or equal to 20 ms
    0 timer drift less or equal to 50 ms
    0 timer drift less or equal to 100 ms
    0 timer drift less or equal to 200 ms
    0 timer drift less or equal to 500 ms
    0 timer drift less or equal to 1000 ms
    0 timer drift greater than to 1000 ms

All zeroes.  Is that good or bad?? 😳

You are far better off with a combo modem,router this is much faster having a 3.1 modem vs the obsolete 3.0 ,it is much faster without question my speed doubled ,

and wifi signal Excellent , with coupon at Amazon under$250  could not be happier.

Motorola MG8702 | DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem + Wi-Fi Router (High Speed Combo) with Intelligent Power Boost | AC3200 Wi-Fi Speed | Approved for Comcast Xfinity, Cox, and Charter Spectrum

Audio streaming does not need much speed, a few hundred kilobits per second at most. The router can send tens or hundreds of megabits around the network. So you really need a lot of devices going at once before you have worries about an audio stream keeping up.

An old TP-Link Archer A8 serves my system just fine. Last I looked, under $100 in the U.S.

 

@yoramguy1 

All zeroes is because you're not executing the command as root. You need to log in as an Administrator first. Then at the terminal execute 'sudo su' and type in the password. Finally execute netstat. That should get you the actual stats.

 

No need to post any more data dumps - just look at the line for discarded for bad checksum ('netstat -s -p tcp | grep checksum') and check your Ethernet stats (netstat -i).