Effect of Internet Service Quality on Streaming?


I’ve struggled for a long time with sound getting much, much worse around dinner time, and in some rare cases I don’t get depth, clarity, dynamics and imaging back until around midnight. Like many people I’ve attributed this to noise on my AC lines. But recently I’ve been wondering if maybe internet service quality is at least contributing to the issue in some manner. When I run tests it appears that speed, jitter, and latency are all higher at times when the sound is poor. That got me wondering if anyone knows whether one type of internet service is better than another for HiFi streaming? For example, is ADSL or DSL better, or does it matter? And what about speed? Particularly interested in anyone who has real world experiences from experimenting in this area…
nyev

Thanks for the ideas All. My sound has not experienced a SIGNIFICANT dip in quality since Friday evening so I’ve not yet had the chance to test streamed vs local file during a “bad” period.

To answer a few questions that have come up:

  • No I don’t have a dedicated network line to my Innuos Zenith Mk3 streamer. I do have the Innuos PhoenixNET switch in front of my streamer/server.
  • During the bad periods before I’ve had family members stop their internet usage in the house and it didn’t improve things noticeably
  • I’ve upgraded power cables a number of times (have Audioquest Dragons now) and the major quality swings remain
  • I’ve tried several conditioners including the AQ Niagara 5000, a Shunyata Hydra, a Puritan PSM156, and also a Torus RM 20 isolation transformer and they all had equal swings in quality. None were any better than the other in this front so I highly doubt a different conditioner is the answer. Also sceptical that a PS Audio regenerator would produce better results, but I’d be open to that possibility. Not my first place to look to fix but something in the back of my mind.
  • Ahead of my Innuos PhoenixNET switch I just have the fiber modem from my ISP, feeding a the wifi router from my ISP which feeds an inexpensive D-Link switch in a smart panel (should I upgrade this???), with 60ft of generic new network cable going through my wall that eventually feeds my Innuos network switch. Maybe there is a problem here???
  • I need to update my system listed on Audiogon - I now have a Tambaqui DAC, the Innuos Zenith Mk3 and PhoenixUSB reclocker (no Grimm MU1 anymore), I have a Puritan PSM156 now, and I’ve upgraded my my speakers to Audiovector R6 Arrete’s. Also have upgraded all power cords to Audioquest Dragons.

 

Ok, so not the real obvious stuff. You have a challenge. Given what you have tried sounds like your logically taking apart the problem… logic will eventually succeed. I’m looking forward to hearing what successfully solves this.

@nyev 

My digital streaming further improved and stabilized by using a high quality 50FT CAT8 LAN (LinkUp from Amazon) between my Infinity Modem ➡️ SoTM iSO-CAT7 ➡️ Telegartner switch. The LinkUp cable replaced a pair of mesh network pods. I have also upgraded to 1Gb/s speed. 

@nyev absolute killer of a system there dude!
Have you added any acoustic treatments as well?

I’ll just add this for 💩 s and goggles…
I’ve recently compared, once again, CD vs streaming (yes I can’t be helped lol) and throughout the course of this adventure the sound quality definitely goes up late at night for CD and streaming. It’s been the case for me for years, even way before streaming was a thing. But as everyone else here I’m super curious to see you get out of this pickle and tell us how.