Powerline/Homeplug adapters?

[badsoden]

Is anyone using the above devices to stream music? If so can you tell what your experiences of them are streaming music? I know depending on the date of your wiring they can be troublesome and have issues with interference so I'm wondering if this has any effect on the quality of music streaming.

[Stratmangler]

Wired ethernet is better (quicker) and a damned site more robust.
On top of that, deliberately introducing a device that intentionally superimposes noise over the mains supply cannot be good in audio terms.

[badsoden]

Wired ethernet is better (quicker) and a damned site more robust.
On top of that, deliberately introducing a device that intentionally superimposes noise over the mains supply cannot be good in audio terms.

Completely agree but I do not have the option of wired ethernet at the moment. My only option for now is wireless or powerline/homeplugs. A wired network is a future plan but for now I was wondering if the powerline option is being used by anyone. My wiring is about 10 years old so not too bad compared to some.

[Stratmangler]

How good is your wifi?
If you have a Smartphone you can download an app called Wifi Analyser, and it will show you how good your wireless router signal is, and also how many neighbouring properties have routers transmitting on the same channel.

[cyclopse]

My friend is into amateur radio and he has shown me the noise these solutions create. I think if you heard what I Heard you would not go down this route. The audio system needs a good clean supply.

Our main computer is upstairs with three internal hard drives running Hanewin as a NFS server. After changing routers to quality Asus from internet provider we have a second router downstairs. This is in wireless bridge mode. Then our Mede8er and Rasberry Pi connect to it via Ethernet. The solution has so much headroom we can stream 20GB plus films with no problem. Obviously the 24/192 music files are not as demanding the films.

Maybe this could be an alternative solution to get a wireless signal from one part of the home to another.

Regards

Steve

[dave2010]

Re the original question - yes they work, and can work quite well. They may be a good option if it's impossible to put wires in. A lot depends on the wiring in your house. However modern wi-fi may work reasonably well too - really depends what you want it to do for you. If you want to do high speed data transfers then wired or powerline links are probably better than wi-fi, but for internet use wi-fi may match powerline rates.

There is indeed an issue about whether there's any noise generated from powerline adapters, and it's certainly possible that there will be radio interference. However, I don't believe that it's guaranteed, and any noise may have close to minimal effect on your own use and listening. If you live near others then you might cause some upsets if there are others with equipment which is significantly disrupted by powerline links, but again I wouldn't say for sure that you would cause noticeable interference.

I have several sets of these - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-PA411KIT-Powerline-Adapter-Starter/dp/B0084Y9N3O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432058667&sr=8-1&keywords=tp+link+powerline+adapters and also installed them elsewhere. A pack of two in a "starter" kit is a low outlay, and you could experiment.

I did have a few other adapters in the past, including some by Zyxel. They only served for a few years.

I would not say for sure that anyone should avoid using powerline devices, but YMMV. There are scare stories about all sorts of kit. Wi-Fi may not work in some houses without considerable effort. Part of the reason why I got into powerline devices was precisely because I could not send wi-fi signals through our house and achieve useful data rates, so I put in powerline links with wireless adapters hanging off the ends to get better coverage. Now I've got a lot of the kit I can configure it in different ways.

[Sparker242]

Been using them for years with no trouble in 2 different houses and lots of different things connected.
Well worth a try.

[badsoden]

Thanks guys you have given me food for thought. I do have a stable wireless setup using Unifi AP's but wanted to consider the powerline approach if the noise/interference issue wasn't too much of a problem. Powerline technology is improving rapidly so wanted to know about others experiences. Ultimately I would like a wired network but I'm going to have to wait for that.

[orbscure]

Another +1 for the TP-Link products. I'm using them throughout my 1930's house and they do a great job. I have a TX socket in the box room connected to my router and one RX in the front living room attached to an Apple TV & Amazon Fire TV. Both stream movies without any issues/glitches. I have a second RX in the back living room connected to my Korus server. My server has a large internal HD, so I don't stream music files remotely, but all of the internet radio streams I run via jRiver sound very good to me... :)

[Covenant]

Another +1 for the TP-Link products. I'm using them throughout my 1930's house and they do a great job. I have a TX socket in the box room connected to my router and one RX in the front living room attached to an Apple TV & Amazon Fire TV. Both stream movies without any issues/glitches. I have a second RX in the back living room connected to my Korus server. My server has a large internal HD, so I don't stream music files remotely, but all of the internet radio streams I run via jRiver sound very good to me... :)

I agree, I had to change from a wired connection to powerline adapters and the TP ones are very good. They are reliable and there are no noise problems that I am aware of.

[audioglow]

Hi Guys
Just thought I would throw my 10cents worth in the pot - have used wired ethernet in a prior house and that of course worked well, but here in this new house am failing to get through the walls.... so series of ZyXels are in play...they have failed (power supply) twice so keep the box and receipt! However the current faster models seem more reliable, and work fine. However a noise sniffer rented from Russ Andrews just showed how noisy they are (also my phone switching power supply was the worst), however the various product that russ andrews markets seem to work well in stopping the noise and certainly "cleaned up" the sound too. (and the TV image interestingly). So am connecting via the mains a ripNAS - Linux server -logtech touch - oppo cd (and network) - along with about three laptops and a "silent desktop" for music recording, and can play anything from anywhere
Ian

[StuN]

Another +1 for TP-Link. I use their 500Mbps without problems.