Airport Express - new network or existing?

[baldy38]

Hi

If using an Airport Express to stream music, is it better - and what are the pros and cons - to use an existing network or set up a new one?

Thanks for any help

 

[baldy38]

For example, I presuming if you set up a new network and want to stream music from an iPhone or laptop, then that device cannot then use the internet at the same time on a different network.

Contrastingly, if you use your existing network to stream music, and want to browse the internet at the same time, does that cause problems with signal strength/drop-outs etc?

 

[rock15]

Hi im having the same worrys , i have set up my airport express and it works well streaming from my ipod touch, but the internet is unusable when its plugged in ,cant get on net unless we unplug the airport express any help would be great , ps it has joined the existing network.

 

[baldy38]

Also, to be clear, I cannot use an ethernet cable to link the Airport Express to my main router (or at least not after it's been set up) as the Express and the router will be on opposite sides of a room from each other; the Express needs to be connected to the hifi by optical cable.

 

[professorhat]

You've basically hit the nail on the head i.e. new network will mean that your iPhone / iPod Touch / PC won't be able to communicate with anything else apart from the Airport Express when connected to that network.

In theory, putting the Airport Express on the same network as your other wireless devices shouldn't cause performance issues, but it's obviously dependent on your surroundings, how many other wireless networks / devices are causing interference, and also what else is going on on your wireless network e.g. if you're also trying to stream iPlayer across it, that's going to be putting a lot of demand on the available bandwidth.

 

[baldy38]

Ok, thanks, well at least I got that bit right. But...

a) if it's a new network, can I have that working wirelessly from my main router? Apple guides seem unclear on that

b) if it's the same network, likewise...

 

[professorhat]

Ok, thanks, well at least I got that bit right. But...

a) if it's a new network, can I have that working wirelessly from my main router? Apple guides seem unclear on that

b) if it's the same network, likewise...

Not sure I understand exactly what you're asking here, but if it is what I think it is, it works thus - you have two options:

1. Get the Airport Express to join your existing wireless network - which for the sake of example, we'll call "Home". This doesn't need the Airport Express to be wired into your router, it joins the existing "Home" network wirelessly. Once this is done, when your PC / iPhone is connected to the same "Home" network wirelessly, you should see there is an AirPlay option in the relevant applications and you can then choose to stream music to this.

2. Get the Airport Express to create a brand new wireless network - which for the example, we'll call "Airport". Again, no need to connect into your router as, essentially, it's not having any interaction with your router at all. Your PC / iPhone will now have the choice of either:

(i) joining the the new "Airport" wireless network - when connected to the "Airport" network, the PC / iPhone can stream music to your Airport Express, but can't connect to the internet or anything else attached to the "Home" network.

(ii) joining the existing "Home" wireless network - when connected to the "Home" network, the PC / iPhone can connect to the internet / other devices connected to the "Home" network, but can't stream music to the Airport Express.

Hope that makes sense and answers your question!

 

[baldy38]

Ok, thanks, that's very clear.

For total clarity, then, the Airport Express can create its own local (non-Internet) network on its own simply by being turned on?

 

[professorhat]

Yup - in fact that's exactly what it does out of the box! Plug it in, and it starts broadcasting a wireless network (usually called something like Apple_<goobledegook>.

You then use Apple's Airport Utility (comes as part of the latest Mac OS X, or comes on CD, or downloadable for Windows / earlier versions of OS X) which detects this and allows you to configure it.

 

[baldy38]

So it's effectively like a Sonos but at less than a third if the price (especially if you're using the digital out, as I will be)?

 

[ifor]

Also, to be clear, I cannot use an ethernet cable to link the Airport Express to my main router (or at least not after it's been set up) as the Express and the router will be on opposite sides of a room from each other; the Express needs to be connected to the hifi by optical cable.

You could use Homeplugs to extend your network and connect the AEs that way with Ethernet. I have all mine on one network, but have turned off wireless on the AEs to avoid streaming music dropouts.

 

[professorhat]

It's a bit like the Sonos system but has major disadvantages (as you'd expect for the price):

1. Sonos doesn't need your PC / iPhone connected to a dedicated wireless network to remove chances of interference / dropouts from other traffic on the wireless network - the Sonos system connects into your main network via a wired connection and then streams over its own MESH network. This makes streaming more stable, without the disadvantages of having to disconnect your PC from the streaming network (and therefore stopping music playback) if you want to browse the internet.

2. Sonos reads data from anything on your network - NAS devices, PCs, Macs and now iPhones, iPod Touches etc. etc. With the Airport, without the use of specialist software, you can only stream direct from iTunes / iPhone music app etc.

3. Sonos has a number of other features built in, like streaming from Spotify, Napster etc., internet radio and your playlists can be seamless between these sources. You can set things like alarms, sleep timers etc. on a Sonos system.

If all you want to do is stream music from iTunes on a dedicated PC, then Airport Express does everything you need. But the Sonos system goes that much further. I used to use Airport Expresses, but I moved to Sonos when they had an offer on, and it is much, much better. But then it does cost a lot more, so this shouldn't be too surprising!

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

Chucking my two cents in: £80 for an AEX is a cracking good buy and I think is a good first step into streaming. That said, if I lived in a bigger flat / house, I would probably go the Sonos route. As with everything it is needs v. price v. what can you afford.

Currently listening to Best of Bootie 2011 (Macbook - airplay -> AEX - > Naim Nait 5i-2 -> Neat Iotas) and it sounds fantastic.