Wireless to wired: options?

Charlie Jefferson

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I love having access to the 20,000 songs on my Mac, via Airport Express into my Chord DAC, streamed wirelessly and controlled by the Remote app BUT the occasional signal drop outs have got me pondering how to make the connection a wired one.

My Mac's upstairs and all the hi-fi is downstairs, and that's not going to change. So what do I need to do to wire this network? Is a long cable from Mac to AE my only option? If so, what cable?
 

PJPro

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Doubtless other will disagree, but I'd use (and do use) Cat6 ethernet cable. I used a 10m length from Maplin.

If you want to hook up multiple devices to this cable, you'll want a couple of gigbit unmanaged switchs. I use Netgear. I have an 8 port switch upstairs (GS608) and a 5 port switch downstairs (GS605). If you want to extend your network downstairs, you can either run a new cable from the switch upstairs or from the switch downstairs.

I also hook up my modem/router to the switch upstairs to provide internet access to all devices on the network. Works a treat and far better than wireless.

If you wanted to put something "permanent" in, I think I'd seriously consider fibre. It'll be moreorless future proof (in terms of speed), great from a security point of view and, cos it's sooo thin, it's relatively easy to route the cable (but don't bend it round sharp corners). Downside? Well, you'd need fibre to ethernet adaptors at each end of the cable run.
 

professorhat

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I may be mistaken, but I don't think you can stream music over the wired connection - certainly my Mac is hardwired into my network but I have to have my Airport network card enabled to stream music through the Airport Express.

I think what you would have to do is run a long optical cable from the Mac's optical out direct into your DAC.
 

PJPro

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professorhat:
I may be mistaken, but I don't think you can stream music over the wired connection - certainly my Mac is hardwired into my network but I have to have my Airport network card enabled to stream music through the Airport Express.

I think what you would have to do is run a long optical cable from the Mac's optical out direct into your DAC.

Can't you connect the Airport Express to the wired network?
 

kena

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Yes but if the express is hardwired closer possibly his wireless signal quality would dramatically improve , depends where the kit is I suppose
 

PJPro

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professorhat:
Yes, but the music is still streamed via the wireless network so I'd imagine any issues with dropouts would still be present.

?? That's barking!
 

PJPro

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Unless I'm misunderstanding the Prof, you can link Airport Express up to a hard wired network but when you stream music to it from your mac, it conducts the streaming wirelessly.

I don't have any personal experience of Airport Express but I do trust the Professor's to know what he's on about.

This seems a bizarre implementation to me!
 

PJPro

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OK I've had a look. Here's a statement from the Apple site

Even though AirPort Express includes a fully-functional wireless access point, it's totally legit to use it on a wired-only network for its print server and music streaming features. When setting up for a wired-only environment, you could get a bit confused by the fact that AirPort Express Assistant refuses to hook you up. This is because AirPort Express Assistant will only connect wirelessly from a computer that has a wireless card. Don't worry -- you just need to use AirPort Admin Utility instead, as shown here........

This was taken from this page.

So it looks as though you can force Airport Express to use the wired network to stream music.
 

Charlie Jefferson

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Cheers, PJ.

I'm still in two minds, after many midsummer beers tonight, as to which option to go for. The wireless method has been great today but ideally I want 100% reliability, so I've probably solved my own dilemma there.

Wired versus wireless: surely there's nothing to choose between them in sonic performance?

So which cable do I need again? Cat6 or optical?
 

Charlie Jefferson

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Charlie Jefferson:Cheers, PJ.

I'm still in two minds, after many midsummer beers tonight, as to which option to go for. The wireless method has been great today but ideally I want 100% reliability, so I've probably solved my own dilemma there.

Wired versus wireless: surely there's nothing to choose between them in sonic performance?

So which cable do I need again? Cat6 or optical?

I'm only interested in music streaming, at present, btw.
 

professorhat

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It certainly suggests that should work doesn't it - seems strange though as the only difference from my setup I can see is turning off the Airport Express as a DHCP server. Not sure why having it set to be a DHCP server would disable the ability to stream over ethernet, but it certainly seems to in my case if this article is true. Unfortunately, I use AE to create the wireless network in my flat so can't switch this off as I need it for my iPod Touch to connect up remotely and I also use my laptop wirelessly on occasions.

If you need to know though, Charlie, I can give it a go at some point and see if it works.
 

Gerrardasnails

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Charlie Jefferson:Thanks Prof H, that would be useful to know at some stage.

The wired route doesn't take my iPhone's Remote app out of use does it?

Out of interest Charlie, do you use Sky Broadband? I have not had any drop outs apart from the last couple of weeks. I received an email from Sky a week or so ago saying that they are improving the speed of their Max Broadband and while they test customer's speeds, the service will fluctuate for a few weeks.
 

professorhat

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Charlie Jefferson:Thanks Prof H, that would be useful to know at some stage.

The wired route doesn't take my iPhone's Remote app out of use does it?

Depends - if memory serves me correct, you already had a wireless network setup and you joined your Airport Express into it - is that correct? If so, then this won't affect your iPhone Remote app as your wireless network will still be intact after you've switched the DHCP option of the AE off.

I'll try and give this a go tonight for you.
 

Charlie Jefferson

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professorhat:
Charlie Jefferson:Thanks Prof H, that would be useful to know at some stage.

The wired route doesn't take my iPhone's Remote app out of use does it?

Depends - if memory serves me correct, you already had a wireless network setup and you joined your Airport Express into it - is that correct? If so, then this won't affect your iPhone Remote app as your wireless network will still be intact after you've switched the DHCP option of the AE off.

I'll try and give this a go tonight for you.

Yes, ProfH, you have a good memory, I did have an existing wireless network that the AE slotted into.

Thanks for trying out the "DHCP off option" procedure. Think I'll start a band called the DHCP Procedure.
 

professorhat

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Okay, I can confirm that by following the instructions in PJ's document, you can indeed stream over ethernet (though the instructions are a little out of date as the Airport Utility has been updated so let me know if you need to do it and I'll walk you through it).

However, I'm pretty sure you don't actually have to do this now. Having read through the document and played with the Airport Utility, as it shows in point 8 of PJ's document, there is a tick box labelled "Enable AirTunes over Ethernet" which should do exactly what you want (I never really paid any attention to it before since it didn't work for me, but it kinda makes sense now). Because I don't have an existing wireless network, I use the three Airport Express units dotted around my flat to do this. However, as I remember, I had a lot of trouble getting a network set up where you could walk throughout the flat and have the client switch from one access point to the other seamlessly and it looks like I solved this by setting all three AE units to "Participate in a WDS network" so there isn't one main unit actually creating the wireless network. I can only assume it's this which is preventing me streaming tunes over ethernet since, as soon as I switched back to my original settings, streaming over ethernet no longer worked once my Mac had connected back to the wireless network. All very strange!

Anyway, getting back to the point, it's worth going into your Airport Utility and clicking on the Music tab at the top and ensure the "Enable AirTunes over Ethernet" box is ticked. In theory, you should then just be able to connect your Mac up with the ethernet cable directly into your main wired network (not the Airport Express unit mind - your main router which the Airport Express should also be connected into). As PJ suggested, you could also use gigabit switches (which is what I use) or fibre, but if it's just the one Mac and likely nothing else upstairs, a single cable will do. With that, you should then be able to stream over ethernet.

Oh and should just add good work to PJ (the supposed AE novice!) for picking that up. No use to me of course (it would seem anyway), but definitely good to know it's possible!
 

Charlie Jefferson

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Thanks, Prof H & PJ for your learned insights.

I'll get back to you if and when the occasion arises. Still pondering whether it's Maplin here I come or to stick with the current config.

Many thanks for your explorative findings.
 

PJPro

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professorhat:
....good work to PJ (the supposed AE novice!) for picking that up.

Thanks Prof. It took me hours of searching to find that document.....(between you and me I think it was the second result returned from google using "Airport Express wired" as the search parameters).
 

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