Problems with your Fosi S3

[babadono]

so I bought a netgear switch to connect myS3 with because of the problems I am experiencing with wireless...now the qobuz app on my laptop or phone cannot find the S3. Switched back to wireless and can't find it that way anymore either. With either connection I can ping the IP address that is assigned by the FOSI S3 app. Is this REALLY this hard? What am I doing wrong? I really think now this is a Qobuz problem. And getting a hold of them is a joke.

 

[babadono]

Restored Defaults on FOSI S3 and went through Set Up steps again and now Qobuz can find S3 wirelessly. Dare I try to plug in an ethernet cable again?
What the heck is going on? @yuting

 

[babadono]

plugged in and this time it works. What? I'll see after power cycle of everything to shut down for the day if it will come back tomorrow.

 

[Redacted]

"With either connection I can ping the IP address that is assigned by the FOSI S3 app."

This does not make sense. First, IP addresses are assigned by home routers to each device. The Fosi device control app on your phone 'discovers' relevant devices on the LAN and uses the 'found' IP address - it's not 'assigned' as such.

When switching between wired and WiFi you can, for a period of time, end up with the target device appearing to other devices on the LAN as having one of two IP addresses or even one IP address but two different MAC addresses. Each device should sort itself out! There's a bunch of protocols in action where some cached info gets timed out. It's complicated, and not all devices follow the rules as perfectly as you'd expect.

I was a network developer for many years and have explained how it all works to several friends who had problems, but it's not easily done with a few lines of text on a site like this. The temptation is for everyone to rush in and offer solutions - but really, I for one, can't say I have good grasp of what your LAN looks like and what steps you have tried....

I'm pretty sure your LAN actually works fine within the usual common constraints. I doubt it's true that the Fosi does not work. Note - always use DHCP, and pin IP addresses to non-portable devices. The most common problem with using WiFi is always signal strength or physical distances around the house or lots of interference from other WiFi kit. When changing configurations on the LAN - like switching between wired and WiFi - repowering devices can speed up the process of getting everything reconnected. Connecting devices on your LAN to the outside world - like using a Qobuz server - is another subject.

 

[babadono]

"With either connection I can ping the IP address that is assigned by the FOSI S3 app."

Sorry should have said "assigned TO" not "BY". I realize it is the router and or switch that is assigning the IP addresses.

 

[babadono]

anyway wired connection survived power cycle over night. Still have intermittent stream occasionally depending on activity on other devices. Strange because when I stream Qobuz on my main system using my laptop and USB connection to my S.M.S.L. DAC I do not experience stuttering and break up. This is with my laptop connected wirelessly.
I can only conclude that my internet connection is too slow, unless someone has another idea.

 

[Redacted]

If your internet connection was too slow, how do you use it to get Qobuz on your main system?

CD quality over the internet needs a solid 1.4mbit/s - that's a crazy slow internet! There is something else going on....

 

[babadono]

Yea DUH. If I can stream uninterrupted via laptop to DAC there is something else going on.

 

[Redacted]

Yea DUH. If I can stream uninterrupted via laptop to DAC there is something else going on.

So the LAN, router and the internet are all fine, is the point. The "something going on" is probably a misconfiguration. A sketch of the setup, showing what's connected to what on the LAN might help.

 

[babadono]

LAN is pretty simple at my house....a satellite modem with wifi radio turned off connected by wire to ASUS wireless router's WAN port which is where the wifi network originates. There are 3 other identical ASUS routers throughout the house in a AI(ASUS terminology) Mesh. This was done to get better wifi throughout the house. Also from the first ASUS I have a NetGear 16 port switch hooked up by wire from a LAN port. This distributes ethernet to wired outlets throughout the house. Pretty simple.
I connected the S3 directly by wire to the first ASUS router LAN port and still get stuttering audio from Qobuz.
Later I will try the same but with wire to NetGear switch disconnected.

 

[Redacted]

A satellite modem? Not sure why you need another modem.
That aside, mesh systems commonly cause issues for real-time data, irrespective of apparent bandwidth, owing to latency, which adds up as they are all add store & forward devices and run half-duplex on any one WiFi channel.

I may be wrong, but as an ex-developer of networking kit I doubt there is an easy fix and suspect the LAN needs to simplified or reconfigured to get perfect transmission.

TLDR - In my house, the ISP-supplied WiFi router had really weak coverage around the the house. I had get a second WiFi router (cable-type, i.e. Ethernet uplink to the other router) which had better coverage, and positioned in a better position. My office devices all connect via a switch to the 2nd router, but everything else in the house gets fine WiFi. The lounge TV, 2 bedroom TVs and my streamer all use the 5GHz band with zero issues to the 2nd router. The TVs are fine with 4K too. Sometimes Ethernet cable is the best bet.

 

[babadono]

A satellite modem? Not sure why you need another modem.

Only one modem, I get my internet via satellite. And like you the wifi from that thing is weak. That's why I use the ASUS. But to make sure I understand the wifi mesh is not causing the intermittent behavior of the S3 when it is plugged in via wire is it?

 

[Salt]

Perhaps it's the transmission via satellite?

 

[Redacted]

More new info!.. I first read "satellite modem" to mean it was secondary to another modem. My bad! Not many such systems in my part of the world.

Yes, very likely that satellite latency or varying bitrate or short gaps can cause the problems. As I understand it the handover between passing satellites can be messy. Especially a problem if it's rainy, or even if the air is damp, or if there are electrical storms.

Nevertheless, mesh systems can also perform badly for real-time traffic (or more precisely, time-sensitive traffic) - kit varies, some is ok some is not so good. Maybe the two things together are a 'perfect storm'?

A test to see if the LAN part itself has problems, might be to plug a laptop into the satellite modem unit using ethernet only, running up a little DLNA server on it with some locally stored files (24/192 files if possible - it's a tougher test). Then set your media streamer to use that PC server to get your files. If they play perfectly over the longest reach of the mesh, especially if there is other traffic going on, then you can rule the mesh out.

If you have a reasonable mobile phone signal, you might be able to the phone as as WiFi hotspot, also as a test. Link your streamer to the hotspot and see if the audio is OK from Qobuz or whatever you use.

 

[babadono]

AI bot at Qobuz says perfectly understandable that laptop works and Streamer does not. Laptop works as a buffering (correct terminology?) device when streaming to it and then USB out my DAC. AI bot keeps pointing me to inadequate internet speed. Going to take the streamer to friends house who has faster cable internet and see if problems vanish.

 

[babadono]

Before you ask no can't get cable or fiber internet here.

 

[Redacted]

Going to take the streamer to friends house who has faster cable internet and see if problems vanish.

Consider what "faster" means. The average bitrate you get on over the internet is always going to be more than fast enough, unless you try ancient dial-up modems. Full CD quality only needs 1.4 Mbits/s which is tiny. I suspect, but cannot prove that the issue may be you are receiving an inconsistent bit rate, and varying latecy. My bet is you'll get perfect audio on cable internet.

 

[formdissolve]

If it works on your phone but not on the desktop app, then something is going wrong with the desktop app most likely, although I am not sure why there would be a difference.

Also FYI, there is a new firmware update available. Go to Internet Update and check it manually and it should show up (hopefully). I still don't see Roon Ready support yet, so hopefully that is added soon!

Update contents:
Fix the issue where the UPnP file list is incomplete.
Addressed several other known bugs.

 

[CptKaos]

I followed the instructions provided here on the Fosi Support website, all up to date now

 

[formdissolve]

I followed the instructions provided here on the Fosi Support website, all up to date now

Thankfully the wireless update worked right away for me. That support page has the wrong color fonts on the page so it's impossible to see without highlighting the text (at least in Firefox).