Stuttering while streaming

[Robin L]

Surely you can run a patch cable just to test? How far away is your router from computer? Perhaps one those ethernet over powerline adapters would work?

My stereo is in my bedroom. The router is in the far end of the living room. It would have to interfere with walking paths. I estimate a cable of about 40 foot length at least. In any case, I intend to run Tidal through my internet as I am now using it. If I can't, I will cancel my subscription.

 

[Robin L]

It's a portable computer.

Start playing tidal or youtube through the laptop's own speakers and listen to for the stuttering. Once it's clearly present, pick up the computer and walk to the WiFi base station (probably in the router). If the stuttering goes away, you learned something. If not, you learned a different thing.

If the stuttering happens also when the laptop is very close to the base station then you can try the enternet cable and further narrow the problem (or gain confidence in what you learned so far).


To an extent but there are also unassailable limits that might be in play for OP. If the noise is bad enough then you have to reconfigure the network. e.g. using a carefully placed extender and cutting power to both base stations can help.

This is useful, I will try moving the laptop to the living room later today when my wife isn't watching TV. The TV streams just fine. And, again, while a test with a short ethernet cable just might be informative, I won't be able to run an ethernet cable into my room. But thanks, this is good advice. I can hook up my headphones while sitting next to the router.

 

[Multicore]

Another test: except for youtube, the streaming apps I've used have a feature to download the files of what you want to play. Very useful feature. Does using this in Tidal (assuming it has the feature) prevent the stuttering?

 

[Multicore]

This is useful, I will try moving the laptop to the living room later today when my wife isn't watching TV. The TV streams just fine. And, again, while a test with a short ethernet cable just might be informative, I won't be able to run an ethernet cable into my room.

Understood. I didn't propose it as a solution, just part of debugging by elimination, i.e. determining if fixing your WiFi "connection" between laptop and router should be our focus.

But thanks, this is good advice. I can hook up my headphones while sitting next to the router.

Perfect.

 

[Robin L]

Another test: except for youtube, the streaming apps I've used have a feature to download the files of what you want to play. Very useful feature. Does using this in Tidal (assuming it has the feature) prevent the stuttering?

Haven't considered this. Wouldn't want to make a habit of this as my internal ssd has limited space and the thumbdrive is filled up.

 

[Multicore]

Haven't considered this. Wouldn't want to make a habit of this as my internal ssd has limited space and the thumbdrive is filled up.

Again, it's just another way of testing if the stutter is connected to network. It's not a proposed solution.

 

[Robin L]

One more thing. I think there's an internet cable in my bedroom. The TV is on the other side of the wall. If getting closer to the router fixes the problem, I might move the router to my bedroom and see if that works.

 

[Robin L]

By the way - thanks to everyone for joining in and giving technical advice, hopefully something will work out.

 

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[AnalogSteph]

Have you performed a simple speedtest at your usual listening location (private browsing window recommended)?

Also try playing local files while doing so, which could determine whether WiFi activity is interfering with playback per se.

BTW, "Acer Aspire 5" doesn't tell us much except it's a newish model. There's both Intel- and AMD-based variants. The drivers for the AMD RZ6xx (actually Mediatek) WiFi have a reputation of being a bit dodgy, I'd check how old these are and update them. I think I've had issues with one dropping the connection all the time before.

 

[Robin L]

Have you performed a simple speedtest at your usual listening location (private browsing window recommended)?

Also try playing local files while doing so, which could determine whether WiFi activity is interfering with playback per se.

BTW, "Acer Aspire 5" doesn't tell us much except it's a newish model. There's both Intel- and AMD-based variants. The drivers for the AMD RZ6xx (actually Mediatek) WiFi have a reputation of being a bit dodgy, I'd check how old these are and update them. I think I've had issues with one dropping the connection all the time before.

I guess I'm not all that "techy" these days. My unit is an AMD variant, there's a sticker that says "AMD Ryzen 3" if that's any help. Oddly enough, the stuttering has stopped for the last hour, for what it's worth.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Then the next step would be opening Device Manager, which would not only tell you what exact processor you have (although Task Manager's Performance tab would also tell you that under CPU) but also provide a list of network adapters which should contain the WiFi card. Its properties should tell you the driver version and how old it is.

PC manufacturer / model data is available by running msinfo32. You can coax a bunch of info out of the WiFi connection properties, including network type and connection speeds, but last time I checked it seemed even more hidden in Windows 11 than in 10.

Streaming audio does not exactly take a ton of bandwidth. If that's giving you trouble either your WiFi connection is unstable, WiFi is severely bogged down or even the entire internet connection is. (That's why I was asking for a speed test.) Is your router of a semi-recent variety now, or is it still the one you mentioned that would be at risk of being considered a living fossil? 11n (WiFi 4) on 2.4 + 5 Ghz would be pretty much the absolute minimum these days, 11ac (WiFi 5) is standard, if you're fancy you've got 11ax (WiFi 6/6E), and only those on the bleeding edge would have access to WiFi 7 (11be) yet.

You mentioned something about 40 feet, that's quite a ways off and may warrant setting up a secondary accesspoint closer to you. The newer standards are all about the 5 and 6 GHz bands, which do not propagate like the traditional 2.4 GHz one but have a lot more bandwidth available, so the idea is having more but smaller cells. Kind of like 5G cellular.

 

[Robin L]

Then the next step would be opening Device Manager, which would not only tell you what exact processor you have (although Task Manager's Performance tab would also tell you that under CPU) but also provide a list of network adapters which should contain the WiFi card. Its properties should tell you the driver version and how old it is.

PC manufacturer / model data is available by running msinfo32. You can coax a bunch of info out of the WiFi connection properties, including network type and connection speeds, but last time I checked it seemed even more hidden in Windows 11 than in 10.

Streaming audio does not exactly take a ton of bandwidth. If that's giving you trouble either your WiFi connection is unstable, WiFi is severely bogged down or even the entire internet connection is. (That's why I was asking for a speed test.) Is your router of a semi-recent variety now, or is it still the one you mentioned that would be at risk of being considered a living fossil? 11n (WiFi 4) on 2.4 + 5 Ghz would be pretty much the absolute minimum these days, 11ac (WiFi 5) is standard, if you're fancy you've got 11ax (WiFi 6/6E), and only those on the bleeding edge would have access to WiFi 7 (11be) yet.

You mentioned something about 40 feet, that's quite a ways off and may warrant setting up a secondary accesspoint closer to you. The newer standards are all about the 5 and 6 GHz bands, which do not propagate like the traditional 2.4 GHz one but have a lot more bandwidth available, so the idea is having more but smaller cells. Kind of like 5G cellular.

My computer is about 16 feet away from the router. The is a wall between the router and my room, I doubt that would be an issue. However, if I were to operate my internet connection via an ethernet cable I would have to run the cable for a considerably greater length for practical reasons. Again, I will see if the coax cable running into my bedroom is for the internet, placing the router in my room might solve my problem.

 

[Robin L]

My computer is about 16 feet away from the router. The is a wall between the router and my room, I doubt that would be an issue. However, if I were to operate my internet connection via an ethernet cable I would have to run the cable for a considerably greater length for practical reasons. Again, I will see if the coax cable running into my bedroom is for the internet, placing the router in my room might solve my problem.

I just moved the router into the bedroom and ordered an Ethernet cable. Should arrive in about a week.

 

[Robin L]

Then the next step would be opening Device Manager, which would not only tell you what exact processor you have (although Task Manager's Performance tab would also tell you that under CPU) but also provide a list of network adapters which should contain the WiFi card. Its properties should tell you the driver version and how old it is.

PC manufacturer / model data is available by running msinfo32. You can coax a bunch of info out of the WiFi connection properties, including network type and connection speeds, but last time I checked it seemed even more hidden in Windows 11 than in 10.

Streaming audio does not exactly take a ton of bandwidth. If that's giving you trouble either your WiFi connection is unstable, WiFi is severely bogged down or even the entire internet connection is. (That's why I was asking for a speed test.) Is your router of a semi-recent variety now, or is it still the one you mentioned that would be at risk of being considered a living fossil? 11n (WiFi 4) on 2.4 + 5 Ghz would be pretty much the absolute minimum these days, 11ac (WiFi 5) is standard, if you're fancy you've got 11ax (WiFi 6/6E), and only those on the bleeding edge would have access to WiFi 7 (11be) yet.

You mentioned something about 40 feet, that's quite a ways off and may warrant setting up a secondary accesspoint closer to you. The newer standards are all about the 5 and 6 GHz bands, which do not propagate like the traditional 2.4 GHz one but have a lot more bandwidth available, so the idea is having more but smaller cells. Kind of like 5G cellular.

Got a speed test. Download speed is 56.92 MBPS, upload is 5.89 MBPS. I've also been told that should suffice. I get the same measurements when my wife is watching TV, FWIW.

 

[JSmith]

Is it the distance between my Wi-Fi and the computer?

No, but it may be related to the distance between the WiFi emitter and how far the receiving point is from it. You may need a mesh system if that is the case.

If your router supports dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz), try connecting to the 5GHz band, which often provides faster speeds and less interference.

Also, run LatencyMon on your PC;

Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

www.resplendence.com

LatencyMon checks if a system running Windows is suitable for processing real-time audio and other tasks. LatencyMon analyzes the possible causes of buffer underruns by measuring kernel timer latencies and reporting DPC and ISR execution times as well as hard pagefaults. It will provide a comprehensible report and find the kernel modules and processes responsible for causing audio latencies which result in drop outs. It also provides the functionality of an ISR monitor, DPC monitor and a hard pagefault monitor.

LatencyMon will display the highest latencies of a kernel timer and report the highest execution times of ISR and DPC routines as well as hard pagefaults. In most cases it will also find the drivers and processes responsible for executing them. It will create a comprehensible report which also displays all sampled data in a detailed manner allowing you to perform in-depth analysis.

Based on your connection speed, that is not an issue for music steaming.

Is there any network congestion, as in others in your home on the network also streaming video/audio?


JSmith

 

[Robin L]

No, but it may be related to the distance between the WiFi emitter and how far the receiving point is from it. You may need a mesh system if that is the case.

If your router supports dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz), try connecting to the 5GHz band, which often provides faster speeds and less interference.

Also, run LatencyMon on your PC;

Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

www.resplendence.com

Based on your connection speed, that is not an issue for music steaming.

Is there any network congestion, as in others in your home on the network also streaming video/audio?


JSmith

This is all way above my pay grade, I'm just trying to get decent sound.

As I posted earlier, I've moved the router into the bedroom, will be getting an Ethernet cable in about a week, see how that works out. As it is, I'm experiencing a lot less stuttering via Tidal than I did with You Tube.

 

[Chrispy]

I generally look to the isp for that sort of thing. Maybe incompatibility in the hardware but that'd be a reach these days I think. I use wifi for audio as well as video and no particular issues, but when there are some it's almost certainly my ISP.

 

[JSmith]

This is all way above my pay grade

No worries mate. What is the brand and model number of your WiFi router?

LatencyMon is a very easy program to install and run. It would be good if you could run it and post the results here, as then we can troubleshoot any negative results for you.


JSmith

 

[Robin L]

No worries mate. What is the brand and model number of your WiFi router?

LatencyMon is a very easy program to install and run. It would be good if you could run it and post the results here, as then we can troubleshoot any negative results for you.


JSmith

Have to tell you later. All I can see from the front is "Xfinity" which I'm sure isn't the brand.