WiFi

WiFi has become extremely popular to connect to the network.

 

A Wi-Fi network (802.11 G) has a gross throughput of 53 Mbit/s (network speed is expressed in bits per second, not bytes).

 

Playing audio with CD quality is playing 16-bit PCM audio at 44.1 kHz.

This is 705600 bit/s or 0.67 Mbit/s.

We have stereo hence 1.34 Mbit/s.

Even Hi-res audio e.g. 24/192 kHz requiring 8.8 Mbit/s, fits in.

 

Although WiFi has a lot more overhead compared with a wired connection, even an older standard like G has sufficient throughput to play highres over the WiFi.

Dropouts

If reception is poor or you neighbors are using the same channels, you might run into troubles (dropouts).

Wi-Fi channels and their overlap, 1,6,11 is the non-overlapping combination

 

In these cases a wired connection can be the answer.

Ethernet has less overhead and is faster (100/1000 Mbit/s).

You don't share it with your neighbors either.

However an WiFI AC can be faster than e aired connection.

 

If it is not feasible to run a wire, a home plug (Ethernet over the power lines) is an option.

 

Upgrading to 802.11 N or AC might help too as they have a higher throughput.

 

The alphabet

What we call Wi-Fi is a IEEE standard.

If you buy a device you see specs like 802.11b/g/n.

802.11 is the name of the standard and the characters indicate a version.

Over the years speed improved substantial.

Technologies like Dual band (2.4 and 5 GHz), MIMO ( multiple-input multiple-output antennas) and modulation schemes like OFDM allow at the present for 1300 Mbps.

 

802.11	year	Mbps	Band (GHz)
-	1997	2	2.4
b	1999	11	2.4
g	2002	54	2.4
n	2009	54 - 600	2.4/5
ac	2013	1300	2.4/5

 

 

IEEE 802.11 - Wikipedia