On 09/01/2024 22:53, Bruce Horrocks wrote:
> On 09/01/2024 09:45, David Sankey wrote:
>> On 08/01/2024 17:04, jbrennand wrote:
>>> On 08/01/2024 15:03, David Sankey wrote:
>
>>>> What speed to you get by the Express if you switch the Express off -
>>>> i.e. what's the maximum that the Express can fan out?
>>>
>>> Good point... if I switch that Express off... it doesnt actually
>>> change that much !
>>
>> So this suggests move the Express closer to the Extreme...
>
> It probably won't help for the reason I gave in my earlier post.
>
> When you switch the Express off there is no contention but the distance
> is further so signal strength reduced and so throughput reduced. When
> you have the Express on the signal strength goes back up but the
> contention is re-introduced.
>
> The fact that the two have more or less the same net effect is coincidence.

Not quite.

At some point you will hit contention, but you are no way near there -
if you are on the 5 GHz then the theoretical max is 450 Mbps for
802.11n, so theoretical max with contention half this (but realistically
you would probably be less).

Rather the Express is too far away from the Extreme, located where it
only gets 40 Mbps. All it can do is extend this 40 Mbps - but it's well
away from the contention limit.

If you move the Express 'closer' to the Extreme things should improve...

D

On 09/01/2024 22:46, TimH wrote:
> On 9 Jan 2024 at 4:13:32 pm GMT, "Andy Hewitt" <thewildrover@icloud.com>

[..]

>> If you're prepared to fiddle a bit, and cobble stuff together, it does
>> actually end up being a fairly flexible system, with options for both
>> wired and wireless setups, and not for too much outlay.
>
> My setup is much simpler: living room has an Express outputting audio to the
> hi-fi amplifier, and use whatever device is handy (usually Apple) to stream
> either from an online source or from our music server (Asset, running on a Mac
> mini). Client is usually either Foobar 2000 or Apple Music. The other main
> room has a relatively modern Yamaha receiver that does Airplay.

Of course it's much simpler if Apple would still include a 3.5mm socket
on things. Or why on earth did they remove the TOSlink from the AppleTV?

But, it still doesn't help if you want to connect an old Turntable to
HomePods, as far as I can tell, this is the only way (and if you want to
hear stereo on Homepods you need to have Airplay 2 as well - which I
think you can't get on the old Airport stuff).

Indeed, it was simpler if I had just kept the old analogue kit, but we
wanted to tidy up the living room, so the old kit had to go.

Despite the setup being 'messy', it's all hidden on a single shelf in
the TV cabinet, as all the components are compact.

However, it all works OK, and has the desired end result.

--
Andy H

On 09/01/2024 23:49, Sn!pe wrote:
> TimH <thnews@poboxmolar.com.invalid> wrote:
>
>> "Andy Hewitt" <thewildrover@icloud.com> wrote:
> [...]
>>> I have this setup:
>>>
>>> Technics SL1800 TT
>>> Behringer UFO202
>>> Lightning Hub (to provide Power to phone and Link to UFO202)
>>> Plug in my iPhone with Airchord 2 (or try Quanta) - the UFO202 needs to
>>> be plugged into a device, it doesn't work just plugged into the Hub or a
>>> PSU.
>>> Apple TV 4K
>>> Airpod Minis as a stereo pair.
>>>
>>> I run Airchord on the iPhone, then airplay to the Homepods.
>>>
>>> It's possible to use the UFO202 to output analogue too. Which I've done
>>> to feed a small cheap headphone amp (one of those with the two valves
>>> that seem popular right now), and can still use my old Grado cans.
>>>
>>> This could perhaps also be used to feed a cheap Bluetooth RX/TX device
>>> too (I have one to also feed the ATV to the headphone amp - I use an RCA
>>> switch box on it)).
>>>
>>> It's a bit messy perhaps, but I wanted to maintain an Apple ecosystem as
>>> much as possible, as well as tidy the living room a bit (i.e. clear out
>>> the old 1980's HiFi kit a bit).
>>>
>>> If you're prepared to fiddle a bit, and cobble stuff together, it does
>>> actually end up being a fairly flexible system, with options for both
>>> wired and wireless setups, and not for too much outlay.
>>
>> My setup is much simpler: living room has an Express outputting audio to the
>> hi-fi amplifier, and use whatever device is handy (usually Apple) to stream
>> either from an online source or from our music server (Asset, running on a Mac
>> mini). Client is usually either Foobar 2000 or Apple Music. The other main
>> room has a relatively modern Yamaha receiver that does Airplay.
>>
> As well as handling audio output to the amplifier, the big benefit of
> the Behringer is it can handle my analog turntable (Technics SL-7).
> It sends back that audio to the 'puter via USB for recording digitally
> and returns it for monitoring via the amp. It also has an audio
> monitoring jack of its own if preferred.

It's definitely a handy little thing for sure (and of course you can
also switch it to plain Line-in if needed too).

--
Andy H

On 10 Jan 2024 at 4:09:59 pm GMT, "Andy Hewitt" <thewildrover@icloud.com>
wrote:

>
> On 09/01/2024 22:46, TimH wrote:
>> On 9 Jan 2024 at 4:13:32 pm GMT, "Andy Hewitt" <thewildrover@icloud.com>
>
> Of course it's much simpler if Apple would still include a 3.5mm socket
> on things. Or why on earth did they remove the TOSlink from the AppleTV?

Indeed- I had been wondering if an AppleTV might be worth looking at till I
realised that.

> But, it still doesn't help if you want to connect an old Turntable to
> HomePods, as far as I can tell, this is the only way (and if you want to
> hear stereo on Homepods you need to have Airplay 2 as well - which I
> think you can't get on the old Airport stuff).

You can on the 2nd generation Express (the last one)
--
TimH
pull tooth to reply by email

On 10/01/2024 16:30, TimH wrote:
> On 10 Jan 2024 at 4:09:59 pm GMT, "Andy Hewitt" <thewildrover@icloud.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> On 09/01/2024 22:46, TimH wrote:
>>> On 9 Jan 2024 at 4:13:32 pm GMT, "Andy Hewitt" <thewildrover@icloud.com>
>>
>> Of course it's much simpler if Apple would still include a 3.5mm socket
>> on things. Or why on earth did they remove the TOSlink from the AppleTV? >
> Indeed- I had been wondering if an AppleTV might be worth looking at till I
> realised that.

Aye, although I do have a little Bluetooth adapter that it links to that
can send out a 3.5mm analogue feed. It's just one of the cheap oriental
ones, but seems to work well enough to connect to the headphone amp, and
sounds fine with my Grados.

>> But, it still doesn't help if you want to connect an old Turntable to
>> HomePods, as far as I can tell, this is the only way (and if you want to
>> hear stereo on Homepods you need to have Airplay 2 as well - which I
>> think you can't get on the old Airport stuff).
>
> You can on the 2nd generation Express (the last one)

Is that so, hmmm, cheers.

Although, the Homepod minis have been quite tricky to get working right
(loads of discussions on the Apple forums too), so I'm inclined to just
leave alone now, as it's all working well at the moment.

--
Andy H