When using Airplay from an iPhone or similar, is there any benefit to using Ethernet to connect a streamer such as a Wiim Pro?
I think that when using a service that’s natively supported by the Wiim, like Spotify, your phone uses WiFi to tell the Wiim what to play. Then the music is transmitted via Ethernet. It’s easy to see the benefit of a fast, stable Ethernet connection there.
But with Airplay, the only active connection would be the wireless one between the phone and the Wiim, right? Would Ethernet going into the Wiim have any effect in this situation?
The only benefit is if you have patchy wifi. If you have a weak wifi signal, or interference from neighbours wifi, you’ll get packet loss and latency which could result in streaming issues. Like, the music stopping and caching for a second or two. If your wifi is fine, use it.
Streaming music uses fuck all bandwidth. Ethernet is recommended for streaming 4K video for sure.