Wi-Fi Limitations and Sample rates...16/44.1

16 x 44,1000 x 2 (stereo) = approx 1.4Mbs.

May be a problem with the very first version of 802.11 circa 1997, but no problem with later WLAN 802.11a or 802.11g, the latter having a theoretical bandwidth of 54Mbs.

Regards,

WiFi speeds will vary dramatically with both signal strength and the wireless standard used by the equipment (802.11a,b,g,n). 802.11g, which is the standard most commonly used by recent equipment, should handle pretty much any audio data comfortably, provided that the signal strength is good. (A wifi link will operate at reduced speed if signal strength is weak). 802.11g will invariably, though, provide much lower speeds than its theoretical 54mbps maximum, even under ideal signal conditions.

To test your speed, transfer a large computer file across your wireless link, and measure how long it takes. Multiply the number of megaBytes of the file by 8 to get megabits, and divide by the number of seconds to get mbps.

Regards,
-- Al

Also routers only route and do not implement algorithms for down sampling data streams so if you are hearing the music play without dropouts, you are most likely getting all the bits delivered that should be.

This is excellent - thank you all, for clearing that up. After reading that, "...most WiFi routers are limited to 16/44.1..." I was concerned that all of my 24/48, 24/96 downloads, not to mention the additional cost, had been in vain.

My music server is just not at the level I want it to be, so before I do any more tweaking/modding, I wanted to cover the basics to make sure I don’t gratuitously stimulate the economy!

with respect to routers, it is all about thru put. Packets. The content of these packets isn't the issue.

it's like loading a truck, on in WY Fi, maybe loading a plane with materials. What the amterials are isn't important. It's their size, and or overall weight, and speed of the plane that matters... With Vista you may need to make some other tweaks to speed up the passage of these 'packets'. Another thread here about that is more well suited to describe the steps needed to do this.

Signal strength as was said is important for securing good speed and avoiding drop outs or intermittent playback over a wireless connection.