Audioengine W1 Wireless Audio Adapter

Reviews: Multimedia

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Max Slowik
Beth
Audioengine
May. 2, 2008

Specifications

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Introduction

The cordless phone, invented in the '60s, didn't hit its stride until 1980, after more than a decade of petitions and negotiations with the FCC finally allowed use of specific radio frequencies for household communications. That was back when electronics were still sold in stores. Then, in 1983 the first cellular networks were built, and now people don't shop in stores. So that way, you can blame the FCC for knocking off CompUSA.

(Com-pooh'-sah in Puerto Rico.)

Even though the Hi-Fi became the Home Theater System, wirelessness hasn't been widely adopted in audio/ video circles. It doesn't take a genius to understand why; people simply don't care about how good their phone sounds. I mean, it's a phone call. But transmitting Bob Dylan via weak and volatile air waves is a real-life tragedy. Honestly, you shouldn't be listening to Dylan in the first place. Let us pray that there is an FCC sanction in the works.

Audioengine's stellar A5 "bookshelf" speakers knocked me flat with perfect sound. The fact that this company would trust invisible air tubes over good ol' copper to not screw up their performance is a compelling sign that their new Audioengine W1 is dyed-in-the-wool wireless solution, but I'm hella skeptical. While I certainly don't believe that Monster's onto something with their oxygen-free copper and gold lies, I'm not positive that I won't be able to tell the difference between wires and nothingness.

First Looks

The first positive sign that the audio will be near-lossless is that the dongles (transmitters, whatever) don't just use regular, practically antiquated analog radio waves. The sender and receiver are flashy 802.11 transmitters; they're digital, not analog. This doesn't mean they don't use streaming; in fact, they might drop loose packets like phat beats, but the tests are still to come. The 340Mbps output is spec'd at 91dB SNR, with a fixed 20ms latency.

So, let's take a step back and look at what the W1s really are. Yes, they're wireless audio transmitters, but, additionally, the sending unit is also a sound card. Besides the 802.11 hardware, the chipset is a complete DAP/ digital audio processor.

The pair does stream audio, which inevitably results in packet loss. When this happens, the receiver's audio processor, "employs psycho-acoustic techniques and time dispersion to spread out errors in time. These features allow the AvneraAudio system to conceal longer bursts of interference."

(The chipset inside is made by Avnera, a smallish, newish company that only does streaming wireless audio. Product overview here.)

Not that you can tell by looking at them; they're iPod-nanoesque: the sender, a black lozenge marked with a classic-looking rocket ship, and the receiver emblazoning a far-off ringed planet. They're not to scale, even if you planted the receiver the rated 100 feet away.

Even when not connected to a computer, these two are still completely self-contained transmitters. No software. They're compatible with anything that can use a 3.5mm jack. When not paired up, each flashes its blue LED; solid blue is an all-clear.

Included with the two dongles is a 20" 3.5mm cable, a 6' 3.5mm cable, a 3.5mm-to-RCA splitter, and a wall wart for the receiver. The wall wart isn't necessary if your speakers have a USB connection. Surprise, Audioengine's A5s do. Again, these will work with any speakers, but Audioengine obviously kept their hardware in mind. Admittedly, it will suck if you're still one power supply short, but you can buy USB power supplies from most friendly corner e-tailers.

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Page 1: Introduction and First Looks
Page 2: In Use & Testing
Page 3: Conclusion

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1 User Comment

1 - Posted by aireiq on May 6, 2008 - 10:23 am

The PR pronunciation of CompUSA is spot on, in case anyone was wondering.

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