Hey,

Long time reader, first time poster

My situation is this; I have thousands of songs stored on my laptop, which are generally all encoded as MP3s @ 192kbps. I use iTunes as my main method of listening to them, although sometimes resort to Winamp or Foobar when I want something lighter.

I want to be able to listen to these songs through a decent setup, not just my crappy laptop speakers. Currently I do this by hooking my laptop up to some awfully tinny and small computer speakers using a 3.5mm jack. However, I now want something more convienient, and I particuarly want to utilise my laptops in-built wireless.

I have found several solutions, but am undecided and also open to new ideas.

Firstly, I could use Apples Airport Express to stream music from the laptop into 'something'. The norm would be a hi-fi I guess, but thats exactly what I want to escape from, so what would I need to plug it into? an amp? or directly to some speakers? As you can see, i'm clueless!

Another option would be something like the Roku Soundbridge - which I absolutely love the look of, but feel it is rather unneccessary as it is mainly designed for immobile PCs rather than a Laptop - nevertheless its still an option.

My budget for this is around £300. I could possibly spend more, but would rather spend less [having said that, I very much understand that in the world of audio the phrase 'you get what you pay for' is often very relevant].

However, I also don't want to pay for things which are unneccessary - as you can tell, I'm evidently not the greatest audiophile, seeming as the music I will listen to is all encoded in a lossy format.

Any pointers, links, ideas and general help would be much appreciated. I'm very willing to do my own research, but I need some guidance and opinions!

Something like this maybe?
AirPort Express ($129) -> Harman Kardon Soundsticks II ($170)

->

Thanks for the quick reply.

Hmmm....I love those speakers! If they sound as good as they look then I will definitely consider them...

How would I connect the AirPort express to them? What type of cable would I need?

------ EDIT -----

Found this on Apple site;
"— or wherever in your home you have stereo or powered speakers.All you have to do is connect your sound system to the audio port on the AirPort Express Base Station using an audio cable (included in the optional AirPort Express Stereo Connection Kit) and AirTunes lets you play your iTunes music through your stereo or powered speakers — wirelessly."

So would that just be like a 3.5mm jack between the AirPort Express and speakers?

The specifications say "Interface : Analog (3.5mm)", which is the exact same as the output on the AirPort Express.
I wont be surprised if the needed cable are included in the package.

That doesn't seem to be a good idea. Get the airport if nothing else is better(do they work with windows?; they downgrade to analog), but I would not advise you to get those speakers. There are better speakers out there.

I am not sure, but I believe you could use that new Belkin wireless USB hub due to come out soon called cablefree. Attach it to a stereo with a USB port(cheapest I found on froogle was $80 with 5 CD changer). Wirelessly connect to the hub with your computer. You don't lose quality like the Airport(it converts to analog). This method(if it works) would keep it all digital(I think).

I just recently saw this, and it may be a viable option if you are looking to stream to a receiver or whatnot.



http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c...FVisitorWrapper

You can pick it up around $85 US.

wow, this thing could be what I was looking for. I considered something similar than you, carman. how does that linksys thing work, I mean they do not stream WAV, do they?

Try this.

Thanks for all of your replies



Yeah, those speakers look great [IMO] but maybe I could get something for a similar price of a better quality? Do you have any suggestions of speakers in that sort of price range [although I'm flexible on price to an extent] ?




That actually looks good, and far more diverse than the Airport Express

I'm starting to go off the Airport Express due to its limitations. Firstly, it can only be used to stream music from iTunes, no other programs, which is alright for me at the moment, but in the future I may wish to use a different media player [eg. Songbird once it gets developed a little further]. Also the Airport Express has limited output ports compared to the Linsky product.

Having said that, I still love the look and portability of the Airport Express - as with most Apple products, it looks a lot better than it functions!




I do like the Squeezebox, but I have the same issues with it that I have with the Roku Soundbridge [see my first post] - it just seems rather unneccessary to pay money for something that I don't need, becuase my laptop is equally, if not more, portable [it can run off battery], plus also it seems a waste to replace using the iTunes interface on my laptop with a small digital display on a Roku/Slimdevice product.




So at the moment I think I will probally choose the Linsky Music bridge over the Airport Express, but I still need to decide on speakers. I love the look of the Harman Kardon Soundsticks, but if anyone can reccommend "better" speakers in a similar price range, I'm open to new ideas.......?

could you give a small review, once you get the linksys?

I'm afraid I probally won't be purchasing this setup until my birthday, which is in in a couple months! By all means I will review it then if your still undecided!

that would be cool!

You could use an AirPort Express with Winamp using this plug-in:

http://emilles.dyndns.org/software/out_apx.html

this plug-in looks very nice, especially because it seems to be able to output gaplessly. this was the major drawback hindering me from buying an airtunes unit.
if there was a foobar-port


edit: here is an excerpt of an email, the developer of that plugin sent me:

"The output plug-in supports any file format that Winamp currently can play as long as it outputs in 44100 Hz 16-bit monaural or stereo audio. Most input plug-ins have settings to control ouptut so you can tune them to these specifications. So, yes, LAME mp3 and Vorbirs ogg files will all play. As far as gapless, I insert no gap on output, so the only gap present in playback is that which was inserted by the input plug-in."

Picked up one of these today. Got it working after about a half hour, streaming decoded .flac audio via foobar2k on my laptop (directsound out, using wireless audio driver that linksys loads) wirelessly to my AVR (optical out of the linksys, to optical in of the AVR). There some latency in the stream, by which I mean that there's delay between what I do via foobar, and what comes out of the speakers.
I'm a little concerne that the linksys interface offers volume control and EQ, which makes me wonder if it's doing anything unfortunate like resampling or D/A/D conversion. Not sure how I'd test that...then again, foobar offers volume and EQ too.

It's also got blue lights in the front, one of which blinks...annoying. I turned it so it faced the wall. ;>

is this delay bearable? could be a proble when using several units in different rooms...

can you use other encryptions then WEP? like WPA/2?

Eric Milles wrote to me that he was planning to develop an app which would be capable of sending every single sound on your sytem to an airtunes unit. this would be awesome and would give the same opportunity then linksys' stuff.

This may be overkill for what you want, but something to at least know it exists:

Sonos

It's bearable in my system. There's rarely much load on my network, though, and I only have one of these units.



Don't know -- I use 128-bit WEP. I don't recall seeing any other options besides
64-bit WEP, or using a passcode.

Btw, I reconfigured foobar2K to use Kernal Streaming output (which didn't work over a USB connection/USB Audio codec) and it works fine with the linksys wireless codec.

well, too sad that WAP/2 seems to be impossible.... guess I'll wait for Eric Mill's app and get an airTunes unit....
as said before, the only drawback of airTunes is the lack of gapless playback because of the tie to iTunes. as Eric said:

"Just to be clear, the only gap in the output is that inserted by the input plug-in. I do not insert any gap and I use a single connection for all tracks so there is no overhead setting up a new connection for each track. However Winamp sounds now through sound card output is how it will sound over the AirPort Express."

so. airTunes is fine for me.

oh, Eric - I am sorry. I did not notice that you are talking in this thread. ..

Turns out the music bridge is compatible with WPA encryption as well as WEP. It's worked great for me so far using my laptop, running foobar2k, as the server.

Here's a more detailed review

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Linksys_WMB54...-2.html?tag=nav

hmmm.. I've just read that you'll have to stick to a windows-pc to run this.. I decided to buy a macbook in the near future so this thing is not an option anymore at least for me. what about the airport-external-wireless-soundcard stuff, eric? at least I can run airtunes with osx and xp..

A review of music streaming devices by AVReview.co.uk

I own and love the winner

Squeezebox of course

Link? Or is this just FUD.
The Airport express is supposed to carry the data in lossless format (ALAC). If you connect analog equipment to it --like speakers--, there is no escaping a Digital -> Analog conversion. But that is OK.

It's just FUD. The Airport Express things do indeed use ALAC as the network transport. It does convert to analog on the output, but that's sorta the whole point.

However, you can only use them with iTunes at present, which is a possible downside.

no, you can use them with eric milles "Remote Speakers Output Plug-In" to "Stream audio from Winamp or MediaMonkey to an AirPort Express". see here

I just got one of these

http://shop.coconuts.com/product.aspx?sku=90121506&loc=41159

and it works great. I didn't install the included software, just plugged the transmitter in and it was recognized as a USB sound device. Told fb2k to write to it, plugged the receiver into my stereo, and I was off to the races. I'm listening to it right now, and have been playing it all week... no noise or signal drops, just good clean sound!

that would clearly be the cheapest solution. how is the sound quality.. what does it mean "crystal clear digital sound"?

edit: damn - I just saw that there is no software for mac os - does this mean I cannot run those? and... i will have to plug it into a usb port.. not too cool for a laptop.

> that would clearly be the cheapest solution. how is the sound quality.. what does it mean "crystal clear digital > sound"?

It sounds fine to me. I don't know what the advertising phrase means, but think they actually transmit data, and d/a it at the receiver.

> edit: damn - I just saw that there is no software for mac os - does this mean I cannot run those? and...
> i will have to plug it into a usb port.. not too cool for a laptop.

There's no way around the USB - it's a USB device. Don't all laptops have USB ports? Somebody else with a Mac asked me about this and Google indicates that if the Mac (or Linux box or whatever) "fully supports USB audio" the device should work. You don't need to use the included software, even though I have a Windows box I didn't bother to install it.

yes, there is an usb-port but that device is not in the form of a stick, is it? think it is rather shaped like a reciever of wireless-mouse signals or so e.g. it hangs on a cable....

thank you for that information - the mac should be able to support usb-sound devices!

This thread is exactly what I'm looking for.

Here's what I don't need - a wireless device that finds all of my audio files and then is able to stream them on it's own. I can see why some would love that if they have converted their whole cd library to a hard drive and that's all they listen to. I am in the middle of converting - but I listen to streaming audio far much more than my ripped music. Yahoo Music Unlimited and various streaming audio make up 80% of my listening.

I don't want a device to take over what I now do on my laptop - I still want to use my laptop to find and play my music. I might use iTunes, WinAmp, MediaPlayer, RealPlayer... I just want the audio that I play through my laptop to route to my speakers wirelessly - so that I don't have to plug a cable between my amplifier and my laptop's audio out mini-jack.

Based on my needs, it doesn't look like most of the great devices listed above in this post can do that simple task - but are rather all trying to take the player function away from my laptop and do that themselves. It looks like my options are:

WI-FI OPTIONS:

3) RCA RD900W Lyra Wireless Transmitter/ Receiver could also work, but it requires me to plug a transmitter into my laptop. Not the end of the world, but not as slick as using my built in wi-fi or bluetooth like the others do. For $36, thought, it's worth considering. VERDICT: Thumbs down b/c of additional device to plug in.

2) Linksys WMB54G Wireless-G Music Bridge From what I read, it sounds like the Linksys works but has some glitches [Linksys Review]. VERDICT - Thumbs Down b/c of difficulty in setting up and that the software can easily crash your system if you don't follow the 'turn-off' procedures.

1) Sondigo's Sirocco Wireless Audio Bridge sounds solid - sounds like a winner. PC World Review Only two places I can find to buy it, however, are direct from Sondigo or from Cyberguys.com (who does have a generous 90-day money back 100% satisfaction guarantee). $139 VERDICT - I think this one is the WINNER!







BLUETOOTH OPTIONS:

Another option is bluetooth. These devices can work well but there are drawbacks: range is limited to around 30 feet and bandwidth is low, which results in the device needing to use some form of lossy coding.


3) BenQ Bluetooth Speaker looks pretty slick.

2) Blue Tango A2DP Stereo Amplifier.

1) Saitek iFreedom Bluetooth Speakers

Here's my personal review of the Saitek A-250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System.

This is an AWESOME little device.

Let me start with the pros:

1) EASY: Incredibly easy setup (literally press one button - never believed it, but it's true. Plug in the usb transmitter, press the blue button & voila.)

2) GOOD SOUND: For a small set of speakers, these things sound great. They are not going to compare to speakers hooked up to your rack stereo system, but sound very good and comparable to a $45 two-speaker set of monitor-side speakers. There's a built in sub-woofer that helps as well.

3) WIRELESS RANGE: With 4 AA batteries, you can carry this little guy around your whole house - and outside your house. Reception is great. I am used to bluetooth headsets that don't really work much further than 10 feet from the phone - I had doubts about bluetooth speakers, but I am amazed with reception these guys have.

4) CONTROLS: the Forward, Reverse & Pause buttons on the speaker work fine with both Media Player or Yahoo Music Engine running on the laptop(the only two I tried). Again, I was surprised, but they worked falwlessly.

5) COOL: As far as cool factor, this little guy is definitley that.

Cons:

1) NO REMOTE: It would be nice if there was a remote control for the unit that would allow you to control the sound, FF, RW, Pause, Play controls.

2) NO CONTROL FROM PC: You can't control the sound (or mute) from the laptop - only from the speakers.

3) SOUND: Above I said the sound was good - and it is considering the size of this sytem. However, these are small speakers and a mini-sub and the sound is thus somewhat small too. It's good, but it's not going to compare to a quality set of speakers hooked up to your rack stero system. There is base but not a great deal - you definitley won't feel the music with these speakers.

4) VOLUME: Volume is limited - it's enough to fill a mid-sized room, but not much more.

For $100, this is an outstanding little speaker system that does an amazing job with NO WIRES. Carry it to your kids' room. To the garage. To the basement. No wires, nothing.

If convenience is and portability is important to you, and if medium sound quality is ok, then I would HIGHLY recommend this speaker system. It's great.

Personally, I'm not sure if I'm going to keep them because I would really like fuller sound (this was an attempt at easy speakers for my living room) and more base - but they're so cool and convenient, that I doubt I'll be able to give them up!

The inexpensive (though not as cheap as it was when they were dumping them a month ago) RCA device I mentioned above I got from Coconuts just acts as a USB sound card, which broadcasts to a reciever.

Thanks for the info. I updated my post and will consider it. The price is good, the fact that I have to plug something into my laptop to get it to work (and that something is fairly large) is a drawback.

Sounds like you've been pretty happy with it, though, so that's an big factor.

the sondigo device looks really good. is it supported by osx? I need a device which is supported by as many operating systems as possible.

I just use a modded Xbox with XBMC on there. Maybe not be everyones solution but saved me from buying something. Downside is that a TV might have to be on to see what your doing (Or you can use a PSP). Xbox accesses my music collection though a SAMBA share.

If you have bluetooth built-in that is compatible with the right class of audio devices, then something like this may be cool: http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/multimedi...undcard/btango/
If you don't have that, it still works, but you'd be plugging in some cumbersome usb dongle...

edit: also note that the range is rather limited, and it uses some form of lossy coding (it must, since bluetooth bandwidth would not be able to support lossless I think)

Here is another idea:

1) Control4 Wi-Fi Speaker Point-802.11g

The Control4® Speaker Point™ makes delivering remote audio throughout the home easy and cost effective. This truly easy-to-use device with its integrated 50 watt digital amplifi er instantly and seamlessly delivers music to any room from any connected music source in the house. Its small design and wireless capability allows Speaker Point units to be discreetly located throughout the house. And its simple installation and confi guration makes setting up and using the Speaker Point a breeze.

the control4-website is ridiculous. no information about internals, about software (OS) requirements. no price.

Hi.

So I've a question: what about an A/V wireless setup with 5.1 wireless sound?
Do you know any?

Thanks for your answers.