Several Recommendations To Help Choose A Wireless Surround Sound Product
A growing number of wireless surround sound transmitter products promise the ultimate freedom in streaming audio all over the house. We will take a look at the most common technologies for wireless audio and give some guidelines for picking the best wireless audio product.
Infrared products broadcast the audio as lightwaves. Light cannot penetrate walls. For that reason devices using infrared, such as wireless surround sound kits, are restricted to a single room.
Infrared wireless audio devices are restricted to line-of-sight applications, i.e. only function within a single room since the signal is sent as infrared light which cannot go through walls. This technology is frequently found in wireless speaker kit products. RF wireless products will send the signal as RF waves. These waves can easily go through walls. RF wireless audio devices either make use of FM transmission or digital audio transmission. The least expensive choice is FM transmission. Products using FM transmission, however, have a series of drawbacks. These include degradation of the audio quality due to static or hiss and audio distortion. In addition, FM transmitter products are also quite prone to interference from other wireless transmitters.
WLAN products are convenient for broadcasting audio from a PC. However, wireless LAN was never designed for real-time audio streaming. As a consequence, products utilizing WLAN will introduce some amount of delay to the signal. WLAN receivers frequently do not have built-in network access. As a result, such devices often require purchasing separate LAN cards. These cards are then plugged into every receiver.
Wireless LAN (WLAN) products are useful when streaming from a PC but will add some amount of latency or delay to the signal because wireless LAN was not originally designed for real-time audio streaming. Also, some products require to buy separate wireless LAN modules that are plugged into every audio receiver.
Powerline devices use the power mains to distribute music and offer large range but run into problems if there are individual mains circuits in the house in terms of crossing between circuits. Also, these products build in a delay of a number of seconds to safeguard against transmission errors during power surges and spikes which prevents their use in applications where the audio from wireless speakers has to be in sync with other non-wireless speakers or video.
Here are some guidelines for choosing a wireless audio system: If you plan to stream audio into numerous rooms of your home, be sure to select a system that permits streaming to several receivers at the same time. That way you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for each receiver that you are streaming to. Choosing a product with some type of error correction will help mitigate against strong RF interference. Such interference can be caused by other wireless transmitters. Digital RF audio transmitters will be able to maintain the original audio quality. If you have time-critical applications where sync of the audio is crucial then you should get a transmitter with a low audio latency. An audio latency of smaller than 10 ms would be suitable for most scenarios.
For high amplifier power efficiency and greatest sound quality, verify that the amplified receiver has a built-in low-distortion digital amplifier. Make sure the receivers can drive speakers with your preferred Ohm rating. Picking a product where the wireless receivers have a small footprint and easy mounting options will help during the set up. Products which operate in the 5.8 GHz frequency band will have less problems with wireless interference than products utilizing the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
A growing number of wireless surround sound transmitter products promise the ultimate freedom in streaming audio all over the house. We will take a look at the most common technologies for wireless audio and give some guidelines for picking the best wireless audio product.
Infrared products broadcast the audio as lightwaves. Light cannot penetrate walls. For that reason devices using infrared, such as wireless surround sound kits, are restricted to a single room.
Infrared wireless audio devices are restricted to line-of-sight applications, i.e. only function within a single room since the signal is sent as infrared light which cannot go through walls. This technology is frequently found in wireless speaker kit products. RF wireless products will send the signal as RF waves. These waves can easily go through walls. RF wireless audio devices either make use of FM transmission or digital audio transmission. The least expensive choice is FM transmission. Products using FM transmission, however, have a series of drawbacks. These include degradation of the audio quality due to static or hiss and audio distortion. In addition, FM transmitter products are also quite prone to interference from other wireless transmitters.
WLAN products are convenient for broadcasting audio from a PC. However, wireless LAN was never designed for real-time audio streaming. As a consequence, products utilizing WLAN will introduce some amount of delay to the signal. WLAN receivers frequently do not have built-in network access. As a result, such devices often require purchasing separate LAN cards. These cards are then plugged into every receiver.
Wireless LAN (WLAN) products are useful when streaming from a PC but will add some amount of latency or delay to the signal because wireless LAN was not originally designed for real-time audio streaming. Also, some products require to buy separate wireless LAN modules that are plugged into every audio receiver.
Powerline devices use the power mains to distribute music and offer large range but run into problems if there are individual mains circuits in the house in terms of crossing between circuits. Also, these products build in a delay of a number of seconds to safeguard against transmission errors during power surges and spikes which prevents their use in applications where the audio from wireless speakers has to be in sync with other non-wireless speakers or video.
Here are some guidelines for choosing a wireless audio system: If you plan to stream audio into numerous rooms of your home, be sure to select a system that permits streaming to several receivers at the same time. That way you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for each receiver that you are streaming to. Choosing a product with some type of error correction will help mitigate against strong RF interference. Such interference can be caused by other wireless transmitters. Digital RF audio transmitters will be able to maintain the original audio quality. If you have time-critical applications where sync of the audio is crucial then you should get a transmitter with a low audio latency. An audio latency of smaller than 10 ms would be suitable for most scenarios.
For high amplifier power efficiency and greatest sound quality, verify that the amplified receiver has a built-in low-distortion digital amplifier. Make sure the receivers can drive speakers with your preferred Ohm rating. Picking a product where the wireless receivers have a small footprint and easy mounting options will help during the set up. Products which operate in the 5.8 GHz frequency band will have less problems with wireless interference than products utilizing the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
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