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[Listener]

Audioengine makes the A2 and A5 powered speakers.  I have the A5s in my home office and love 'em.

Their new AW1 is a set of 2 USB dongles with wireless communications between them.  One transmits audio over the wireless link and the other receives it.  The transmitter plugs in to a USB port and looks like a USB audio device to a PC or Mac. The receiver outputs audio to an analog mini-jack.  It doesn't use your WiFi network. No special s/w required.  Cost is $ 150 US for a set of 2 dongles.  It looks very interesting for hooking up audio in my living room and dining room.

I'm reciting what I've read on the net.  Does anyone here have any actual experience with this product?

Bill

[JONCAT]

There's no software to install?

Does this hijack and disable audio on the host?

I'm not a big Apple fan, but the A. Express is cheaper and you can sync audio to multiple speakers of your choice (i.e. different brands) using wi-fi (is the audioengine a bluetooth device?) using MC12 (if you also use 3rd party app Airfoil otherwise you have to use iTunes).

The speakers look great, but I see some disadvantages to the purported "advantages".

DC

[Listener]

There's no software to install?

Several of the articles and reviews say that it appears as an additional audio device.  The standard USB audio drivers in Windows and Mac OSX recognize it and provide support.

Does this hijack and disable audio on the host?

Based on the descriptions I've seen, it appears as an additional device rather than just hijacking Waveout or DirectSound output.

I'm not a big Apple fan, but the A. Express is cheaper and you can sync audio to multiple speakers of your choice (i.e. different brands) using wi-fi (is the audioengine a bluetooth device?) using MC12 (if you also use 3rd party app Airfoil otherwise you have to use iTunes).

The Airfoil s/w does hijack audio output rather than appearing as an additional output.  That doesn't fit well with multi-zone output from MC 12.  I've read some reports of stalls, pops and glitches using Airfoil.

Do you mean that Airfoil can communicate to 3rd party devices?  There have been one or two devices (Roku Soundbridge for one) that could communicate with iTunes (or Airfoil.)  However, the communication is encrypted to protect DRM audio streams with an initial setup using private/public keys.  Somebody has to do some work to make a device capable of talking in that protocol.

Does the AW1 use Bluetooth? No. The AW1 uses a private wireless protocol for audio.

The speakers look great, but I see some disadvantages to the purported "advantages".

Did you read any technical descriptions of the AW1 (or the Airport Express?) It sounds as though you have jumped to conclusions based on pure conjecture.

Bill

[JONCAT]

"Pure" conjecture?...just offering my experience with Airfoil which is stable. That said, zones work well. I'm under the weather so sorry that I didn't dig a bit on the site. The Wi-Fi is nice instead of Bluetooth. If you pick it up, let us know how it works with MC. Are you looking to sync zones with MC or just have another zone btw?

best,
DC

[Listener]

Until I found the AW1 reviews, I was resigned to using either an Airport Express+Airfoil or a long optical cable and a cheap DAC.

Here's a link to the Audioengine product page:

http://audioengineusa.com/store/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=82&osCsid=ab5dd5a24d334f2b1ea2c8a07dc97d9c


By the way, Amazon wants $ 220 for the new version of the Airport Express.

> If you pick it up, let us know how it works with MC.

I probably will get one after I return from a 6-8 week cross-country trip.  Right now, I'm trying to collect all the info I can before taking the plunge.

> Are you looking to sync zones with MC or just have another zone btw?

Just another zone. I've already got a solution for my home office and my main listening room.   I would use the AW1 for audio in a third room -  Audio quality is not critical in the third room but ease of use is.

At present I don't care about syncing.  It would probably never be a big deal for me..

Bill

[Frobozz]

The June 2008 issue of AffordableAudio has a review of the Audioengine AW-1 wireless doodad.

[adamsp70]

Would i be right in saying one of the big differences between the two is that Airfoil allows a number of Airport Expresses to be plugged in around the house and all receive the same audio, whereas Audioengine would only allow one room/connection?

[Listener]

Would i be right in saying one of the big differences between the two is that Airfoil allows a number of Airport Expresses to be plugged in around the house and all receive the same audio, whereas Audioengine would only allow one room/connection?

One AW1 review mentioned the possibility of using more than one receiver.  I asked about AW1 support about that and received a non-answer.

I think the biggest difference is that to redirect audio (from anything but iTunes) to an Airport Express, you need the Airfoil s/w. There is a recent thread in another forum about performance problems sending MC output to an Airport Express.  That is typical of ad-hoc lashups. 

The AW1 offered the promise of simplicity and no hassles.  According to the reviews, I could plug the sender into a USB port and it would appear as an additional audio device.

I was all set to buy the AW1 when I got back from a long trip.  However, the Audioengine website does not provide much detail about how the AW1 works.  In particular, it doesn't state that when the AW1 sender is plugged into a USB port, the AW1 will appear as a USB audio device.  As a precaution, I emailed a few questions to Audioengine's support email address.  The answer I got back was not helpful.  The person responding did not understand my questions and didn't seem to know much about computer audio outside iTunes.  I asked some clarifying questions and have received no answer.

I may yet order the AW1 but with considerable concern. My previous high opinion of the company as a class act is long gone.  I have no respect for a company that can't be bothered to describe their product adequately and appears not to understand it.

Bill


 

[bradyb]

Here is Bill's email to Audioengine customer support.  There is always room for improvement, but I think Logan did a fine job of explaining what the AW1 is and isn't.  Meanwhile, we're working on adding more info to the website and the reviews and online setup guide (and simple return policy) should make up for info that's missing.  Bottom line is that AW1 isn't a networked audio product, but is a simple wireless adapter to replace any line-level audio cable - which also includes a USB DAC in the transmitter.

Regards,
Brady
Audioengine

*******
Logan,

Thanks for the prompt reply.  I've read everything I could find about the AW1 and thought that it would meet some of my needs.  Before giving up, I'd like to ask some further questions.

> 1) The AW1 will take over as your soundcard, therefor you cannot select multiple outputs on iTunes.

I don't use iTunes.  I use JRiver Media Center as my player.  It allows me to pick from a list of audio output devices.  It also provides the capability to play the same or different music on more than one audio output device.  It uses a Windows (Waveout or MME) interface to get a list of audio devices.  It can also use the DirectSound and ASIO interfaces to enumerate devices.

Some players simply send output to the default audio device.  Other players allow the user to specify which device to use.  That was the context for my question.

> The AW1 will take over as your soundcard

Do you mean that it is the default audio output device?  Are existing devices still usable?

> 2) The AW1 is plug-and-play, and there are no know issues working with audio drivers or other PC or Mac software.

This answer seems at odds with your answer to question 1.

Perhaps a couple of questions will clarify things for me:

1. If I plug the sending unit into my Windows PC, does it appear as a normal USB audio output device?  Do the existing audio output devices still appear?

2. Do you provide any software that is loaded into a Windows PC?  As I said in my first email, some wireless audio adapters include a console program that can redirect all audio output to the wireless adapter.  If your product relies on such redirection, it is useless to me.

> 3)  The AW1 will allow you to "hop" between multiple receivers, but will not transmit to multiple receivers simultaneously.  At this time we do not have plans to offer the sender and receiver units separately.

I just don't understand this at all.  I don't understand what you mean by "hop" and I don't understand what a customer would buy.  Do you expect the customer to buy two sets of sender and receiver and not use the second sender?  Or can two senders be active.  An AW1 review contained a mention of some multi-received capability.  That was the reason for my question.  I'll just forget about it.

> 4) We are currently working on diagrams and a technical whitepaper, which will be added to the website soon.

The sooner the better.

> You can register for our newsletter here: http://www.audioengineusa.com/store/

I did, thanks.

William H

[Listener]

> Here is Bill's email to Audioengine customer support.  There is always room for improvement,
> but I think Logan did a fine job of explaining what the AW1 is and isn't.

The email you cited was my second one to Audioengine. In it, I asked some further questions based on Logan's answers. Neither Logan nor you nor anyone else from Audioengine ever replied to my second email and answered those questions.  I called and left a phone message giving my name and asking that you answer my second email.  No answer.  Your post on this forum seems to be merely a PR gesture rather than any attempt to provide information.

The question about using multiple outputs was critical to my application for the AW1.  There are several devices that function by re-directing all audio output to the wireless device.  The Rogue Amoeba Airfoil s/w does this on the PC.  A device that relied on that re-direction rather than appeared as an additional audio device would not be useful to my application. You will note that in an earlier post in this thread, "Doctor Cilantro" assumed that the AW1 worked in the same way as the Airfoil s/w.  Logan dismissed my question by citing a limitation using iTunes.  There is more to the audio world than iTunes. 

from Logan's reply to my first email:

" 1) The AW1 will take over as your soundcard, therefor you cannot select multiple outputs on iTunes."

What does take over mean?  This answer was not clear and certainly was not consistent with the answer to another question.  I think that I was not being unreasonable to ask for clarification.

> but is a simple wireless adapter to replace any line-level audio cable - which also includes a USB DAC in the transmitter.

If Logan had simply said that the AW1 includes a USB DAC, I would have considered that to be useful information.  If he had said that other audio devices remain usable, that would have been useful information.

I note that the AW1 infor page now says that the sender contains a USB DAC but offers little more detail.  The setup guide provides little detail for a Windows application.  You need to do better.

---
I signed up for the newsletter after getting Logan's reply.  I have not received anything yet.

Bill

---- Logan's reply to my first email
Hi Bill,
To answer your questions:

1) The AW1 will take over as your soundcard, therefor you cannot select multiple outputs on itunes.

2) The AW1 is plug-and-play, and there are no know issues working with audio drivers or other PC or Mac software.

3)  The AW1 will allow you to "hop" between multiple receivers, but will not transmit to multiple receivers simultaneously.  At this time we do not have plans to offer the sender and receiver units separately.

4) We are currently working on diagrams and a technical whitepaper, which will be added to the website soon.  You can register for our newsletter here:
http://www.audioengineusa.com/store/

Thank you so much for your questions!  Enjoy!

Regards,
Logan




On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 10:21 PM, Bill ... wrote:

    I'm a happy owner of Audioengine 5 speakers which I use in my home office.  I think the Aw1 wireless adapters will be useful to me as well.

    My context

    I want to use a single PC to play music in several rooms.  I already have a PCI soundcard which I use to play music on my main stereo system.  I want to connect the AW1 sender through a usb port and have the AW1 appear as an additional audio output device on the same PC.  My music player software supports multiple playback zones using all installed audio devices so I want to be able to  play music though either device (or both.)

    My questions

    1. When I plug the AW1 sender into a USB port, does it appear as an additional device or does it re-route audio that should go to the default audio output device?  (Rogue Aboeba's Airfoil software redirects all audio to the Apple Airport Express and have it own control panel.  I don't want that.  I want to be able to select the playback zones in my player software.)

    2. Does the AW1 audio device play nice with the drivers for other installed audio devices?

    3. I may want to use the AW1 to send audio from one sender to more than one receiver.  Some of the reviews suggest that that might be possible.  Is that possible now?

    4. If so, what do I buy to get the second receiver?

    5. Any plans to add some more information or documentation on the AW1 to your web site?

    William Hunt