In shopping for an audio or speaker system, it’s important to consider your wireless options, as well as the various tech specs and features associated with each device. Consider the pros and cons of these wireless platforms and standards when deciding which one is right for you. Audio enthusiasts like AirPlay because it doesn’t degrade sound quality by compressing music files. AirPlay can also stream any audio file, internet radio station, or podcast from apps running on your iPhone or iPad. With compatible equipment, it’s easy to learn how to use AirPlay. AirPlay requires a local Wi-Fi network, which usually limits play to either home or work. Only a few AirPlay speakers, such as the Libratone Zipp, sport a built-in Wi-Fi router so that it can connect anywhere. In most cases, the synchronization in AirPlay isn’t tight enough to allow the use of two AirPlay speakers in a stereo pair. However, you can stream AirPlay from one or more devices to multiple speakers. Use the AirPlay controls on your phone, tablet, or computer to choose the speakers to stream to. This can be perfect for those interested in multi-room audio, where different people can listen to different music at the same time. It’s also great for parties, where the same music can play throughout the entire house from multiple speakers. Bluetooth compatibility comes with countless wireless speakers, headphones, soundbars, and A/V receivers. Any app on your smartphone or tablet will work fine with Bluetooth, and pairing Bluetooth devices is simple. There’s no need to connect to a Wi-Fi network, so Bluetooth can work almost anywhere: on the beach, in a hotel room, a car, or on the handlebars of a bike. However, the range is limited to 30 feet at the most. For audio enthusiasts, the downside of Bluetooth is that it usually reduces audio quality to some degree. This is because it uses data compression to reduce the size of digital audio streams so that they’ll fit into Bluetooth’s bandwidth. The standard codec (code/decode) technology in Bluetooth is called SBC. However, some devices can support other codecs. For those, aptX is the preferred way to avoid Bluetooth audio compression. If both the audio player device and the Bluetooth speaker support a specific codec, material encoded using that codec does not need the extra layer of data compression added. So, if you’re listening to a 128 Kbps MP3 file or audio stream and your destination device accepts MP3, Bluetooth does not have to compress the file. Theoretically, the result is zero loss of audio quality. However, manufacturers explain that in almost every case, incoming audio is transcoded into SBC, aptX, or AAC if the source device and the destination device are aptX or AAC compatible. Is the loss in sound quality noticeable to most people? On a high-quality audio system, yes. On a small wireless speaker, probably not. Bluetooth speakers that offer AAC or aptX audio compression, both of which are considered to outperform standard Bluetooth, will probably deliver somewhat better results. Still, only certain phones and tablets are compatible with these formats. In general, Bluetooth doesn’t allow streaming to multiple audio systems. The one exception is products that can be run in pairs, with one wireless speaker playing the left channel and another playing the right channel. A few of these, such as Bluetooth speakers from Beats and Jawbone, can be run with mono signals to each speaker, so you can put one speaker in the living room and another in an adjacent room. You’re still subject to Bluetooth’s range restrictions, though. Bottom line: If you want a multi-room speaker arrangement, Bluetooth is not ideal. Only some wireless speakers support DLNA, but it’s a common feature on traditional A/V devices like Blu-ray players, TVs, and A/V receivers. DLNA is useful if you want to stream music from your computer on a home theater system, Blu-ray player, or mobile device. Because it’s Wi-Fi-based, DLNA does not work outside the range of your home network. While DLNA does not reduce audio quality, it does not work with internet radio and streaming services. DLNA delivers audio to only one device at a time, so it’s not useful for whole-home audio. The company offers wireless speakers, a soundbar, wireless amplifiers, and a wireless adapter that connects to an existing stereo system. The Sonos app works with Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, Windows and Mac computers, and Apple TV. The Sonos system doesn’t reduce audio quality through compression. It does, however, operate over a Wi-Fi network, so it won’t work outside the range of that network. You can stream the same content to every Sonos speaker in the home or different content to individual speakers. Within the Sonos app, you can access more than 30 streaming services, including Spotify and Pandora, as well as internet radio services like iHeartRadio. Like AirPlay, Play-Fi doesn’t degrade audio quality. It can be used to stream audio from one or more devices to multiple audio systems, so it’s great whether you want to play the same music all through the house or to individual speakers in individual rooms. Play-Fi operates through Wi-Fi, so you can’t use it outside the range of the local network. What’s great about Play-Fi is the ability to mix and match to your heart’s content. As long as the speakers are Play-Fi compatible, they can work with each other, no matter the brand. You can find Play-Fi speakers made by companies such as Definitive Technology, Polk, Wren, Phorus, and Paradigm, to name a few. AllPlay offers access to streaming services such as Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneInRadio, Rhapsody, Napster, and more. It’s controlled via existing streaming services and apps rather than a dedicated app like Sonos. It also allows products from competing manufacturers to be used together, as long as they incorporate AllPlay. AllPlay is a lossless technology that doesn’t degrade audio quality. It supports most major codecs, including MP3, ALAC, ACC, FLAC, and WAV, and can handle audio files with a resolution of up to 24/192. It also supports Bluetooth to Wi-Fi restreaming. This means you can have a mobile device stream via Bluetooth to any AllPlay-enabled speaker, which can forward that stream to all the other AllPlay speakers within range of your Wi-Fi network. It differs from most of the other technologies listed here in that it doesn’t rely on a Wi-Fi network. Instead, you use a WiSA transmitter to send audio to WiSA-enabled speakers and soundbars. WiSA’s technology is designed to allow the transmission of high resolution, uncompressed audio at distances up to 40 meters, and it can achieve synchronization within 1 microsecond. The biggest attraction of WiSA technology is that it allows true 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound from separate speakers. You can find products featuring WiSA from companies like Enclave Audio, Klipsch, and Bang & Olufsen. Right now, AVB capability is included in a few networking products, computers, and in some pro audio products, but it hasn’t broken into the consumer audio market. An interesting side note is that AVB doesn’t necessarily replace existing technologies such as AirPlay, Play-Fi, or Sonos. It can be added to those technologies without much issue. Bluesound gear, offered by the same parent company that produces the respected NAD audio electronics and PSB speaker lines, can stream high-resolution audio files and is built to a higher performance standard than most wireless audio products. It also includes Bluetooth. Samsung includes Bluetooth in its Shape products, which makes it easy to connect any Bluetooth-compatible device without installing an app. Samsung also offers Shape wireless compatibility in a growing number of products, including a Blu-ray player and soundbar.
