Audioengine W1 Wireless Audio Adapter

by Audioengine

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 1.5 x 0.5 inches ; 5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B00149P9YI
• Item model number: AW1
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 18, 2005

Product Description

The Audioengine AW1 is designed to connect your audio components wirelessly. Think of AW1 as a simple replacement for any RCA or 3.5" mini-jack cable to or from your iPod, Audioengine powered speakers, computer, TV, surround-sound receiver, game console, network music player - or any other product where you want to eliminate audio cables.

The AW1 consists of 2 parts, the "Sender" and "Receiver". The Sender transmits audio from your computer through USB audio or from any product with 3.5mm mini-jack or RCA audio outputs. The other side of AW1, the Receiver, connects audio to any product with mini-jack or RCA audio connectors.

Power for the Sender and Receiver is provided from either a USB computer port, from the included USB AC power adapter, or from any other USB AC charger (such as an iPod charger, for example). Another USB power source is the Audioengine A5 powered speakers, which are equipped with a ComboPort(r) USB charger on top of the left speaker.

FEATURES:

• Send wireless audio to any room in your house Easy setup, connects in seconds
• Works with Mac or PC (or without a computer) Plug-n-play, no software to download or install Super-compact size, no batteries required 100 ft (30 m) range with no dropouts or interference
• CD-quality HD stereo sound with no reduction in audio quality
• Plays all music formats from any media player
• Replaces any RCA or mini-jack (3.5mm) cable

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wireless interference, but minimal for me, May 18, 2008

By 

parkdoob (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Audioengine W1 Wireless Audio Adapter (Personal Computers)

I bought these with some trepidation, both because of some reviewers' notes about interference with existing wireless traffic in their home and because of the number of wireless applications I already have set up (and problems I've already had with other things interacting poorly with one another). But as a solution it would be too good to be true if it worked, so I gambled.
Happily, I found only minor interference with my existing setup -- which includes three independant cordless phone lines, wireless LAN/internet, a wireless house alarm system, and a remote control extender (via radio rather than IR). The only impact I've been able to produce is to the wireless LAN. Here are my findings, using what I'd presume is a pretty standard setup: wireless netgear router, hp laptop with builtin wifi card.
First of all, I cannot affect the sound transmission at all. I can't get any noise/hum/pops into the speakers, via any of the wireless applications mentioned above.
But I do lose internet speed rapidly if my laptop is too close to either the transmitter or receiver. I can only reproduce this within about 5 feet of either, so this won't be much of an issue for me, but it can be quite an extreme impact dropping my download speeds from the 8-10 Mbps I'm used to all the way down to 300k or lower when my computer is within 6 inches or so. This is only evident when both transmitter and receiver are active/sync'ed. Strangely it doesn't seem to affect my upload speeds.
NOTE HOWEVER that this easily means using my laptop to stream an internet radio to remote speakers is only possible for lower bitrate stations.
I don't know if others will have the same experience, given the narrow range of impact I see (it could just as easily cause no interference at all for someone, I suspect). But I wanted to share my experience.
For me, nothing about this affects my plans detrimentally. The wireless solution for me is near-perfect.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed!, May 15, 2008

By 

David Bishop (Mequon WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Audioengine W1 Wireless Audio Adapter (Personal Computers)

I've been looking for a product like this for 2 years now. Every since I put all my music on a computer. If you want to send music anywhere in your house or within 100 feet of the sending unit, this is it. Nothing fancy, it just works. As far as interference with a home network. I haven't noticed anything. I have a wireless network at 2.4 GHZ and no problems. The tech support guy said these things auto detect and switch to a different channel. Just get them close to the wireless router long enough to adjust and you're set. 3 year warranty, what else do you need.

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WORKS LIKE A CHARM - GREAT TECH SUPPORT TOO!, July 12, 2009

By 

Gary Marcet "Music Man" (Gorham, ME USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Audioengine W1 Wireless Audio Adapter (Personal Computers)

Before I share my thoughts, I want to emphasize that I'm not only commenting on the product itself, but also on the Amazon partner that sold it and the manufacturer of the product as well.

I placed the order with Amazon. OneCall was the Amazon partner to actually fill the order. The product arrived well in advance of the advertised date. Due to other conflicts in my schedule, it sat on my desk for about 2 weeks before I had a chance to even look at it. Regretfully, when I initially set it up, it did NOT work....I am relatively saavy with respect to computer trouble-shooting and was able to conclusively determine that the sending and receiving units were NOT able to see one another. All of the other aspects of set-up were fine...computer saw the USB sender device, patch cords allowed me to connect the USB receiver device to my 20-year old Sony stereo receiver (red/white RCA inputs).

I initially attempted to contact the manufacturer, AudioEngine, over the July 4th weekend. Duh.....stupid move, of course, on my part. Never-the-less, I also contacted OneCall after the July 4th weekend to explore their return options. For the record, they were more than eager and ready to accommodate my return for credit or a replacement unit. That being the case, I indicated I wanted to give AudioEngine a chance to reply to my contacts to them. The next day, I received an e-mail from AudioEngine support verifying my situation and affirming that I probably did have a defective sender or receiver in the package I received from OnceCall. (Oh well, as the expression goes, S%$# HAPPENS.) AudioEngine, ON THE SPOT, IN THE FIRST E-MAIL to me, indicated that they would be sending a replacement unit.....no questions asked. The replacement unit arrived via FedEx two days later....along with instructions and an RMA# for returning the defective unit directly to AudioEngine.

FOR ALL WHO READ THIS, PLEASE HEAR ME LOUD AND CLEAR, ONECALL AND AUDIO-ENGINE WERE POSITIVELY AWESOME IN THEIR RESPONSE (Just read some other product reviews here on Amazon to realize that this isn't always the case.)

I AM VERY PLEASED TO WRAP UP MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS PRODUCT BY STATING THAT THEAUDIOENGINE W1 PREMIUM WIRELESS AUDIO ADAPTER WORKS LIKE A CHARM.....EXACTLY AS ADVERTISED BY AMAZON, ONECALL, AND AUDIOENGINE. I might add that I live in a home that is about 80 years old and, that being the case, the walls and ceilings are all plaster and steel mesh (not chicken wire or wood) lathe.....all that steel lathe holding the plaster to my walls has given some wireless routers I've tried a run for their money. Not sure why....but absolutely NO ISSUES here with that this time.

Anyway, I must concur with and support the highest praise of the 9 other reviewers of this product. I know individual experiences and situations will always exist, but this unit worked "plug & play" and exceeded what I would have expected based upon my experiences with other "wireless audio" products.

A+++ to Amazon.....OneCall....and AudioEngine for service, support and product! Praise earned....Praise due.....Praise given!

(By the way, I am a professional musician, performer and educator....music is my life and listening to it almost 24/7 is a part of that life.)