Should I buy a wired or wireless speaker?
Apr 29, 2010 at 6:46 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 11

salsala

New Head-Fier
Joined
Dec 16, 2008
Posts
26
Likes
0
Hi all,

I have been toying with the idea of getting a new speaker for my home. As my room is real tiny, i am thinking of a simple 2.1 (or 2) speaker system that is wireless so that I can stream music from my laptop to the speakers without the need of me being at my desk. Recently I have been seeing a number of wireless speakers being made available. While it sound interesting what i am concerned about most is the audio quality. I have asked around and in general, the comments are pretty negative for wireless speakers! But i have seen some good reviews on the Logitech Z-5450 (too big - 5.1) and the new creative wireless speakers Creative ships ZiiSound D5 Bluetooth speaker | Crave - CNET I know creative make pretty decent speakers and mp3 players but would their wireless speakers sound as good? And I have no idea what apt-x is. Is it something like the x-fi which is used in their sound cards and mp3 players? Any experience with wireless speakers here are greatly appreciated!
 
Apr 30, 2010 at 9:54 AM Post #4 of 11
make sure you think about the latency involved.

for surround speakers.. you dont want them to be 'late' because that will throw off your THX 'room reverb' calibration.
(meaning the time alignment will/may suffer)

for stereo speakers.. you dont want the left speaker to be 'late' when compared to the right speaker because that will cause a fatiguing affect since the soundwaves are 'doubled' and when you try to perceive them as 'enlongated' or 'stretched' the fatigue will happen.

if both left and right speakers are connected to a 'base station' that keeps the left and right speakers playing in perfect sync.. i can understand your desire for such a wireless contraption.

and yet again,
you might be suprised at how far you can string speaker wire before losses are audible (especially with speaker wire that is intended to be run for long lengths)
usually a wire with some kind of dielectric will help the wire maintain OHM despite length.. which is what the cable company uses to run coax.
 
May 4, 2010 at 4:05 AM Post #7 of 11
Quote:

Originally Posted by salsala /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Hey, thanks for the link, the speaker looks great. However, doesn't bluetooth audio usually suck?


No, just most implementations of Bluetooth Audio suck. A well implemented Bluetooth Stereo Audio profile can be pretty good.
 
May 4, 2010 at 4:54 AM Post #8 of 11
I say go wired as most wireless recievers & amps are of really low quality compared to what even a mediocre soundcard can produce. Most even mediocre soundcards do a credible job of representing the presence of sound at all frequencies audible even if there is some imbalance frequency response wise. The devil is always in the details though & better gear means less loss of detail. Music takes on a realness that defies discription when everything is accurately represented. This is nearly impossible with current wireless systems.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top