Diwali 2016: Make your audio experience wire-free this Diwali

By Nikhil Rastogi /  28 Oct 2016 , 14:54

Diwali brings with it one important task: cleaning up your house. A major concern bothering a lot of my friends this year was managing the wires associated with their audio setups. While desktop PC is still something that is dear to my friends, there is definitely scope for making audio setups wireless at least. We got down to researching on it. We explore and find the best ways that you can continue listening to your tunes easily without interruption.

Have you tried Bluetooth speakers?
The first and most obvious answer is to get decent Bluetooth speakers that you can carry to any room for listening to your tunes. They are small, unintrusive and can be taken on trips too. Bluetooth speakers are best for lightly listening to your music in the background but certainly lack the oomph in sound if you really want to enjoy your music.

For the best Bluetooth speaker choices, do check out our Bluetooth speaker guide under Rs 10,000.

Make any speaker Wireless (Via Bluetooth)
If you’ve an excellent home speaker system but without wireless capability, perhaps Logitech’s Bluetooth Audio Adapter is what you need. This little device is really small, has a range of 50 feet, is simple with one button to sync with your phone/tablet/laptop to play audio. The device connects to regular speakers with 3.5mm or RCA jack and this little wonder can save you thousands of rupees as wireless amplifiers/home speaker systems cost a lot more. Logitech’s little receiver costs less than Rs 2,000.

Get Better Wireless experience on any speaker (Via Wi-Fi)

Bluetooth is the most basic wireless functionality you can get. But, it has limitations, such as poorer/compressed audio quality (than wired or Wi-Fi), limited range, and of course typical Bluetooth headaches of steady connectivity. If you want to alleviate these problems, Wi-Fi is the way to go. Here you’ll have to ensure that you have good Wi-Fi running in the house perhaps with extenders or boosters for rooms where Wi-Fi is weak.

Google Chromecast Audio
This little hockey puck-shaped device set to resemble a miniature record is from Google called Chromecast Audio that is similar to their video version but does only audio with RCA, 3.5mm and Optical connections.

So why use this over Bluetooth functionality?
Several reasons!

Chromecast has Wi-Fi inbuilt and connects through your home’s Wi-Fi network easily. So your phone connects through Wi-Fi to Chromecast audio and acts only like a remote. Chromecast audio, on the other hand, does the actual downloading and transmitting of audio, only on apps that support Chromecast of course. Here’s the ever growing list of supported apps by Google Chromecast.

This not only saves battery life but also you’d get a lot more bandwidth than

traditional Bluetooth when playing audio, so audio drops in sound quality are a thing of the past and the range would extend to where your Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi extender are capable of reaching. Plus if you get another Chromecast audio device, you can play the same music in many rooms at once for true Multi-room support.

Unsupported apps can mirror every sound coming through your phone too if you want. Though there is a delay in the sound as it has to travel from the phone to Chromecast to the speaker. But for music it works well, videos will have 1-second syncing issues no doubt.

The best part is that Chromecast apps work well with Android and iOS too. All this goodness only for Rs 3,300. However, your costs can go up if you want multi-room support (several Chromecast audio devices required) but still not as expensive as other off the shelf solutions.

Apple’s Way

We, of course, have Apple with AppleTV that can powerfully send not only music but movies, shows and apps (including gaming) for a full-blown entertainment experience. Getting this just for music would be horrendous under use of Apple TV. This is a full blown device for consuming video and audio content with hardware comparable to Apple’s very own iPhone 6.

It is an excellent option for streaming content with one single big caveat, it is, of course, everything is Apple based. Everything from music to movies and of course games is all App Store and iTunes-based. In terms of speakers, Airplay specific speakers are also available from popular brands such as JBL for Rs 50,000 upwards for their Authentics line.

If you are an ardent Apple user with an iPhone and music on iTunes, Music, this is the way to go for you especially for future functionality as streaming music is almost always the gateway to streaming videos, shows, movies, etc. If you have purchases made on Amazon or Google stores, you can almost say goodbye to accessing those libraries.

This device has HDMI, Wi‑Fi, Ethernet, IR receiver, USB‑C for service and support, built‑in power supply, Bluetooth remote and IR transmitter. All this will set you back Rs 13,500 for 32GB or Rs 17,900 for the 64GB version. We certainly wouldn’t recommend this path if all you want is wireless music functionality, whether Apple user or not.

All Integrated Solution
If you are looking for a sleek, elegant and hi-end wireless audio solution that is “just play it and forget it”, Sonos is what you truly need. Sonos make wireless audio products such speakers, amp connects and the like.

Sonos speaker systems connect wirelessly to any computer, phone, or tablet to play music just about anywhere, in every room. It can play music direct from music streaming services on the internet, such as Google Play Music, Spotify, Apple Music and more. The entire experience can be controlled easily via their Android/iOS app or Windows/Mac software.

Sonos uses your existing Wi-Fi setup securely called SonosNet which connects with computers, laptops, phones, tablets including Windows, Mac and Android and iOS. If you don’t have Wi-Fi, then Sonos can hook up directly through the Ethernet ports that are available on any of its speakers.

Sonos and its Wi-Fi solutions will work as far as you use their own Sonos speakers or their Sonos CONNECT:AMP which can turn your stereo or home theatre into a music streaming system. They not only have several portable solutions such as Play: 1,3,5 and a sub for deep bass but also an entire home theatre experience with their wireless home theatre setup.

The only downside is that many of the streaming services that Sonos offers are not officially available in India such as Spotify, Pandora and several other US radio services. However, your own music playlists, it will work beautifully well. Expect this to cost a pretty penny with the cheapest Sonos Play:1 speaker starting at Rs 26, 000.

There you have it, all the solutions available for the common Joe which are pretty much “set it and forget it” solutions for audio. However, geeks can always try the several music streaming apps on Android (that require root access) or software on Windows such as VLC by connecting up their laptop and speakers to stream music wherever they like. This is an idea for another story though.

Let us know, if you have tried any of these services/solutions or have better suggestions for wireless audio streaming easily.

Thanks again and have a Happy and safe Diwali.