Tote Your Tunes to Any Room With a Portable Wi-Fi Sound System
Free your home's music setup from wires with Wi-Fi speakers that let you take high-quality audio anywhere
Sixty years ago, the marketing term "hi-fi" was used to sell big stereo systems that played 33 1/3 rpm vinyl records and FM radio, rather than the lower-quality 78 rpm records and AM radio. Today few people still listen to records at home, and even traditional radio is being replaced by digital music files downloaded from Internet sources.
Music lovers buy tracks or albums from Apple's iTunes and its equivalents, including Google Play and Amazon MP3. Another increasingly popular option is streaming music sites, like Pandora and Spotify. These basic options for finding music are just a few of the hundreds available across the Internet. And the options for listening are growing, too.
Music lovers buy tracks or albums from Apple's iTunes and its equivalents, including Google Play and Amazon MP3. Another increasingly popular option is streaming music sites, like Pandora and Spotify. These basic options for finding music are just a few of the hundreds available across the Internet. And the options for listening are growing, too.
Sony SA-NS510 Wireless Speakers
The Sony SA-NS510 is noteworthy for its traffic-cone-like form and the fact that it runs on rechargeable batteries for about five hours. It has a handle for easy portability. It has no front or back and blasts music 360 degrees around it — perfect for an outdoor party or picnic. Like the other systems in this ideabook, it streams music over Wi-Fi from your phone or tablet — in this case, either an iOS or Android device via a dedicated mobile app. It also supports Apple's AirPlay technology, streaming music from any Apple phone, tablet or computer directly to the speaker system over the air.
Bowers & Wilkins A7 Speaker System
The Bowers & Wilkins A7 has a 6-inch Kevlar-reinforced subwoofer, a Nautilus tube aluminum tweeter, a 3-inch midrange speaker and five dedicated audiophile class-D amplifiers. Reviewers praise the A7's sound, even at low volumes. In addition to streaming via Apple AirPlay, you can also choose to connect over regular Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable.
Philips Fidelio Wireless Hi-Fi Speakers
Reviewers have lauded the Philips Fidelio Wireless Hi-Fi as a great-looking and great sounding wireless sound system. Controlled from either Apple's iOS or the Android mobile app Philips AirStudio, the Fidelio approaches the convenience of just playing music through earbuds, but with great speaker sound.
There is no dedicated remote control unit. However, the speakers do have five buttons that function like car-radio presets. You choose an Internet radio station for each one, and that lets you turn on the speakers and play a station without using the app on a phone or tablet.
There is no dedicated remote control unit. However, the speakers do have five buttons that function like car-radio presets. You choose an Internet radio station for each one, and that lets you turn on the speakers and play a station without using the app on a phone or tablet.
These and many other sound solutions can bring your home's sound system from the age of wires into the more flexible, interactive and portable age of Wi-Fi hi-fi.
In the hi-fi era, speakers had to be physically connected by wires to a central receiver, which served as an amplifier — a box capable of receiving over-the-air radio and input from a record or tape player — and also a control panel, on which the user could switch inputs, change the volume and pick the music.
Now most of this is done in an app. However, if you want booming, high-quality home audio, you still need amplified speakers. But you don't need a receiver. And you definitely don't need to transmit music over wires. You want Wi-Fi hi-fi. Great sound, no wires.
One of the greatest things about Wi-Fi hi-fi is its portability. You can just pick it up and take it to another room, the backyard — or another house.