Accessory Review – Audioengine AW2 Wireless Adapter For iPod

Although I have friends who swear by their products, the AW2 is the first Audioengine product I have tried and am I glad to have the opportunity to check it out. The AW2 is a device used to wirelessly send music from your iPod to any audio system. It means that, with the wireless AW2’s "music sender" attached to the bottom of my iPod Touch, music can seamlessly stream to a stereo, powered speakers, or boombox in uncompressed CD-quality. There’s no longer any need to attach the iPod Touch physically to another device because the AW2  does it for you.

What’s in the box:

The package arrives with —
A wireless music sender for iPod
A wireless music receiver
A USB AC power adapter
A mini jack to RCA adapter cable
A mini jack (3.5 mm) audio cable
A setup guide

The Hype —

AudioEngine describes the W2 in this way…

Audioengine W2 (AW2) Premium Wireless Adapter for iPod – Send music wirelessly from your iPod to to any music system. AW2 provides CD quality stereo sound with no reduction in audio quality. Unwire your iPod with the Ultimate Wireless Adapter!
Easy Setup: Plug the digital Sender into your iPod and connect the included receiver to your stereo and you’ll have complete control of your music from your iPod. No need to learn how to work a separate remote and the AW2 is super-easy to hook up, with no batteries needed. And since you control everything right from your iPod you’ll never have to lose another remote in the couch or go to a base station to change volume or songs.
Why buy a dock?: Think of the Audioengine W2 as the "dockless dock". With a rock-solid wireless connection that beats Bluetooth, FM, and even other 2.4MHz systems, the AW2 is pre-configured out of the box so there are no buttons to push and no software to configure. Your iPod and all its controls are right there with you and you can also add extra receivers to other audio systems around the house and "hop" between each. The AW2 Receiver is unobtrusive and easily fits on the back of any stereo system so you can finally get rid of that clunky dock.
Hear the Difference: The Audioengine W2 sets a new level of quality and ease-of-use for wireless audio. Even if you’re not an audio enthusiast, we guarantee you will still hear a difference!

The Reality–  

I decided to test the system using the powered speakers that are attached to a 3.5 mm plug to my iMac.

Step 1- I took the wireless music receiver, plugged it into the USB AC power adapter, plugged the power adapter into a power strip and plugged the 3.5 mm jack from the speakers into the wireless music receiver.

Step 2- I walked into another room.

Step 3- I pludded the wireless music sender into the bottom of my iPod Touch. 

Step 4- I started the iPod

Step 4- I was blown away by the quality. 

I really was amazed that all I needed to do was navigate to the music player on the Touch, start up one of my favorite songs and, without hesitation, the music started flowing out of my study.

Because the AW2 uses WiFi rather than Bluetooth or an FM transmitter, the sound quality is excellent and it isn’t limited to the 30 feet or so of Bluetooth. The company advertises the sound as "CD quality". I’m anything but an audiophile, (and likely did a little bit of damage in my younger days listening to loud music over closed headphones) but it sounds absolutely fantastic. In fact, to test the AW2 a little bit more, after listening for a while I plugged the iPod directly into the speaker system to see how that would sound. I didn’t hear any significant difference between the physical connection and a wireless one. Nice! In addition, I listened for quite a while and did not notice any time when the sound was weaker or the connections seemed less stable. This surprised me, since every wireless connection I’ve ever used showed some degree of inconsistency in the signal quality. Not here.

One of the wonderful things about this system, in addition to the excellent sound quality, is the fact that it was one of the easiest setups I have ever seen. It’s really quite foolproof and I went from a sealed box to listening to music streamed over the system in about 3 1/2 minutes.

According to Audioengine, the AW2  works with the iPod classic, the first and second generation iPod touch, the second to fourth generation iPod is. As described above, it worked flawlessly with my iPod touch. But what about the iPhone? In my experience many devices that are said not to work with the iPhone ultimately do work with it. Yes, at times you get that hard "buzz" by the rest of the time it works. I decided to try it and, while I was not surprised to find it gave me the message that the device is not supported, in my use of it I did not hear any of the GSM buzz.

But wait, it gets better. As always finishing up this review my curiosity was piqued. I went and plugged the device back into my iPhone. Once again no buzz at all. I then called my cell phone from our land line. Lo and behold, the music faded out in the phone began to ring. When I hung up the phone and music started again automatically just as I’d hoped it might. While there is no guarantee that it will work with the iPhone under every condition it’s certainly nice to know that this is an option, as well.

There’s no question that the device works as advertised and does so quite well. I’m very impressed with it and can see using it for a long time to come. Recently, we renovated our bedroom and were not planning on putting any sort of wired music system into it. I was rethinking things at first, but now I don’t need to. By putting powered speakers with the receiver unit attached in some inconspicuous location in the room I can now listen to music whenever I want. In addition, while the package only includes one receiver and one sending unit, the sending unit can work with up to eight different receivers and units. That means I can attach a receiving unit to sound systems in various parts of the house and simply move from one to the next.

All of this quality and ease of use doesn’t come inexpensively. The company charges $169 for the package described in this review. That is a bit pricey, but when you consider the quality, ease of use, and flexibility of the system, it suddenly goes from "pricey" to anywhere between "reasonable" and  "good deal".

What I Like:
Simple to set up and use
Terrific sound quality
Incredibly flexible
Expandable

What needs improvement:
Nothing.  I can certainly see someone making the argument that it’s less expensive to buy a wired solution. It is, but that is a wired solution that is limiting on many levels, requires the device to be in one place, and it doesn’t offer any advantage with regard to sound quality.

Overall, this is one product that more than lives up to its description.

The Audioengine AW2 is available directly from the company. You can get it HERE.