Audioengine W3 (AW3) - Premium Wireless Audio Adapter
Audioengine W3 (W3) Premium Wireless Audio Adapter
Audioengine W3 Premium Wireless Audio Adapter - Play all your music wirelessly from your computer or any audio device to powered speakers, stereo receiver, or powered subwoofer. W3 provides CD-quality stereo sound with the ability to broadcast to multiple Receivers with no reduction in audio quality.
Functional Overview
The Audioengine W3 is designed to connect your audio components wirelessly. The W3 handles USB audio up to 16 bits/48KHz with no compression, as well as analog audio via a 3.5mm minijack. Think of the W3 as a wireless 16-bit USB DAC as well as a wireless audio link.
The W3 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 W3, the Receiver, delivers 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 power adapter, or from any other USB charger (such as an iPod charger, for example). Another power source is the Audioengine 5+ powered speakers, which are equipped with a USB power port on the rear panel.
Differences between W3 and W1
The main difference between W3 and the now-retired W1 is that while the W1 can "hop" between multiple receivers, W3 is be able to transmit to up to 3 receivers simultaneously. In addition, the W3 provides greater resistance to interference from other Wi-Fi devices.
Unwire your music
Hear all your music - no dropouts, static, or noise. Some pretty clever engineering means your music remains free from interference from wireless routers, cordless and mobile phones, microwave ovens, Bluetooth and WiFi devices. Wireless that works.
Easy Setup and Simple Operation
Bypass your computer's sound card or headphone jack and send wireless audio to any music system. W3 transmits all music file formats from any computer media player and can simultaneously transmit audio to up to 3 wireless receivers. The 100ft (30m) typical range, low latency, built-in DAC, and resistance to interference and dropouts makes W3 the best-sounding 16-bit wireless system available.
Audioengine W3 General Specifications
Range:100ft (30 meters)
Wireless protocol:802.11
Frequency band:2.4-2.4835GHz
Latency:<20mSec
SNR:91dB
Dimensions:100 x 30 x 10mm (LxWxH)
The Audioengine W3 transmit uncompressed PCM audio in the very-crowded 2.4GHz range, but use a closed protocol specifically designed for audio. The key features that make W3 better than most wireless systems currently on the market are the ease of setup, fixed low latency, audio quality, lack of dropouts, and high interference tolerance.
The system used in the W3 was designed and tested to ensure that interference-free audio quality is preserved while sharing the RF spectrum with other common wireless transmission technologies such as WLAN, Bluetooth, microwave ovens, cordless telephones, and others. The system was tested end-to-end system performance using PEAQ, the latest perceptual quality measurement standard, to ensure the best resulting overall design.
The W3 incorporates a real-time streaming transmission technology designed specifically for music. It includes 6 quality protection innovations to achieve the most robust audio link in its category:
Error-tolerant coding that incorporates forward error correction (FEC) coding. FEC ensures that lost bits can be completely reconstructed for common interferers and sources of bit errors. The coding is optimized for lossless performance against common and known interferers. FEC also enables error detection so the system knows when and where data is corrupted. It is analogous to techniques employed on Redbook CDs where the laser head incurs bit-errors as a result of imperfections in the pickup of data from the optical media.
For larger interferers, W3 employs sample interleaving and sample error concealment (SEC). This allows W3 to compensate gradually during periods of increasing signal degradation, thus minimizing audible discontinuities. When encountering interference bursts -- up to 6ms in duration -- SEC can recover every alternate sample, after which the hardware DSP performs linear interpolation to recover lost samples.
Packet error concealment (PEC) ensures there are no jump discontinuities in the audio stream during periods of severe interference, giving the system time to find a clean channel.
W3 employs intelligent, Dynamic Frequency Selection. The system avoids interference by constantly monitoring the entire 2.4 GHz spectrum, choosing the channel that can achieve the cleanest transmission. As conditions on a currently occupied channel deteriorate, the system detects this, and switches channels (in under 20 ms) without any interruption in the audio stream.
W3 employs dynamic transmit power control. This means that W3 is transmitting with only as much power as required to successfully maintain a clear audio connection. This makes W3 coexist better with other 2.4 GHz devices, including WLAN, BT, and other Audioengine wireless devices.
W3 combats RF fading, or multi-path-induced signal-strength fluctuations, by natively supporting antenna diversity. Support for dual antennas allows the system to "navigate" around zones of decreased signal strength by creating four possible antenna-to-antenna paths for the system to choose from on a continual basis. The end-result is an overall improvement in audio signal robustness due to an improved link margin.
W3 Footprint
The W3 system divides the band between 2405 MHz and 2477 MHz into 37 discrete, 2 MHz wide channels. Channels numbered 2 through 38 inclusive are used for system operation. The system scans the spectrum and selects two channels that are 18 channels (or 36 mHz) apart and transmits with 50% of the time on one channel (for example channel 2) and 50% on the other channel (for example channel 20). The system stays on theses selected channels until the error detection rate reaches a pre-determined level indicating deteriorating RF conditions. The system will select a cleaner channel for transmission and move there without any drop in audio.
WLAN Footprint
Wireless LAN networks are utilized throughout the home and office environment, the bulk operating in the 2.4GHz band. Most WLAN systems divide the spectrum into three channels, operate on a fixed channel and occupy 1/3 of the bandwidth. WLAN routers scan the system will only start transmitting if the spectrum is clear. Therefore systems that aim to share the RF space with WLAN routers need to be able to detect and move away from channels that are used by WLAN routers. In addition, systems with a 100% duty cycle on a WLAN channel will block WLAN permanently. The system used in the W3 was designed to coexist with WLAN and other systems operating in the 2.4GHz environment.
W3 and WLAN
Since the W3 transmits on a channel only 50% of the time, it gives WLAN the opportunity to enter the spectrum. When a new WLAN connection is detected, W3 will select a different channel for transmission. Depending on the signal strength and the channel selection, multiple W3 devices can operate in the vicinity of multiple WLAN networks.
