Audioengine W3

Features

Overview: The Audioengine W3 is a 16-bit wireless system that 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. The W3 kit includes a Sender (transmitter) and Receiver; the system is designed to deliver an audio signal wirelessly between two components. This system will work in many different applications, including (but not limited to) a computer sending audio to powered speakers, a computer sending audio to a stereo or A/V receiver, an iPod or other portable player sending audio to the Audioengine 5+ powered speakers (the A5 is specifically mentioned here because it has a USB port to power the W3 Receiver), and an A/V receiver sending audio to powered subwoofers or powered speakers.

Note: The W3 is natively compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8 and Mac OSX. There are no drivers or software to install.

Two Part System: 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 a 3.5mm minijack or RCA audio output. The other end of the W3, the Receiver, delivers audio to any product with minijack or RCA audio connectors.

• Sender: The W3 Sender is powered through its USB plug; one USB AC power adapter is included with the system to power either the Sender or Receiver. If not powered by the included adapter, the Sender can be powered by a computer, iPod power supply, or numerous other USB power supplies currently available. The audio input is a 3.5mm stereo minijack. When used with a computer, the Sender acts as a sound card and receives its audio input through the USB port, so no connection to the minijack is necessary.
• Receiver: The W3 Receiver is powered through its USB plug; one USB AC power adapter is included with the system to power either the Sender or Receiver. If not powered by the included adapter, the Receiver can be powered by Audioengine A5 powered speakers, an iPod power supply, or numerous other USB power supplies currently available. The audio output is a 3.5mm stereo minijack; no audio signal is transferred through the USB connection.

Note: If you are wirelessly connecting a powered subwoofer to an AV receiver using the W3, then you will need one stereo minijack-to-RCA cable and one stereo RCA cable (both sold separately) to go along with the included minijack-to-RCA adapter. If you do not use the included minijack-to-RCA adapter, you can use two stereo minijack-to-RCA cables (sold separately).

Pairing: The Sender and Receiver in the W3 kit are linked together at the factory, so no pairing is necessary. Up to 3 Receivers (772W3R, sold separately) may be paired with one Sender,
allowing the Sender to simultaneously broadcast audio to all Receivers, with no degradation of the audio signal.

Note: The newer chip-sets used in the W3 are not backwards compatible with the earlier Audioengine W1 or W2 wireless systems.

Proprietary Wireless Transmission: The W3 wireless kit transmits uncompressed PCM audio (15Hz-22KHz; +/- 1.5db) in the 2.4 GHz range (2.4-2.4835GHz) using a proprietary WiFi 802.11 protocol specifically designed for audio (up to 100'). The system avoids interference by constantly monitoring the entire 2.4 GHz spectrum and choosing the channel that can achieve the cleanest transmission. The system detects deteriorating conditions on the current channel and switches if needed in under 20 ms, without any interruption in the audio stream. The W3 also employs dynamic transmit power control, meaning it transmits with only as much power as required to maintain a clear audio connection. This makes W3 coexist better with other 2.4 GHz devices, including WLAN, Bluetooth, and other Audioengine wireless devices. The W3 incorporates a real-time streaming transmission technology designed specifically for music. It includes six quality protection innovations to achieve a robust wireless audio link.

• 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.

Power Requirements: The Sender and Receiver both require power, which can come from a USB computer port, the included AC power adapter, the optional Audioengine USB Power Adapter, or from any other USB charger (such as an iPod charger). Another power source is the Audioengine 5+ powered speakers (sold separately), which are equipped with a USB power port on the rear panel. If you're using the W3 Wireless Kit for a receiver/subwoofer application, a second USB power supply may be needed.