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Belkin Launches Soundform Connect Audio Adapter to Add AirPlay 2 to Standard Speakers
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My Hi-Fi setup is 100% Rega 😎 I use the apps “Flac box” and “MusicStreamer” on my iPad Pro to play 24bit/96kHz music stored on the iPad or on a network attached HDD, the iPad connects over a Chord USB cable with the Apple USB-C AV Multiport Adapter to my Rega DAC-R which in turn is connected to my Rega Brio-R amplifier that sends the audio out through my Rega RS3 speakers. This Rega setup is a few years old, but I haven’t found anything that has wanted me to change. When I want to stream Apple Music over AirPlay I use a Raspberry 3 that runs Volumio with a HiFiBerry Digi2 Pro that connects to my Rega DAC over a optical cable. I plan to replace the Raspberry with the Belkin device. The new lossles tier in Apple Music is a big thing for me 🥰
And you arent wanting more than CD quality output?
The raspberry doesnt do Airplay 2 itself then? I thought maybe you had the service running somehow.
When I want to listen to high-res lossless I connect my iPad tp my Rega DAC. It supports up to 24-bit/192kHz. With the AV adapter, the iPad sends raw PCM to the DAC.
No, there’s no Airplay 2 support on the Raspberry, that I know of.
The useless USB port that you can't use because if you try the device shuts its WiFi down? I have two homes set up with airport extremes (actually one is a time capsule) and two expresses. It works, sure, but the audio devices connected to the expresses are SO buggy and that USB port is useless. This actually looks like an option to use to replace them when we are ready to step into modern times with a new WiFi 6 mesh system.
Bearing in mind the next decent product is a Bluesound Node at $599 this is great value. How cheap do some people expect this sort of thing to be and still work OK? I would rather it had been $99 and included ethernet but there you go.
There is a killing to be made with this type of device now that all providers will offer high bitrate streaming services through airplay.
Don't get hung up on 'limitations' to 16 bit 44.1 - it will sound great if the DAC is competent. There is no need to spend vast sums on this element unless you you love snake oil.
Best of all, partner this (if it does turn out to be any good) with some really good active speakers which already have amps and a DAC within. Then just focus on the music.
There is a killing to be made with this type of device now that all providers will offer high bitrate streaming services through airplay.
Don't get hung up on 'limitations' to 16 bit 44.1 - it will sound great if the DAC is competent. There is no need to spend vast sums on this element unless you you love snake oil.
Best of all, partner this (if it does turn out to be any good) with some really good active speakers which already have amps and a DAC within. Then just focus on the music.
Weird behavior playing to one of these from Music (local downloads) on Big Sur 11.4 …
Playing an album, after every two songs the audio stops. Looking at Music, I see that it still thinks it's playing the first of the two songs, despite having heard both of them.
Music is still in a "playing" state (offering a pause button) with a scrub position partway through the first song.
Playing an album, after every two songs the audio stops. Looking at Music, I see that it still thinks it's playing the first of the two songs, despite having heard both of them.
Music is still in a "playing" state (offering a pause button) with a scrub position partway through the first song.
Got mine a few days ago, and will replace an AirPort Express, that is occasionally glitchy enough to frustrate my family. We use it to AirPlay music in the living room, and to the backyard. So I use the analog/3.5mm output to feed into my receiver, which does better sending analog to Zone 2. Even though my Marantz has AirPlay 2, I'm unaware of any receivers that can send AirPlay audio to Zone 2.
First impressions are good. This thing is tiny! Weighs nearly nothing. Easy to set up and get sound out of.
First impressions are good. This thing is tiny! Weighs nearly nothing. Easy to set up and get sound out of.
Was there any info on the DAC itself? How does it sound? Doesn't seem to be available where I live in the UK.
I couldn't find any info on the DAC. It doesn't look to come apart that easily, else I'd take a look.
I didn't do any serious/critical listening, but I'd say it's on-par with the analog output from the AirPort Express.
Thanks. I might acquire one to back up my AEX units. They won't last forever. Lots of sniffy comments about them on here but, in truth, lossless 16/44.1 is as good as it gets. People like to look at numbers and imagine things could be better. This was a review that has stood the test of time https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express-audio-quality-2014.htm
I hope Ken gives this a review as the only thing holding me back is the DAC quality and whether or not it supports Wifi 6. The airport expresses are the only thing other than my brother printer holding me back from WPA3 at the moment.
I use 2 AEX units within a mixed WPA3 and WPA2 environment. The router offers both but I do have an Apple TV 3rd gen that doesn’t like even this so I have added it via Ethernet. Those Express units still seem superb to me but I would love to try the Belkin.
I suppose I could drop another run just for the express in the bedroom and save the $99. I need to open the wall anyway for some adjacent renovations I’m working on.
Now that just makes me wish it could use PoE and save myself the plug or the brick in the case of the Belkin.
Why is this thing not broadly available ? (bought a samsung sound bar some weeks ago on a good rebate, went a bit quickly as it has no airplay ...)
Covid? You can pre-order from the Belkin site, as I'm sure they're just doing their best to get more in stock.
From France no way to pre order, brings you to a distributor page (amz etc), none having them, only found one shop with it , at 111€ and 16 days lead time not committed .. Will wait a bit, yes probably covid related one way or another.
By the way there is another candidate now :
Review: Songbird Music Streamer From Andover Audio Adds CD-Quality Wireless Audio To Any System
The Songbird music streamer from Andover Audio is an affordable and easy way to bring CD quality Wi-Fi (+ Bluetooth) wireless audio to virtually any sound system, including vintage stereos.
www.forbes.com
Songbird Internet Music Streamer
The Songbird HiFi Streamer delivers internet streaming audio to any system, new or old, in plug-and-play box. Access and stream your favorite services including Spotify, Qobuz, TIDAL, and iHeartRadio over your WiFi network. Free app to control. DLNA and Airplay compatible.
www.andoveraudio.com
Very confusingly named product. It's a wireless receiver, not a wireless streamer. It has no wireless output, i.e. it can't send its inputs to other AirPlay speakers.From France no way to pre order, brings you to a distributor page (amz etc), none having them, only found one shop with it , at 111€ and 16 days lead time not committed .. Will wait a bit, yes probably covid related one way or another.
By the way there is another candidate now :
Review: Songbird Music Streamer From Andover Audio Adds CD-Quality Wireless Audio To Any System
The Songbird music streamer from Andover Audio is an affordable and easy way to bring CD quality Wi-Fi (+ Bluetooth) wireless audio to virtually any sound system, including vintage stereos.
Songbird Internet Music Streamer
The Songbird HiFi Streamer delivers internet streaming audio to any system, new or old, in plug-and-play box. Access and stream your favorite services including Spotify, Qobuz, TIDAL, and iHeartRadio over your WiFi network. Free app to control. DLNA and Airplay compatible.
It has Ethernet!From France no way to pre order, brings you to a distributor page (amz etc), none having them, only found one shop with it , at 111€ and 16 days lead time not committed .. Will wait a bit, yes probably covid related one way or another.
By the way there is another candidate now :
Review: Songbird Music Streamer From Andover Audio Adds CD-Quality Wireless Audio To Any System
The Songbird music streamer from Andover Audio is an affordable and easy way to bring CD quality Wi-Fi (+ Bluetooth) wireless audio to virtually any sound system, including vintage stereos.
Songbird Internet Music Streamer
The Songbird HiFi Streamer delivers internet streaming audio to any system, new or old, in plug-and-play box. Access and stream your favorite services including Spotify, Qobuz, TIDAL, and iHeartRadio over your WiFi network. Free app to control. DLNA and Airplay compatible.
However, since neither the specs or the review mention Airplay 2 my guess is that it doesn’t have it, making it useless to me.
Indeed, only airplay 1, will wait for the belkin then I think (plus it is cheaper), no use for me for ethernet as I will stream from wifi connected device (don't want to go into DLNA stuff)
I bought one of these and have been using it for a few days.
TL;DR: the analog output levels are at least 20 dB too low. The optical (digital) output is fine. It's overpriced.
We've had a pair of patio speakers for years and I built a home-made two channel 20W amp to drive them. For most of that time, I'd been using a Belkin bluetooth audio dongle, but since the amp and bluetooth were in the garage and had to go through a wall to get to the patio, the connection wasn't always solid, and this was always annoying. I saw this and jumped on it. Our garage has a mesh node of our WiFi (because it's also my workshop), and the WiFi coverage on the patio is also good, so I figured this would be a great improvement (plus also AirPlay 2 is just easier to choose).
It took a couple of tries to add this to our Home, but for HomeKit that seems to be par for the course - the process of adding a new thing is just always bumpy and takes way too long. I don't think that's Belkin's fault here as much as it is Apple's. Once the setup was done, the actual AirPlay functionality is just as good as any other device.
Our first try was the analog audio output. Immediately, we noticed that the audio levels were way, way too low. I am very very sure that this is not because the volume on the source was adjusted wrong. Being careful to insure the levels on the phone were the same for the BT dongle and for the Connect, it's obvious that the Connect is much, much lower. The volume control on the amp needs to go from about 3 to about 8 (out of 10) for anything like correct loudness.
Before I gave up completely, I bought a cheap TOSLINK to Analog adapter on Amazon ($10). Putting that between the amp and the Connect absolutely solves the issue. Since others have reported this same problem on reviews on Belkin's own site, my conclusion is that the analog portion of this device has a design flaw. If you're content to spend another 10% on a workaround or you need optical output anyway, then this is not a big deal.
Lastly, I note that this device is the same price as a HomePod Mini, but lacks any support for Siri, acting as a HomeKit Hub, or any of the other things the HPM can do. That, in my book, makes this overpriced. If it were more like $60 rather than $100, I wouldn't have as much to complain about. But here we are.
TL;DR: the analog output levels are at least 20 dB too low. The optical (digital) output is fine. It's overpriced.
We've had a pair of patio speakers for years and I built a home-made two channel 20W amp to drive them. For most of that time, I'd been using a Belkin bluetooth audio dongle, but since the amp and bluetooth were in the garage and had to go through a wall to get to the patio, the connection wasn't always solid, and this was always annoying. I saw this and jumped on it. Our garage has a mesh node of our WiFi (because it's also my workshop), and the WiFi coverage on the patio is also good, so I figured this would be a great improvement (plus also AirPlay 2 is just easier to choose).
It took a couple of tries to add this to our Home, but for HomeKit that seems to be par for the course - the process of adding a new thing is just always bumpy and takes way too long. I don't think that's Belkin's fault here as much as it is Apple's. Once the setup was done, the actual AirPlay functionality is just as good as any other device.
Our first try was the analog audio output. Immediately, we noticed that the audio levels were way, way too low. I am very very sure that this is not because the volume on the source was adjusted wrong. Being careful to insure the levels on the phone were the same for the BT dongle and for the Connect, it's obvious that the Connect is much, much lower. The volume control on the amp needs to go from about 3 to about 8 (out of 10) for anything like correct loudness.
Before I gave up completely, I bought a cheap TOSLINK to Analog adapter on Amazon ($10). Putting that between the amp and the Connect absolutely solves the issue. Since others have reported this same problem on reviews on Belkin's own site, my conclusion is that the analog portion of this device has a design flaw. If you're content to spend another 10% on a workaround or you need optical output anyway, then this is not a big deal.
Lastly, I note that this device is the same price as a HomePod Mini, but lacks any support for Siri, acting as a HomeKit Hub, or any of the other things the HPM can do. That, in my book, makes this overpriced. If it were more like $60 rather than $100, I wouldn't have as much to complain about. But here we are.
I bought one too, to stream from a mac book pro to an audio system, but didn't realise an ios device was required to configure it! (not possible from the mac).
And I guess an exception here but didn't have one (android phone), did it with a friend iPhone, but as it was disconnecting ended up buying an ipad air... (more or less planned anyway). Also using the TOS link it was great.
It was disconnecting a lot at the beginning, but due to the USB port plugged on my router USB port. Not enough power, now using the provided power block it is fine.
Could be cheaper for sure, but no real alternative.
And I guess an exception here but didn't have one (android phone), did it with a friend iPhone, but as it was disconnecting ended up buying an ipad air... (more or less planned anyway). Also using the TOS link it was great.
It was disconnecting a lot at the beginning, but due to the USB port plugged on my router USB port. Not enough power, now using the provided power block it is fine.
Could be cheaper for sure, but no real alternative.
It was working fine with my 2016 MBP (to a samsung soundbar)
It is also working fine from my Ipad
But I changed my MBP to a 2021 14" M1 max and I now have terrible audio synch issues !!
(like 2 seconds or something)
This in desktop video playback software : true in Plex, Infuse, VLC, IINA
No issues in youtube or web videos.
Really strange problem, anybody with similar issues on a new MBP ?
It is also working fine from my Ipad
But I changed my MBP to a 2021 14" M1 max and I now have terrible audio synch issues !!
(like 2 seconds or something)
This in desktop video playback software : true in Plex, Infuse, VLC, IINA
No issues in youtube or web videos.
Really strange problem, anybody with similar issues on a new MBP ?
The two second lag is the standard AirPlay lag, any native video player will compensate for it. Looks like Plex, Infuse etc. won't