What Factors Should You Consider?

There was once a time when no music enthusiast would have even considered wireless speakers, but things have changed a lot since then. There are still advantages to wired audio, but there are also strong arguments in favor of wireless setups.

Are You a True Audiophile?

The ability to hear differences in audio quality varies enormously, from those who are perfectly content with cheap headphones and speakers to those who can genuinely distinguish sound signatures from the same speakers fed from similar but slightly different amplifiers.

If you have listened to the same sound system through both wired and (high quality) wireless connections, and can hear a difference, then this piece isn’t for you. But the vast majority of us don’t pass this test. That isn’t to say wired speakers are not the right choice for you; there are other factors to consider. But it does mean that, for most people, this is not a straight choice between quality and convenience.

Lossy Versus Lossless Music Is No Longer a Factor

Things used to be pretty simple where wired versus wireless speakers were concerned: only wired connections could play lossless music. That was a huge factor back in the days when lossy music meant 128Kbps mp3 files with missing frequencies and unmistakable compression artifacts.

The world has, however, moved on a great deal since then. First, because the best of today’s lossy formats—like AAC at 320kbps—is of such high quality that very few of us can hear the difference even in A/B/X tests, let alone in real-life listening. But even if you can, there are audio protocols that can transmit true lossless files.

But DAC and Amplifier Quality May Be

However, some wireless speaker systems have a much more fundamental issue. They have built-in digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and amplifiers of vastly inferior quality to the ones most people have in their wired Hi-Fi systems.That fact may well rule out a lot of speakers.

Again, though, this isn’t about an intrinsic quality difference between wired and wireless speakers: it’s about the difference between low-end and high-end equipment.

Wired Is Harder to Set Up but More Reliable in Use

There is one trade-off that hasn’t changed too much over the years: ease of setup versus reliability.

If you’re starting from scratch, a wired system is harder to set up, assuming you want to minimize visible cable runs. That’s especially true for multiroom setups.

I had an uncle who spent a fortune on running speaker cabling behind the walls of his entire home, with wall switches next to light switches so that he could listen to the same music in any one or more rooms. It was a major project. Getting a wireless multiroom setup, in contrast, is pretty trivial.

However, there’s no getting away from the fact that wireless systems can be less reliable. Again, things are nothing like as bad as they were in the early days of wireless speakers, but today’s technology can still suffer occasional glitches.

Wireless speakers can lose synchronization, or drop off the network altogether. That’s usually fixed by nothing more complicated than power-cycling them (switch off the power, then switch it back on again), but if even occasional problems are likely to annoy you, that’s a factor to consider.

Wireless Offers More Flexibility With Music Sources

One benefit of wireless speakers is greater flexibility with music sources. Yes, you can play music from your own devices, but you can also stream music directly from services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. The latter two offer lossless music, so this needn’t involve sacrificing quality.

Of course, you can incorporate a streaming player into a wired system too, but most wireless speakers have this as built-in functionality, and include the flexibility to simultaneously stream different music to different rooms, which can be an important consideration for families.

Types of Wireless Speakers: Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay, Sonos, Spotify

There are wireless speakers at every quality and budget level, but different speakers also support different protocols.

Bluetooth

Hannah Stryker / Review Geek

The most basic of these is Bluetooth. This once supported only lossy transmission, but thanks to the development of aptX, that is no longer the case. Standard aptX supports lossless transmission of CD-quality sound (16-bit/44.1kHz at around 352kbps), while the higher-quality aptX HD protocol delivers 24-bit/48kHz at 576kbps.

However, Bluetooth was originally designed for short-range line-of-sight transmission, and even today is the most prone to interference, both from obstructions like thicker walls, and from other equipment in the same 2.4GHz band—which can include Wi-Fi, microwave ovens, and baby monitors. For this reason, Bluetooth is best avoided for home audio systems.

Apple AirPlay

AirPlay speakers operate over Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth, so they offer greater bandwidth and reliability. There are two generations of AirPlay, known as AirPlay and AirPlay 2, and technically, only the original is genuinely lossless. However, this is more of a geek trivia point than a practical difference to almost anyone’s ears.

AirPlay is an Apple-specific protocol, so it requires an Apple device as the music source. If you’re an Apple-based home, this is the protocol I’d recommend.

Sonos

Sonos is an ecosystem which supports both wired and wireless speakers, and is Wi-Fi-based. While I would once have recommended this, the company recently ran into trouble when it decided to rebuild its app from the ground up, and broke lots of things. The jury is still out on whether and when the company will keep its promises to make things right, but in the interim, I can’t advise getting into the system.

Spotify

Whether Spotify counts as a protocol in its own right is debatable, but the pragmatic view is that you can buy wireless speakers with native support for Spotify, and if that’s going to be one of your audio sources, then it helps tremendously with ease of use. While Spotify’s lossless service has been endlessly delayed, support may be a factor if you have family members who use it.

Additional Factors

There are a couple of other factors which might influence your choice. First, some wireless speakers can act as their own music source when you have a streaming music account. For example, with Apple HomePods, you can simply say “Hey Siri” and then ask for the music you want. You can ask for an artist, an album or a specific song, simply using a voice command. That’s a very convenient option!

Second, some wireless speakers have built-in room compensation (also known as digital room correction). If you’re forced to compromise on the ideal speaker positioning, this can help minimize problems caused by sound reflections. The Naim Mu-so system has this, for example.

What might initially seem like a straightforward choice may actually be a much more nuanced one once you consider all the factors.