Quantcast

Listen to Digital Music in Your Living Room (chart)

These devices bring high-quality digital audio to your stereo or home theater. However, we still haven't found one that offers the perfect combination of sound quality, storage, and copy-protection measures that don't assume all music aficionados are pirates.

Compare ProductsCheck boxes to
SOUND BLASTER WIRELESS MUSIC LCD REMOTE 80211B/G WIRELESS MUSIC (Creative Labs-70PD039000000) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

Creative SOUND BLASTER WIRELESS MUSIC LCD REMOTE 80211B/G WIRELESS MUSIC (Creative Labs-70PD039000000)

$230 (12/19/03), Digital audio network device, 802.11b connection, RCA and digital optical out

Bottom Line: The setup could have been easier--Creative's software didn't detect a built-in Windows XP firewall--but once the device is installed, it's easy to use. If only it could play Internet radio. The LCD panel on the remote is a nice touch.

Full ReviewCheck latest prices
Check Latest Prices
TX-NR801 Receiver (Onkyo-TXNR801) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

Onkyo TX-NR801 Receiver (Onkyo-TXNR801)

$999 (12/19/03), 100-watt, 7.1-channel stereo receiver, Ethernet connection, 3 audio, 6 audio/video inputs

Bottom Line: An excellent home theater receiver that can stream MP3, WMA, and .wav files from an ethernet-connected PC, the TX-NR801 displays artist and track info in its own interface. Being able to customize its Internet radio offerings would have been nice, though.

Full ReviewCheck latest prices
Check Latest Prices
SqueezeBox PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

Slim Devices SqueezeBox

$299 (12/19/03), Digital audio network device, 802.11b, ethernet connections, RCA, digital coaxial, digital optical out

Bottom Line: Using this small device is easy, though using the remote for some settings is a bit clunky. It supports MP3, AAC, and AIFF formats; you can play WMA files only by converting them on the fly with the included server software. Audio sounds better with ethernet.

Full ReviewCheck latest prices
Pro HiFi-Link PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

Xitel Pro HiFi-Link

$100 (12/19/03), Digital audio converter, USB connection, RCA, digital coaxial, digital optical out

Bottom Line: The included cables are worth close to $100 by themselves, though you'll use only one of them. Unlike most of the wireless products, it's capable of multichannel sound. If your PC is near your stereo, this is your best bet (assuming you don't mind an extra cable).

Full ReviewCheck latest prices
Yamaha MusicCAST Digital Audio Server - MCX1000 Stores And Broadcasts Music Content Wirelessly To Any Location Within Your Home (Yamaha-MCX1000) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

Yamaha Yamaha MusicCAST Digital Audio Server - MCX1000 Stores And Broadcasts Music Content Wirelessly To Any Location Within Your Home (Yamaha-MCX1000)

$2200, plus $599 per client (12/19/03), Digital audio server, Ethernet connection (optional 802.11b clients), RCA, digital coaxial, digital optical out

Bottom Line: The expensive MusicCast system rips and burns CDs slowly. Copy protection won't let you copy music from your PC, only from CDs, and you can't listen to the device's music from a PC.

Full ReviewCheck latest prices
Check Latest Prices

HOW WE TEST: We test rewritable DVD drives under Windows XP Home on PCs with 1.67-GHz Athlon XP 2000+ processors and 512MB of DDR SDRAM. To test each drive, we use the bundled DVD video authoring, mastering, and packet-writing software; we use vendor-supplied media or Verbatim media. Tests conducted by the PC World Test Center. All rights reserved.

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No

Today's Special Offers