Ready for WiSA?

Peter_Brosdahl

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Source: https://www.wisaassociation.org/

WiSA or Wireless Speaker & Audio is something I think we’ll be hearing a lot more about over the next year or two. I only became aware of it recently with our various stories about LG OLED T.V.s and G-Sync/VRR. Well it seems after going to LG’s homepage for the C9’s they have another feature, WiSA, albeit via a dongle.

What is WiSA? Well it is a bit of a revolutionary thing for those with home theaters. My biggest complaint with our newer surround standards such as Atmos or DTS:X is that the amount of speaker wires just keeps multiplying. Many cringe at the thought of blue tooth speakers for audiophile solutions, and understandably so, due to latency and signal quality. Well WiSA aims to overcome both by using the 5Ghz band to offer up to 7.1 surround sound at 24 bit/96khz sampling.

Got your interest? I recommend checking out this very informative write up by Simon Cohen over at Digital Trends. Wanting to know more then here’s the link to the WiSA association page. Like all new tech and standards there will be numerous ways it will be implemented but by the specs it has some potential to help those of us who want to cut down on cable clutter and even perhaps gain options for speaker placements.
 
Yes yes this is need.. effin wires that I can't run in the right places is exactly why i have no surround sound.
 
Yes yes this is need.. effin wires that I can't run in the right places is exactly why i have no surround sound.

Yup. I have tall 20' ceilings in my living room and the walls are cross braced. No way to get wires where they're needed.

But wireless presents it's own challenges. Like getting power to where the speakers are needed. For me that would be easier.
 
Never heard of WiSA, but it seems most intriguing.
 
First I'm hearing of it as well, and I have to say I am liking what I'm seeing. Low-latency Wireless Audio would be awesome (and off the heavily congested 2.4Ghz band).
 
No thanks,

I've about had it with everything wireless.

It doesn't even matter what you apply it to, audio, networking, remote controls...

It always winds up being less reliable, performing worse, and open to more security risks.

If I have a choice between something wired and something wireless, I will always choose the wired solution. Doesn't even really matter what it is. Only time I will go wireless is if wireless is a true requirement of the device/product/system, like with a cellphone.
 
That's me, wired everything. WiSA sounds interesting but would I use it myself? Doubt it. I have no problem running wires wherever the ****. I got holes drilled through ceilings/floors to pass network cables through. I will use wireless for laptops (sometimes, when there's a need for it), cellphones, portable game systems, consoles when I bring them to other friends' houses, and sometimes controllers depending on the game being played and the seating situation (at home I sit close enough to my PC or consoles that there's just plain no need for wireless controllers). Everything else though I only roll wired. However I'm interested to see where WiSA goes.

One of my buddies switched his living room home theater setup from 5.1 from a receiver to 5.1 using a 3-speaker soundbar in front of the HDTV that wirelessly connects to a sub and 2 rear satellies in the back of the room. He says he likes this setup better. Call me crazy but the audio quality isn't as good as his previous setup, but whatever.

I often see people complaining about having to run speaker wires for their living room setup, and I'm wondering what the big deal is.

Haven't been able to make the jump to a wireless headset. I got a wired one that works just fine.

How do you feel about wireless charging? I've never used it, can't comment on it. Still seems strange to me.
 
I admit that if it lasts long enough I'll likely try it. Problem is that I've already got 2 wired rooms in the house with 7.1 and there's no need for me to change them right now. Three to five years down the road it might be a different story. If this had existed even last year I probably would've a taken a chance since that's when I upgraded the cave.

I agree that there can be issues with wireless tech of any sort but I do find it exciting that they're making strides.
 
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