http://www.maximumpc.com | APR 08 | MAXIMUMPC 83
S
oundcast has embedded its wireless iPod streaming technology inside a fan-
tastic battery-powered, self-amplified outdoor speaker. It’s pricey, but building a
good wired outdoor system would cost as much—even if you do the work yourself.
The system includes an iCast transmitter, which captures the analog out-
put from your iPod and streams it to the OutCast on the 2.4GHz frequency band.
If you rock with an MP3 player other than an iPod, or if you want to stream
music from your PC, the 1/8-inch headphone jack on the back of the iCast auto-
matically becomes a line-level input when there’s no iPod in the dock.
Membrane switches on the top of the speaker enable you to control a
docked iPod, although you’re limited to track forward/back, play/pause, and
volume (there’s no way to control any other source). There’s no display, so
you’ll want to build a playlist or leave the iPod in shuffle mode. You can also get
around the display issue by plugging any player directly into the OutCast and
stashing it in the cradle built into the handle.
A 100-watt amp delivers plenty of volume to the four 3-inch high-frequency
drivers arranged around the top of the columnar device, while an 8-inch down-firing
woofer delivers lots of beefy bass. The speaker sounded great on our enclosed
patio, only slightly less so when we moved it out into our yard (where it was
deprived of walls and a ceiling to pro-
vide natural reverb). The system deliv-
ered impressive range, too, streaming
audio outside within a 135-foot radius
of the transmitter inside the house. But
the amp doesn’t like to be pushed; it
distorted badly long before we reached
its maximum output.
The OutCast is thoroughly
weatherized, as long as you don’t
leave anything plugged into it.
Soundcast says the NiMH battery
pack will deliver 10 hours of audio on
a charge, but we were able to squeeze out 15 hours playing at lower volume (and
leaving the cheesy mood lighting turned off). We dig it, but the price tag
denies it a Kick Ass award.
—Michael Brown
Soundcast OutCast
Outdoor Speaker
Boom for your outdoor room—no strings attached
W
e sometimes get so caught up in the excitement of the “next big thing”
we throw the baby out with the bathwater. Based on the performance
of the Wi-Fire Wi-Fi adapter, that might just be the case with IEEE 802.11g
wireless routers.
If you value range over throughput, this is the Wi-Fi adapter for you. This
ungainly device doesn’t rely on MIMO or IEEE 8011.n; heck, it doesn’t even
require a PCMCIA slot. When we plugged it into our notebook’s USB 2.0 port, it
delivered unbelievable range with a year-old Asus WL700gE router equipped
with a single antenna.
Indoors, the Wi-Fire performed
no better than
Linksys’s
WPC600N adapter,
and no 802.11g
router can match
the maximum throughput of an 802.11n model. But the Wi-Fire lived up to its
name when we moved the notebook outdoors, delivering TCP throughput of
15Mb/s (compared to just 2.7Mb/s for the Linksys).
Our jaws really dropped as we moved the notebook ever further away:
350 feet from the router, with the signal passing through an insulated, double-
thick interior wall and a steel garage door, the Wi-Fire delivered TCP
throughput of 14.5Mb/s. Maximum range dropped to 135 feet on the
other side of the house (which added four insulated interior walls, a set
of plywood cabinets, and an insulated exterior wall with fiber-cement
siding), but throughput remained steady at 13.2Mb/s.
The antenna is extremely directional, which wouldn’t be a problem
if it weren’t mounted so loosely to its plastic stand. You can set it on a
tabletop or clip it to your notebook screen, but after you’ve painstakingly
located the reception sweet spot, the simple act of breathing is enough
to move it out of position. We completely lost our connection only when it
pivoted at extreme range, but at no point was the fit sufficiently
tight to keep the antenna
stationary.
—Michael Brown
hField Technologies
Wi-Fire Wi-Fi Adapter
There’s life in 802.11g after all!
9
wi-fire wi-fi adapter
9
SoundcaSt outcaSt
$700, http://www.soundcastsystems.com
$80, http://www.hfield.com
The out cast is a dead-simple
means of bringing your music
outdoors; what it will do for
neighborly relations is a whole
other question.
The wi-Fire’s range
is flat-out amazing,
but the antenna’s
cheap mounting
stand cost it a Kick
ass award.
linKsys wPc600n/
linKsys wrT600n
linKsys wPc600n/
asus wl700Ge
wi-Fire/
asus wl700Ge
Best scores are bolded. See http://tinyurl.com/yo8qa4 for detailed test criteria.
Home office, 5 feet (mb/s) 129.0 20.9 20.8
KitcHen, 20 feet (mb/s) 117.0 20.9 21.0
Patio, 38 feet (mb/s) 114.0 20.8 20.8
Bedroom, 60 feet (mb/s) 117.0 16.9 18.4
media room, 35 feet (mb/s) 117.0 13.0 15.8
outdoors a, 90 feet (mb/s) 2.5 2.7 15.2
outdoors B, 85 feet (mb/s) 1.1 3.4 15.1
outdoors c, 135 feet (mb/s) no connection no connection 13.2
outdoors d, 350 feet (mb/s) no connection no connection 14.5
benchMarKs