answer to wifi instead of BT? Airenabler

[wakebrdr94]

Awesome, any issues with the connectivity? So far so good with me.

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[winddawg]

No and I sent and received a text as well as received a phone call.

[cowwboy]

Have you ever looked into the tunemob app?

I have been looking at the group play app on my android and was wondering if I could find one that crossed platforms and saw it.

It uses bluetooth and connects 7 phones.

Their facebook page said they will be making it for the android soon.

[wakebrdr94]

Looks interesting, but I thought you can only link to one thing at a time via Bluetooth. I'll give it a shot tonight between my wife's phone, mine, and iPod.

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[cowwboy]

That's what I thought too. But after doing some research you can do up to to 7 devices.

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[cowwboy]

I got about 100' distance with my old iphone 4 and my wife's 5. The app maker sound around 150' best case scenario.

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[waldito]

I have used multiple airport express to create wifi network and stream to multiple boats, There was a couple of problems with it, I had the airports plugged into inverters on the boats and that would cause feedback through the stereo at time which gets quite annoying. The other issue is that you could not stream to multiple airport stations with an iPhone, when we are house boating it worked perfectly if the airport express were plugged into an extension cord plugged into the houseboat generator. used a macboook and controlled the tunes from inside the houseboat.

If the air enabler allows multiple playback from an iPhone i am sold, I am already going to try it because it plugs into usb or 12v

would be awesome to be able to stream to multiple boats from an iPhone at the end of the day party cove dance parties!!!

[cowwboy]

How many airports can you stream to from an Iphone? Does the iphone / macbook creat and name the wireless network and the airports join the network? I'm really interested in how it works.

But I would be hacking them to use 12v source.

[robtr8]

It seems like you can only stream from the iPhone to one thing at a time. Here's a screen shot of my iPhone's Airplay menu for my house's Airplay network. You can only check one thing at a time.

If your playing from the computer using iTunes and controlling it from the iPhone using the Remote APP, you can select multiple Remote Speakers.

[Brett B]

Looking for wireless audio options on my boat and just came across this thread.

How has the battery life been on the phone when streaming audio this way?

Is the audio quality noticably better than blutooth connections?

I have an iPhone 4S running IOS 5, and I do not see an option to use Airplay. Does the Airplay option button only show up once you have connected to an Airplay device using wifi? Or is there an app/update I need to download?

[wakebrdr94]

The airplay should only come up when connected to a device. Same way you would stream Bluetooth, but the option would show the devices connected. I haven't had an issue with battery life, but I've only used it in my car. In the system that going the boat, it'll all be run through the ZLD, main input will have the airenabler, the aux input will have a millennia Bluetooth.

I keep a charger on the boat at all times regardless, so I don't see an issue arising in my case

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[Brett B]

Thanks! How is the audio quality? Noticeably better than bluetooth?

[wakebrdr94]

I think it depends on your BT. My car BT is crap. HUGE improvement over my car system. Never cut out once.

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[js9467]

So does this only work with music you have on your iphone, rather than streaming in tunes from pandora or something else? Once you connect to that router, wouldn't you stop getting emails, internet access?

I believe with an iPhone, when connected to a wireless access point without Internet connectivity, you lose the cellular route to the internet. That said, going this route wouldn't allow you to stream pandora unless you had a mifi or something of the sort on board. If not the case, please advise as I'd like the extended range and sound quality over BT. Pairing different phones is a bear with my BT unit as well.

[wakebrdr94]

I do not use pandora, but I do use the wifi for music and can still use GPS or search the web. I have looked and YouTube and the sound streams through the wifi ) If those functions work, I can't see why you couldn't use pandora.

I did buy a separate ipod to use with the boat. as someone mentioned earlier, I hated using my phone on the boat then having it ring, or a text interrupting the music. I have a classic ipod but would not work for the wireless setup i'm trying this time around.

[vanamp]

Here is another possible option but it has not been released yet:

http://www.myrocki.com/#home

I am thinking about grabbing one when they become available. I still have some questions about how it would work that the website does not answer but if it does not work well on the boat I am sure I could put it to use elsewhere.

[wakebrdr94]

Same concept as the airport express, and airenabler. looks cool

Edited March 14, 2014 by wakebrdr94

[Brett B]

I just got my Air Enabler and am having some problems. I emailed the company but figured I would see if you guys had any ideas too.

First, I cannot stay connected to the air enabler for more than about a minute before I lose the connection in iTunes and the music stops playing. I am sitting right next to it and the signal strength is good in my settings screen but the connection is dropped and the airplay icon disappears from the iTunes screen. After a few seconds the airplay icon returns and if I re-select the air enabler the music will start again but will then disconnect again. I am using an iPhone 4S running iOS 5.1.

The second problem is the amount of noise coming through the speakers. I bought this for the boat and when powered using the cigarette lighter there are so many clicking and ticking noises coming through the speakers that it's essentially unusable. I tried a different cigarette adaptor and a different 3.5mm cable and there were no changes to the noise level.

Are ideas?

[Brett B]

So I was able to fix the connectivity issue by setting up the air enabler in static mode instead of DHCP. However there is still a lot of clicking/ticking noise coming through the speakers when powered by 12V DC. Qui suggested trying one of the 3.5mm inline filters and also suggested that a better USB sound adaptor would eliminate some of the noise. Have you guys needed/had any luck with these?

[shawndoggy]

power with something like an isimple is43 drawing power and ground from same source as your headunit?

http://www.amazon.com/iSimple-IS43-Panel-Vehicle-Charging/dp/B0047XUDCQ

[wakebrdr94]

I have used it in the car, and in the house with no issues, no extra sound or clicking. I did get a little hiss today working with the boat install, but likely from the gain being to high, i have not tuned yet. I did not use a filter, but I did power it an adapter like Shawndoggy posted, but a dual as I am running the air enabler and bluetooth. I did order my boat with no stereo, so it is going straight to the ZLD.

I did test it in my buddy's 2010 vlx and there where no issues. We ran it in the glove box with a Duracell cig plug adapter http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-Mini-USB-Car-Charger/dp/B007MQEGI2

try running it in your car or house. see if you still get the same issue.

Edited April 17, 2014 by wakebrdr94

[Brett B]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

So when it's powered by the 115AC adaptor on my home stereo the noise is either not there or it's so low it can't be heard. Not sure if it's because of the power source conversion difference or if my home stereo receiver just has better internal filtering.

When powered by 12V from the cigarette adaptor in my glove box in my boat I get lots of noise issues. Basically I can hear changes to the ticking when the air enabler is doing different things. For example the noise isn't there for the first 40 seconds when it's starting up, only once it's fully booted and the USB DAC gets activated does the ticking start. Then the noise changes once I connect to it with my phone through Airplay. The noise changes again when I hit the play button on the phone. It's as if some of the digital commands are being passed into the analog output through the USB DAC. It’s loud enough that it can be heard when the iPhone volume is all the way up and the boat volume is at a low level. My amp gains are all at reasonable levels too, nothing it set real high.

I ordered a new USB DAC that Qui recommended, and also have a 3.5mm filter on the way to try. If those don’t work I am also going to power it from just a USB battery to eliminate if the noise is maybe coming from the 12V to 5V conversion since things were better when on 115AC in my house.

It looks like the cigarette adaptor is wired pretty much straight to the main perko switch so I'm not sure how wiring in another 12V power supply will be better, but if the other things don't work I will give the adaptor that Shawn posted a try. I was hoping this was going to be a 5 minute plug and play project, but nothing ever works that easily.

[wakebrdr94]

Sorry it didn't pan out that way for you. I was reading reviews when I was going to buy mine and I did see mention where (I'll find it again for you) one of the reviewers recommended buying a better quality DAC for it. Hopefully that works out for you.

Would it be possible that the power adapter you are using is bad? Creating the noise? I don't really know, just taking a guess if that could cause it

Here was that review http://evolver.fm/2014/02/13/airenabler-puts-apple-airplay-in-car-or-home-for-50-but-theres-a-catch/

Edited April 17, 2014 by wakebrdr94

[Brett B]

A quick update:

Well the air enabler is dead. I plugged it into the 12V power on Friday and it would not fire up. I tried different power adaptors including the 115VAC adaptor and nothing worked. I think that the cigarette adaptor they included with it had some sort of malfunction and it took out the air enabler with it. If you are using this as your main stereo input make sure you install this in an easy to access area as I am not sure about the durability of these. I will email Qui tonight to see about getting it exchanged.

I was able to try some more things with it Thursday night (before it died) to eliminate the noise. The 3.5mm inline filter does get rid of the ticking noises, but it also hurt the overall sound quality a bit. The high's from the tower speakers weren't as crisp and the subwoofer was also subdued. It’s not terrible but definitely noticeable so for me that option is out.

I then powered it from a USB battery (like one for recharging your phone) which also did eliminate the noise. Sound quality was also good with this one since you didn't need the filter. However if you plugged the battery into 12V power to keep it charged while running the air enabler than the noise came back and was even worse. So your music would be limited by the life of the USB battery which is silly on a boat with all the 12V power you could want.

The new USB DAC that Qui recommended arrived on Friday, he said this would improve overall sound quality and get rid of the noise without needing the 3.5mm filter. Unfortunately I never got to try it out as that is when the air enabler died when I plugged it in. Hopefully I can get a new one in this week and try it with the new DAC to see if that solves the noise issues because the 3.5mm filter and battery option aren't acceptable solutions for me.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Brett B

[wakebrdr94]

Qui seems to be pretty helpful, I'm sure we'll take care of you. Totally blows when things like this happen. Now we'll see how good they are when something goes wrong. I was hoping to have my boat and play with it on the water, but still at the dealer with the fuel line recall

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