Black Boxes: Motorola SimpleFi Wireless Digital Audio Receiver

by Charles Mohnike
Winter 2002/Spring 2003

COMPANY: SimpleDevices Inc.
CONTACT: (650) 356-7000
WEB SITE: www.simpledevices.com
PRICE: $379

It's probable that someday most homes will be wired for networking, allowing us to easily share data between our desktop PCs and our home entertainment systems. Until that day comes, there are a handful of excellent wireless solutions – like Motorola's SimpleFi. The unit uses a USB transmitter, installed on your PC, to wirelessly beam MP3 files and streaming Internet radio stations from your computer to a receiver unit connected to your home stereo or A/V stack.

Receiver Hook-Up
Setting up the unit took less than 15 minutes and didn't even require us to crack open the enclosed manual. The receiver unit connected to our home stereo's audio receiver via standard RCA phono jacks, while the transmitter hooked up to our PC's USB port. We installed the controller software on the enclosed CD-ROM and our receiver detected the transmitter on our PC without a hitch.

We next configured the included Media Manager software on our test PC by pointing it to the MP3 files stored on our hard drive, making them available for play on the receiver unit.

The software also streams Internet radio from two popular net sources, Live365.com and MP3.com. We logged onto the Live365.com site and browsed for stations we liked (from a selection of thousands) and added them to our My Presets list. Once updated, these stations then appeared in the Media Manager and on the SimpleFi's LCD display. Once our MP3 and streaming settings were complete, we moved into another room to test the receiver unit on our audio system.

Testing, One, Two, MP3
The first feature we noted on the SimpleFi's receiver was its innovative remote control. When not in use, the remote snaps into a slot at the front of the receiver and becomes the unit's front button panel.

A simple navigation scheme allowed us to quickly get to what we wanted to hear.

One drawback: like many MP3 playback systems, the SimpleFi uses the ID3 tags and MP3s downloaded from the 'Net rarely have correct ID3 info.

Audio quality was excellent, with no discernable difference from the original MP3. In the case of Internet radio stations, audio quality was limited by bandwidth. We tested using both DSL and T1 connections. Broadband access should probably be considered a requirement for those planning to do a lot of 'Net listening. While we loved having dozens of specialized music genres on thousands of Internet stations, the quality is dramatically lower than vintage vinyl broadcast over stereo FM radio.

Transmission and reception was also excellent with the SimpleFi, even when we attached the receiver unit to a stereo located up a flight of stairs and more than 40-feet away from the transmitter on our test PC. Motorola's documentation doesn't list a maximum range for the units.

The SimpleFi'd Truth
The unit offers a somewhat pricier solution to those offered by simple audio transmitters but the ability to remotely control what's playing on your PC, as opposed to simply broadcasting the output of your PC's sound card makes the SimpleFi worth it. It's a well-designed unit that can solve a dilemma faced by many music enthusiasts: a bunch of MP3s and a huge variety of streaming music on the Internet in one room and a high-quality stereo system sitting in another.

SMART SPECS