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Audioengine B-Fi Review (Streamer)

Eetu

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Completely wrong and obviously so. Airplay 2 is far better than Chromecast. Plus Apple doesn't sell you a device so they can track what they do with it.
Huh? I was referring to the Audioengine B-Fi
1) worse performance than CCA
2) doesn't support Airplay 2

I'm sure the Belkin is alright but you can get a RasPi 4 for less.
 

sarumbear

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Huh? I was referring to the Audioengine B-Fi
1) worse performance than CCA
2) doesn't support Airplay 2

I'm sure the Belkin is alright but you can get a RasPi 4 for less.
Less? Have you seen the price of the Belkin device?
 

Eetu

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Less? Have you seen the price of the Belkin device?
The 2GB boards seem to be out of stock now but I got mine for 55€ (I'm in Europe), 65€ for the 4GB version. So less than the Belkin, but yeah roughly the same if you need the starter kit.
 

sarumbear

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The 2GB boards seem to be out of stock now but I got mine for 55€ (I'm in Europe), 65€ for the 4GB version. So less than the Belkin, but yeah roughly the same if you need the starter kit.
Thank you correction.
 

BitPerfect_

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Received mine this Friday, easy to configure if you're already an Apple user.
My chain is iPhone/iPad with airplay -> Belkin Soundform -> ADI2 DAC FS -> Audiophonics MPA-S250NC -> Elac DBR 62
I can't hear distortions, obviously it doesn't mean there are none, it only means that the quality will probably be enough for many of us.

I was looking for an easy way to use airplay with the ADI2, no interest over BT or specific streaming services, this Belkin device is functionally perfect.
Regarding the Belkin Soundform, would you please share with us, when you listen Apple Music, in the above described audio chain, ADI2 DAC shows 16-bit/ 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz?

@Hexus, Raspberry PI + s/pdif hat, will output 16-bit/ 44.1 kHz bit perfect if we are streaming Apple Music using the iPhone / iPad > rPi, can you read this on your DAC? Thanks.
 
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Paolo

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Regarding the Belkin Soundform, would you please share with us, when you listen Apple Music, in the above described audio chain, ADI2 DAC shows 16-bit/ 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz?
It's 48 kHz.

IMG_0617.png
 

BitPerfect_

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It's 48 kHz.
Also can you please read (if it’s shown somewhere) it’s 16-bit or 24-bit?

Some claim that AirPlay 2 it’s actually able to deliver 24/48 and if that’s the case, make sense why we have 48 instead of 44.1. Thanks,
 

thatnorthernsound

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@amirm I'd be interested to see how this fares when playing directly through Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect (when they go lossless). Looks like you're getting some significant conversion issues with Airplay and to a lesser extent through the app...wondering if you remove both of those from the equation and play directly through the streaming platforms it'd help. Also would have liked to see the dynamic range through the app without Airplay.
 

Chazz6

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I have a B-Fi in the signal path. I also have a JDS Lab Atom DAC ... Is there a device of comparable function, that is, receives wi-fi and outputs digital, which provides noticeably better quality sound -- within twice the price of the B-Fi?
The implemented answer to my question: I got a used Denon HEOS Link HS2 and put it in place of the Audioengine B-Fi. The advantages are that the Denon device supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wi-fi, and that it supports WAV, ALAC and FLAC to 24-bit/192 kHz versus B-Fi's 16 bit/44.1 kHz. Like the B-Fi, it has a TOSlink output that feeds into my DAC.

BubbleUPnP on Android works as the control point. I do not use the HEOS app.

For me and I would guess for many people, wi-fi connection can be flaky – but then, how far can you push reliable Bluetooth? My problem turned out to be the Arris BGW210 router that I must use at the dictate of AT&T's fiber service. I put a modest but much more capable router behind it as an access point, a TP-Link Archer A8. I assigned a static IP to the device. Now the connection is sturdy.
 

cd_baby

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I read this with interest, and it looks like this isn't the product I need.

My set up is not crappy:
Arcam FMJ 1000 DAC into Roksan M1 amp into Focal 948 loudspeakers.
The DAC has USB, Digital and Optical inputs.

Currently, I run a long USB wire across the living room from MacBook into the DAC.
I am simply looking to remove that wire - so the B-Fi looked like it was perfect as I'd only use the optical output.

You mentioned that there are other devices that get this right and can feed the DAC with bit-perfect digital audio.
I'd love a couple of suggestions As I say, I don't need the fancy streaming features - I just want a great quality, wirelessly, going into my DAC from my computer.

What should I look at?
 

antcollinet

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I read this with interest, and it looks like this isn't the product I need.

My set up is not crappy:
Arcam FMJ 1000 DAC into Roksan M1 amp into Focal 948 loudspeakers.
The DAC has USB, Digital and Optical inputs.

Currently, I run a long USB wire across the living room from MacBook into the DAC.
I am simply looking to remove that wire - so the B-Fi looked like it was perfect as I'd only use the optical output.

You mentioned that there are other devices that get this right and can feed the DAC with bit-perfect digital audio.
I'd love a couple of suggestions As I say, I don't need the fancy streaming features - I just want a great quality, wirelessly, going into my DAC from my computer.

What should I look at?
The belkin device mentioned upthread with airplay 2 should do what you need.
 

Eetu

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I read this with interest, and it looks like this isn't the product I need.

My set up is not crappy:
Arcam FMJ 1000 DAC into Roksan M1 amp into Focal 948 loudspeakers.
The DAC has USB, Digital and Optical inputs.

Currently, I run a long USB wire across the living room from MacBook into the DAC.
I am simply looking to remove that wire - so the B-Fi looked like it was perfect as I'd only use the optical output.

You mentioned that there are other devices that get this right and can feed the DAC with bit-perfect digital audio.
I'd love a couple of suggestions As I say, I don't need the fancy streaming features - I just want a great quality, wirelessly, going into my DAC from my computer.

What should I look at?
I recommend the WiiM Mini, does AirPlay 2, Spotify & Tidal Connect and much more.
 

Chazz6

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Currently, I run a long USB wire across the living room from MacBook into the DAC. I am simply looking to remove that wire - so the B-Fi looked like it was perfect as I'd only use the optical output.

As I say, I don't need the fancy streaming features - I just want a great quality, wirelessly, going into my DAC from my computer.
The Audioengine B-Fi is not loaded with fancy streaming features and is not expensive. Once you set it up, you can launch a stream or a file on your MacBook from the MacBook, very much as I presume you do now. --- Some of us like to launch from a tablet using an app like BubbleUPnP; the Audioengine lends itself to that method, too, but does not require it.
 

Rowlandville

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Audioengine B-Fi wifi wireless music streamer with included DAC. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $189.

I must say, the packaging for the B-Fi is well above average for a budget streamer:

View attachment 151501

You can't quite see it but the shell itself is a nice white color. The back also shows attention to detail with gold plated RCA jacks and such:

View attachment 151502

As you see, power is provided by a 5-volt USB feed. The supplied adapter is above average with company branding which is nice. Like the inclusion of Toslink Optical out for connection to an external DAC or AVR.

At first I thought the unit had Bluetooth and spent 15 minutes trying to find it on my phone to no avail. Then I realize that is a different model and this one is only WiFi and requires their App for initialization. You have to do the classic connection to its ad-hoc Wifi network and then switch it over to your home network. What an abomination networking people bestowed upon us. Newer NFC cable devices solve this but even then they do a poor of job of having indications on the device and such. Anyway, I better not rant....

I tried to connect to my first Wifi network but it would not work. A note in the manual says it only works with 802.11g. A shame. This was standard practice 10 years ago when faster speeds were more expensive. We don't need the higher speed here but like to see connectivity with 802.11a for compatibility sake. I used my secondary Wifi connection and it worked. I was prompted to upgrade the firmware and an informative screen showed the progress and updated the device.

You can use their app to stream your content which I tested. But I also used Airplay streaming from Roon player on my Windows computer using Roon player. Shame it doesn't support Roon natively as Airplay is limited to 16 bits.

Audioengine B-Fi Measurements
My first test was streaming using Roon player on Windows using Airplay. Here is our dashboard:

View attachment 151505

My test tone is 24-bits but with conversion to 16 bits using Airplay, we are limited to about 94 to 96 dB. Here we are way short of that with SINAD of 80 dB. The spectrum looks very messy which is likely a combination of many factors from Airplay conversion to DAC artifacts. To remove the latter, I measured the Toslink digital out:

View attachment 151506

We get 9 dB performance improvement showing the DAC was definitely low quality. So you can use an external DAC and get better performance.

I thought maybe using their App would get around Airplay limitations but this was not the case. Here is analog out performance again:

View attachment 151508

And digital out:

View attachment 151509

There is definitely conversion error there from 24 bits to 16 so I created a native 16 bit test file. Here is that outcome:

View attachment 151510

This got rid of a lot of the spurious tones which were created due to bit rate conversion but overall performance is still shy of 16 bit performance.

I ran a quick dynamic range test before calling it quits:
View attachment 151511

So this is disappointing as well.

Conclusions
It is a shame that the beauty of the B-Fi streamer is only skin deep. After 40 years since the introduction of the CD 16 bit format, this device still can't provide transparency to the format in either noise or distortion. A DIY Raspberry Pi streamer will produce state of the art performance compared to it so software and architecture is not a problem. Execution and lack of quality checking and standards, is.

Now the thing works and produces music. So if you want to use it, I am not going to complain but clearly no attempt was put in to produce a high-performance device despite this statement on the website:

View attachment 151512

There is nothing high resolution or high definition here. I suspect this device was designed by some other company for Audioengine. If so, I hope they put pressure on them to produce a version 2 that really performs. They can even move up the price to $199 and still be good if it produced the performance of a $9 Apple headphone dongle.

As is, I can't recommend the Audioengine B-Fi based on objective performance.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Do I understand you correctly that you wouldn't even recommend this using a digital out to an external DAC?
 
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