This is a review and detailed measurements of the SVS SoundPath Wireless Audio Adapter. It was kindly purchased new by a member and drop shipped to me. It costs US $119 on Amazon including Prime shipping.
I was surprised by the nice packaging of the units:
I looked the FCC ID and it is registered as WS-12 by Yung International in Taiwan. So there are likely other brands private labeling it.
Power is provided through USB connection and output is 3.5 mm which is a bit inconvenient (cheap 3.5 mm to RCA cables are provided):
The units paired automatically out of the box. Operationally they worked fine although I only had them 2 feet/0.5 meter apart.
SVS SoundPath Measurements
Using our standard dashboard view we see rather disappointing performance:
I had to reduce the voltage to the unit substantially to stop it from clipping (sorry forgot to zero the FFT). The device brings a bit of amplification.
Testing for frequency response shows that the input is digitized at 44.1 kHz:
THD+N vs level shows that you get the same performance before sharp clipping:
Crosstalk is excellent, likely due to digital communication path:
Sweeping the frequency, we see that distortion rises even more at higher frequencies:
Dynamic range is better than distortion level:
Testing for interference by putting a mobile phone on top of it while it was running a Wifi speed test, naturally reduces performance:
So don't put your phone on top of it.
Conclusions
It is nice to see a full bandwidth wireless adapter. Alas, that extra bandwidth comes at high cost of distortion and noise. Our previously tested REL Subwoofer Adapter did much better, likely due to its bandwidth limiting. It was also a bit cheaper so if all you need is subwoofer support, get that unit. If you need this for rear channels, be sure to set the levels in your processor or AVR so that it doesn't clip.
As is, I can't recommend the SVS SoundPath unless you are super desperate.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I was surprised by the nice packaging of the units:
I looked the FCC ID and it is registered as WS-12 by Yung International in Taiwan. So there are likely other brands private labeling it.
Power is provided through USB connection and output is 3.5 mm which is a bit inconvenient (cheap 3.5 mm to RCA cables are provided):
The units paired automatically out of the box. Operationally they worked fine although I only had them 2 feet/0.5 meter apart.
SVS SoundPath Measurements
Using our standard dashboard view we see rather disappointing performance:
I had to reduce the voltage to the unit substantially to stop it from clipping (sorry forgot to zero the FFT). The device brings a bit of amplification.
Testing for frequency response shows that the input is digitized at 44.1 kHz:
THD+N vs level shows that you get the same performance before sharp clipping:
Crosstalk is excellent, likely due to digital communication path:
Sweeping the frequency, we see that distortion rises even more at higher frequencies:
Dynamic range is better than distortion level:
Testing for interference by putting a mobile phone on top of it while it was running a Wifi speed test, naturally reduces performance:
So don't put your phone on top of it.
Conclusions
It is nice to see a full bandwidth wireless adapter. Alas, that extra bandwidth comes at high cost of distortion and noise. Our previously tested REL Subwoofer Adapter did much better, likely due to its bandwidth limiting. It was also a bit cheaper so if all you need is subwoofer support, get that unit. If you need this for rear channels, be sure to set the levels in your processor or AVR so that it doesn't clip.
As is, I can't recommend the SVS SoundPath unless you are super desperate.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/