Sondigo's Sirocco Wireless Audio Bridge offers an easy way to stream any audio from your PC to anywhere on your existing wireless network. The Sirocco is unique in that it is not just another wireless audio player that can access music from your hard drive. Instead, the Sirocco essentially acts as a wireless soundcard, allowing you to transmit any audio from your PC to the Sirocco unit using your wireless network. This means that any audio you can play on your PC can be transmitted to the Sirocco - including music protected by DRM or streaming audio that most audio players can't access - you can even transmit the audio from DVDs through the Sirocco! It supports Dolby Digital, so you can stream 5.1 surround sound from DVDs direct to your home theatre for decoding.
Set up is actually very easy - just connect the analog or digital outputs from the Sirocco to your home theatre, amp or speakers and install the drivers on your PC. The Sirocco will then appear as a standard soundcard that you can use for playback. Now you can playback your audio from Windows Media Player, iTunes, or any software - such as Sonar, Cubase, Sibelius, Finale, Pro Tools - directly to your home audio system without needing to run long cables or worry about loss of sonic quality. As the Sirocco supports a digital output, you don't have to worry about loss of sonic quality if you are working with pro audio software - you will have a straight digital connection from your software to your speakers or monitors.
Other than installing the drivers on your PC, there isn't any additional set-up or hardware to add to your computer. It uses your existing wireless network, and although an 802.11g network is recommended, I had no problems using my 802.11b network for regular audio. If you plan on using the Dolby Digital features to either playback 5.1 audio, or to have the Sirocco turn 2 channel audio into 5.1 audio for you, I would recommend going with an 802.11g network.
Aside from the obvious advantages that the Sirocco offers to anyone that wants to use their PC for home theatre, the Sirocco will also appeal to laptop or Tablet PC users who want to play music without being tethered to the audio system, or relying on tiny built in speakers. The Sirocco gives you the freedom to move with your laptop without worrying about losing your audio connection or tripping over cables!
Another interesting feature offered by the Sirocco is the ability to be accessed by multiple PCs. If you've got more than one computer and are tired of switching cables from one computer to the other to use your home theatre or studio monitors, the Sirocco is the perfect solution. Just install the driver software on each PC - now each of your computers can access your speakers without switching wires or the need for a mixer.
Sound Cards
