Experiences with Wi Digital Audiolink Pro for in-ears?

    Does anyone have good or bad experiences with the Wi Digital Audiolink Pro as an in-ear transmitter system?


    I'm considering going wireless (cabled in-ears at the moment), and have been looking for a cheap/good 2.4GHz in-ear system. Seems like there should be a market for that seeing as you can get wireless guitar systems that are cheap and good in that space. But so far I have only found the Wi Digital one. Are there others?


    I owned an LD Systems MEI 1000 for a couple months before I went cabled. Appalling sound quality IMHO, farty bass, too much noise. So at this point the other option I see is to spring for something like the Sennheiser EW 300.


    Opinions and experiences are very welcome!

    I have tried some cheap iem and it worked.. they cut out on outdoor consert, because of the humidity. ok sound, but now I am using Sennheiser ew 300, and its realy good sound and very reiable! i had no problems or interference with it think I have used them for 3-4 years now. original earpugs is even good and they stay in the ear when moving around.. quality cost a lot, but i think its worth it, the ew 300 is almost as expencive as the Kemper here in Norway!

    Quote from terje_t

    Wow, cool, @Ingolf!


    I'll be very curious to hear your opinion about it when you try it!


    Thank YOU for your heads- up.
    It should arrive here mid next week.
    Thomann doesn't stock it so I ordered from gear4music in the UK.


    Thinking about it I'm surprised that nobody else seems to do this (i.e. selling an IEM that works in the digital 2.4 GHz domain like the Line 6 relay does. And you canu use it as a guitar wireless
    as well (not sure about the latency here, we'll see). And you can even use it bi- directionally.

    Quote from Ingolf


    Thinking about it I'm surprised that nobody else seems to do this (i.e. selling an IEM that works in the digital 2.4 GHz domain like the Line 6 relay does. […]


    My thought exactly. I can't believe there's not a bigger market for this, if it keeps what it promises: clean good sound without interference for cheaps. The Line6 stuff has become the standard in the space, so why isn't there a similar big standard in-ear product?

    Quote from Akkan

    Seems really interesting. Waiting for Ingolf's review. :thumbup:


    What i heard before, digital in ear systems should have a noticeable latency. It is ok for instrument signals, but for IEM it shall be disturbing.


    Why should that be?
    I can play in sync with my band using my Line 6 Relay 30 transmitting on 2.4 GHz.
    When my backing to my in-ears is transmitted with similar (non- avoidable) latency there should be no problem at all. But I'll check these crucial things thoroughly of course.
    BTW I expected delivery today but no dice.
    Maybe tomorrow...

    Well, so I have been able to test drive this device thoroughly now.
    What a smart piece of technology!
    Like outlined before, you can use this as IEM or simply swap receiver and transmitter (they are of the same size) to use it as a digital wireless from guitar to amp.


    First comes the IEM use because this is why I bought it and how I intend to use it.



    1. Latency:
    I plugged the device (with headphone) into one channel of my Art multichannel headphone amp, into another channel I plugged an analog HP, and into another the output of my trusty LD Systems MEI 1000, which is a middle class IEM system I've been using for some years.
    Then I fed some playback music into the respective headphones (and also played some guitar with it) and plugged different sources into my different ears, i.e. one channel of one source combined with one channel of another source.
    Result: No latency, no perceivable 'lag' between my left and right ear. Very good. Note that also the MEI 1000 has no noticeable latenccy compared to my analog HP's.


    2. Hiss:
    With the same configuration as above, I can state that the WI Digital Audiolink Pro is hissing noticeably LESS than the MEI 1000.


    3. Sound:
    Well, the MEI 1000 changes the overall sound quite a bit, adding some high mids and treble, which is more noticeable with my realtime guitar signal fed into the mixer than with the playback. This is also the reason why I never 'loved' the signal from the MEI because of its non-fidelity to the original source.
    The WI Digital Audiolink Pro doesn't do this. It sounds almost exactly (within the testing configuration) as my analog HP signal. Very good.


    4. Loudness:
    The MEI 1000 has loudness on tap! The WI Digital Audiolink Pro has much less. I will say that this is no problem at all, provided you use a goo HP amp.


    5. Transmitting distance:
    The WI Digital Audiolink Pro is supposed to transmit about 30 meters with its dual antenna construction, the MEI 1000 (single antenna) I don't know.
    I had setup the configuration in my basement, then walked up into the living room (which are very hard conditions for WL systems because of walls AND ceilings). The MEI 1000 had no problem at all, while the WI Digital Audiolink Pro became a bit fragile and lost connection once.


    6. Reliability:
    This I will have to test a bit further. The WI Digital Audiolink Pro lost connection once or twice despite me being in the same room. It could be due to the fact that I was being checking and changing its internal configuration. I will rehearse with it next week and report back.


    Verdict: Provided reliability will be considered good by me after using it in full rehearsal and band setting next week I think that the WI Digital Audiolink Pro is the clear winner here, sounding much better and having much more fidelity than my MEI 1000.



    WI Digital Audiolink Pro as a WL:
    In short: It works quite well.
    But: Compared to my Line 6 Relay 30 there's a bit of latency that I can perceive.
    I could play with it no problem (and it really is not bad) but it's certainly adding to some slight feeling of disconnection to the guitar, so I won't use it for this and I wouldn't recommend to buy this device primarily as a guitar WL.


    For IEM it could be 'the future'.

    Quote from metalmike

    Without a HP amp, is WI Digital Audiolink Pro loud enough for band rehearsal or even live performance?

    Where would you plug into?
    Into the Kemper: My answer would be 'yes', as the Profiler's HP amp is very powerful.
    Plugging the transmitter directly into my iPod Classic is perfectly ok for consuming music on your own but may be a bit too quiet for loud surroundings.

    Thanks for your test, Ingolf ;)
    Could you observe any problems with Wifi when using the WI? (Or the other way round?)


    I'm afraid those dropouts you experience when using the WI for IEM are due to physics. Using higher frequencies results in a higher damping of the signal as the receiver is attached to the body which is basically water. It isn't that much of a problem when the receiver stands free (e.g. guitar wireless).
    (For those who understand German, there was a discussion about IEM-systems using higher frequencies in Musiker-Board.)

    My biggest fear is when I die my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

    @malleus:
    My house is full of WiFi, and in the rehearsal room in my basement where I did most of the testing I have also a dedicated WiFi for controlling the Behringer X32 rack mixer via iPad App.


    This all went ok I think.
    As for the dropouts we'll see if it makes a difference between having the Transmitter on the guitar belt or in my pocket.


    Danke für den Link im Guitarboard! ;)

    Quote from metalmike


    Into a mixing console for my band's singer in ear monitoring, for rehearsal or live! Will he have low volume issues? Or dropouts?


    I think it's impossible to say without trying. The WI Digital Audiolink Pro definitely needs a healthy line level to drive headphones (I tested several different ones, cheap iPhone to UE SF 10's) properly

    I don't really understand this, why does the transmitter require a high line input level, doesn't it have some gain adjustment?

    MJT Strats / PRS Guitars / Many DIY Guitars -- Kemper Profiler Rack / Kemper Remote / InEar