Uncovering the Best WiFi2HiFi Alternatives for Seamless Audio Streaming
WiFi2HiFi, with its promise of wirelessly streaming music from your computer to your hi-fi system via your iPhone, offered a convenient solution for many audio enthusiasts. It allowed users to enjoy streaming services and local music files from the comfort of their couch, without the need for additional complex hardware. However, as technology evolves and user needs diversify, many are searching for robust WiFi2HiFi alternatives that offer broader compatibility, more features, or simply a fresh approach to wireless audio. If you're looking to upgrade your setup or find a new way to get your digital tunes to your speakers, you've come to the right place.
Top WiFi2HiFi Alternatives
Whether you're seeking a comprehensive media server, a simple audio streamer, or something in between, these alternatives offer excellent ways to bridge the gap between your digital music collection and your home audio system.
Plex
Plex is a powerful and visually appealing media server that bridges the gap between your computer and your home theater, making it an excellent WiFi2HiFi alternative. Available on a vast array of platforms including Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, and many more, Plex offers robust media streaming, media transcoding, and remote media access. It allows you to play local content, manage your library automatically, and even provides a dedicated server hosting option, making it a comprehensive solution for managing and streaming all your media, not just audio.
Subsonic
Subsonic is a free, web-based media streamer providing ubiquitous access to your music and video, making it a fantastic WiFi2HiFi alternative, especially for those who want to share their music or access it remotely. Available on Mac, Windows, Linux, and as a web-based solution for Android and iPhone, Subsonic acts as a local server, allowing for media streaming, music collection management, and the ability to stream your own media. Its self-hosted nature gives you full control over your content.
Infuse
Infuse is primarily a video player, but its robust media handling capabilities make it a worthy consideration as a WiFi2HiFi alternative if your goal is broad media playback on Apple devices. Available on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, Infuse boasts vast format support, negating the need to convert files. It also includes support for DLNA, metadata search, and subtitles, making it a powerful client for accessing media from your network.
Airfoil
Airfoil stands out as a direct and highly effective WiFi2HiFi alternative for sending any audio from your Mac or PC to various receivers. It supports streaming to AirPort Express units, Apple TVs, and even other Macs and PCs, all in sync. Available commercially for Mac, Linux, Android, and iPhone, Airfoil's key features include AirPlay support and a clean design, making it incredibly straightforward to stream audio across your network.
WiFi Audio Wireless Speaker
For Android users, WiFi Audio Wireless Speaker offers a free and simple WiFi2HiFi alternative by turning your Android device into a wireless speaker. This app, available on Android and Android Tablet, works by running a Windows or Linux executable on your computer, allowing you to easily stream audio from your machine directly to your Android device, functioning much like an audio receiver.
Stream What You Hear
Stream What You Hear (SWYH) is a free and open-source Windows application that broadcasts the sound of your computer (i.e., “what you hear”) to UPnP/DLNA devices such as TVs, amps, or network receivers. This makes it an excellent WiFi2HiFi alternative for Windows users looking for a straightforward way to get their PC's audio onto their home stereo system with support for DLNA and music streaming.
Soundfly
Soundfly is a free Mac-only application that uses Apple's AUNetSend and Soundflower to broadcast audio to another Mac on your network. This makes it a specialized WiFi2HiFi alternative for Mac users who want to stream audio between their Apple computers, providing a simple and effective solution for local network audio distribution.
Jamcast
Jamcast is a commercial Windows application that allows you to access your music collection from anywhere in the world by streaming all your music to Android and UPnP/DLNA connected devices. Offering a free 14-day trial, Jamcast provides strong support for DLNA and music streaming, serving as a comprehensive WiFi2HiFi alternative for Windows users who need both local and remote access to their audio library.
Stardock Acoustic Bridge
Stardock Acoustic Bridge is a commercial Windows application that gives you the power to redirect audio from one PC to the speakers of another PC. This functionality makes it a unique WiFi2HiFi alternative for those who want to leverage their existing PC hardware for audio output, enabling you to send sound from a PC with your music collection to another PC connected to your speakers.
AudioStreamer
AudioStreamer is a free and open-source web-based audio streamer that gives you easy access to your music by turning your PC into a streaming webserver. Available for Windows and Linux, AudioStreamer is a fantastic WiFi2HiFi alternative for users who want a simple, self-hosted solution for music streaming and managing their music collection via a web interface.
Exploring these WiFi2HiFi alternatives reveals a diverse landscape of solutions for wireless audio streaming. Whether you prioritize a robust media server, simple point-to-point audio transmission, or open-source flexibility, there's likely a perfect fit for your home audio setup. Consider your operating system, desired features, and budget to select the best alternative that brings your music to life.