Andover Audio has a solution for all those audio systems out there that lack wireless connectivity — or are equipped with outdated/underperforming wireless. The Songbird music streamer is a compact, affordable box that plugs into a 3.5mm AUX input or optical input on any system, bringing both CD-quality Wi-Fi and Bluetooth music streaming capability.

Enjoy Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) Streaming Audio on Virtually Any Audio System

Many hardcore music fans — especially the ones with turntables and record collections — prefer to listen to their music on vintage equipment. That means no wireless streaming capability. Plug the Songbird music streamer into an AUX input on your receiver or amplifier, and your vintage audio system now has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi streaming capability. 

You get all the convenience of modern technology without having to give up any of your vintage, analog goodness.

Even current systems can benefit tremendously from a Songbird upgrade. A perfect example is Andover’s own Model One, which I reviewed last year. This very capable all-in-one premium system has Bluetooth wireless. But with Wi-Fi streaming standards still developing, the company left that feature out. However, plug in the Songbird (the Model One is equipped with optical input that can take full advantage of the Songbird’s digital TOSLINK output) and the missing Wi-Fi streaming capability is now there.

The Songbird can update its firmware via the mobile app, so the music streamer can gain support for any new standards as they develop.

Finally, many of us own a Bluetooth speaker. They are great for portability. But have you ever had a Bluetooth speaker set up in your home and wish it had the whole-home range of Wi-Fi instead of the 30-foot or so limitation of Bluetooth? Plug in the Songbird to the speaker’s 3.5mm AUX input and you can stream music, skip tracks, and control volume from anywhere your Wi-Fi network is available.

Easy Setup

Setup of the Songbird was drop-dead simple. I downloaded the Songbird app, plugged the streamer into the 3.5mm AUX input on my audio system, then followed the instructions. You get verbal cues from the Songbird itself (via your audio system), and the app walks you through the process. 

Basically, you’re connecting to the Songbird with your mobile device, then connecting the streamer to your Wi-Fi network (or to your router via Ethernet). The streamer doesn’t support 5GHz connections, but I had no issue connecting to my Orbi mesh Wi-Fi network. The process took all of 30 seconds. I waited another three minutes or so while the Songbird downloaded and installed a firmware upgrade.

From there, I could select the Songbird (and the system it is connected to) using Bluetooth, or as an AirPlay speaker.

The Songbird is very compact and extremely light (my kitchen scale says it weighs just 2.7 ounces). That means you can even tuck it out of sight if you wish, using the included 3M Velcro strip. Keep in mind that if you do that, it may make it tougher to access the front push-button that cycles through the outputs: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Line In, and Optical. You can still make the switch via the app, however.

Hands-on With the Songbird Music Streamer

Setup of the Songbird is easy, and it’s small enough to tuck out of sight if you don’t want to see a hunk of black plastic, but how does the music streamer sound?

Pretty nice.

In my case, I was primarily testing with a Bluetooth speaker that lacked support for Apple’s AAC codec. Streaming Apple Music via Bluetooth from my iPhone to the Songbird, the audio was a definite step up in quality. The Songbird supports AAC, so that eliminated the additional processing going on with the speaker’s native Bluetooth radio.

Streaming over Wi-Fi using AirPlay sounded fantastic, while offering advantages including whole-home coverage and no interruptions from notifications on the phone. 

I played some tracks over AirPlay using Amazon Music HD. This service offers lossless music (either 16 bit/44.1kHz or Hi-Res 24-bit/192kHz). That’s where things got next level. The Songbird supports up to 24-bit/192kHz streaming, however, the streamer’s output is downsampled to 16 bit/44.1kHz. That’s still CD quality. With the wireless speaker I was testing with (which is quite capable and equipped with seven drivers), the difference between native Bluetooth streaming and Amazon Music HD over AirPlay using the Songbird was very noticeable. In a good way.

Songbird Key Specs:

• Wireless inputs: 2.4GHz Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, Apple AirPLay, DLNA compatible
• Wired inputs: analog (3.5mm mini), digital optical (TOSLINK), Ethernet
• Wired outputs: Analog (3.5mm mini), digital optical (TOSLINK) 
• Digital output resampled to 16 bit/44.1kHz (CD quality)
• Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
• Supported codecs: MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, ALAC, FLAC, APE, WAV
• 3.0 x 3.24 x 1.0 inches
• Native access to Qobuz, Spotify, Tidal, Napster, iHeart Radio, and Tune-In
• Includes 3M velcro strip, 3.5-inch mini to dual RCA cable, TOSLINK to Mini TOSLINK cable, 5V power supply + USB cable
• Free Songbird mobile app for iOS/Android
• MSRP: $149.00

Recommendation

There are many audio systems out there that lack the convenience of wireless streaming. There are others — even recently released systems — that have integrated Bluetooth support, but lack the whole-home convenience and higher quality of Wi-Fi streaming services like Apple AirPlay. Andover Audio’s Songbird is a great solution to all of these shortcomings.

It’s compact, affordable, easy to set up, and flexible with a wide range of inputs and outputs. Most importantly, the Songbird makes it easy to enjoy your favorite streaming music service on virtually any audio system whether it’s from 1970 or 2021.  

Disclosure: Andover Audio provided a Songbird for evaluation but had no input into this review.