Still, as much as WiSA can simplify things, there’s not a lot of information about what it is, how it works, and what you need to know to make an informed choice about whether it’s right for you. We’re going to fix that with this in-depth, no-stone-unturned explainer. Here’s everything you need to know about WiSA.
What is WiSA?
WiSA is both a hardware and software standard for delivering high-resolution digital audio wirelessly from a source device to a maximum of eight channels. It does this with a high degree of reliability and can transmit audio at up to 24-bit/48kHz or 24-bit/96kHz sample rates, which WiSA says is twice the quality of CDs. The specification also allows WiSA systems to support 3D audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
A WiSA-compatible home theater is made to be plug-and-play, lets you place your speakers anywhere you like as long as they have access to a wall outlet. This eliminates the need for running speaker wires, and in some cases, the need for an A/V receiver altogether (more on this later). Your WiSA components talk to each other wirelessly, making the setup process easy.
What WiSA is not
Though it shares many attributes with wireless multiroom speakers like those made by Sonos, Denon, Yamaha, and others, WiSA is not a multiroom, whole-home music system. As a stand-alone wireless audio technology, it is not intended to join any of these other wireless audio ecosystems. It’s strictly for passing audio wirelessly within a single home theater setup and it is not compatible with non-WiSA Wi-Fi or Bluetooth speakers.
However, some speakers that are WiSA Certified, such as Harman Kardon’s Citation series, possess separate Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, which means you could also use them for other wireless audio applications.
Why would I want WiSA?
WiSA’s biggest advantage is that it frees consumers from having to install or even think about speaker cables in a single room. It’s the same convenience offered by some surround sound home theater soundbars, but with the separate speakers of an authentic surround-sound system. If you’ve ever wanted a true 5.1 or 7.1 surround system, but have hesitated because of the wiring requirements, WiSA is for you.
In addition, WiSA speakers may offer sound performance benefits in that the speakers’ built-in amplifiers can be tailor-made for their specific components. This should, in theory, allow WiSA speakers to outperform all but the most perfectly matched amplifier/speaker configurations in their class.
Another benefit: If you want, you can mix and match WiSA-compatible speakers from various brands, for way more flexibility than you’d get from a soundbar-based system, or a proprietary system like Sonos.
What do I need to get going with WiSA?
There are two ways to work with WiSA.
WiSA Ready TVs
WiSA Ready devices, like 2019 and 2020 LG TVs, have the required software to let you control a WiSA set of speakers, but they do not have a WiSA transmitter built-in. WiSA Ready products require the purchase of an external USB WiSA transmitter, like this Axiim Link HD transmitter.
Several TV manufacturers have joined WiSA, including Toshiba, Fengmi, LG, Foxconn, TCL, Bang & Olufsen, and most recently Hisense and Toshiba, which means we’ll likely see an increasing number of WiSA Ready and WiSA Certified TVs.
Once the transmitter is installed, the TV gives you full control over your wireless speakers via an on-screen interface. All you need at that point is one or more WiSA Certified speakers.
Non-WiSA Ready TVs
If your existing TV isn’t WiSA Ready, you can add WiSA capability through an HDMI or optical port-connected WiSA transmitters like Axiim’s Q UHD Wireless Media Center or the new $180 WiSA SoundSend, which will hit the market in November 2020.
Again, once this type of transmitter is installed, you’ll need some WiSA Certified powered speakers, like Harmon Kardon’s Citation series speakers or Klipsch’s Reference WiSA speakers.
The Wireless Home-Theater-In-A-Box
If you prefer a simpler route, some companies are starting to ship all-in-one WiSA home theater systems that include everything you need to get going with WiSA. The Platin Audio Monaco 5.1 system works with both WiSA Ready TVs as well as regular TVs thanks to the included WiSA SoundSend transmitter (see below). For those who are perfectly happy with their non-WiSA Ready TV, the Enclave Cinehome II and Cinehome Pro offer the option of a WiSA Certified hub device that lets you connect any TV via HDMI ARC.
No A/V receiver? Really?
That’s right. If you have a WiSA Ready source device with a WiSA transmitter or a WiSA Certified source device, you don’t need an A/V receiver at all. These two types of WiSA sources can handle every aspect of getting wireless audio to your WiSA Certified powered speakers.
That said, you can absolutely use an A/V receiver in a WiSA home theater setup if you want. The receiver needs to be either WiSA Ready (with an additional transmitter) or WiSA Certified. At the moment, only two such devices are on the market, the SC15 Prisma and the PRE35 Prisma, both from the Scandinavian company, Primare.
There are several benefits to using a WiSA A/V receiver over WiSA’s current generation of transmission devices like LG TVs, Windows 10 computers, and Xbox consoles:
- As with a traditional A/V receiver, you get lots of inputs, letting you plug-in any source device (Blu-ray player, cable or satellite box, gaming console, etc.)
- You can mix and match WiSA and wired speakers. For instance, WiSA is limited to eight wireless channels, but some surround setups, like Dolby Atmos 7.1.4, require more than that. A WiSA A/V receiver lets you create wired connections to your front speakers (e.g. front left, front right, and center channel) while simultaneously supporting WiSA wireless connections to the rear, height, and subwoofer speakers.
- You get all of the fine-grain control over your system a receiver offers, like adjustable crossover frequencies, scenes, effects, etc.
Are all WiSA setups the same?
No. Even though the WiSA ecosystem guarantees the compatibility and wireless performance of WiSA products, there can be differences from one WiSA setup to another.
“The baseline WiSA Ready Certification Specification is focused on interoperability, reliability, and signal integrity,” WiSA President Tony Ostrom told Digital Trends, but “additional features can easily be added at the discretion of the brands developing products.”
An example of these additional features is the Axiim Link HD, a WiSA USB transmitter that works with the new WiSA Ready LG TVs and other WiSA Ready devices. It incorporates multiple advanced features, including bass management, channel level control, and channel equalization, all controlled via Axiim’s mobile app.
The WiSA SoundSend works the same way, using a mobile app to configure a variety of settings, including a customization feature called My Zone, which lets you indicate the distance from the viewer to every speaker in the room.
Not every WiSA USB transmitter will necessarily offer similar controls, although Ostrom tells us that future iterations of the WiSA spec will “mandate the incorporation of some advanced features that we believe to be very useful in setting up a typical multi-channel audio system.”
Another important difference is support for specific audio codecs. Although WiSA makes it possible to experience a variety of codecs and formats, like Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and others, your specific gear needs to support them, too. Just because a product is WiSA Certified doesn’t mean it’s Dolby TrueHD compatible, for instance.
It’s worth noting that there isn’t always a one-to-one relationship between the kind of audio that a source device can handle and what it can support via a WiSA setup. For instance, 2019 to 2021 LG OLED TVs are Dolby Atmos-capable, which means they can pass through Dolby Atmos soundtracks over HDMI ARC back to an Atmos-capable receiver. That receiver can then use as many channels as it supports to recreate the full Atmos effect. But when that same LG TV is connected to a WiSA set of speakers via a WiSA transmitter, it will only support 2.0 or 5.1 configurations — not Dolby Atmos.
