Until recently not much, but now Belkin bring us the Belkin Tunestage, this is a small transmit unit that attaches to the top of your iPod a bit like the FM tuner units and sends the audio output back to your HiFi using Bluetooth connectivity. The 10 meter range of Bluetooth means you can roam within the confines of an average room and even though walls assuming you don't go beyond the 20ft effective range, Bluetooth can run at speeds of up to 1mbit per second meaning that the highest iPod range of 320kbps is well within limits.

Belkin have opted for the newer V 1.2 Bluetooth standard which uses better adaptive frequency hopping which means that it offers a better signal in noisy RF environments, for you and me that means better sound with less possibility of interference from WiFi networks and other electrical equipment.

The transmit unit is styled and shaped to blend with the iPod unit and it also takes its power from the iPod's battery meaning its a lightweight and simple device which doesn't really burden your player or make it look any worse, Belkin have even used the same white plastic as Apple.

The base unit is a larger but smoothly styled ice white device, it has simple indicators for Bluetooth connection and for active data, the rear of the unit houses 2 RCA connectors and it ships with a gold RCA to 3.5mm jack adaptor lead. It sure beats having to use one of the poorly executed iPod remote controls, this Belkin Tunestage actually allows you to drive the best interface (your iPod) and have the sound directly linked wirelessly to any HiFi equipment of your choice.

It's not a new idea but all pervious systems have been based on RF and FM systems, the latter being technically outlawed in the UK under the wireless telegraphy act, so the use of Bluetooth is a novel way to get the required link. We can't help but wonder why the Tunestage did not use WiFi which should have given it a longer range and allow it to stream to a home network as well as the receiver unit. But we should not look a gift horse in the mouth just yet, we can't wait to get our paws on it for a lengthy test in the next few weeks.

Published - 22/07/2005

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