Teufel Streamer: make your old speaker smart

Nowadays, no speaker can escape smart ‘connected’ functions. Can you send sound to it via bluetooth? Are all kinds of streaming services integrated? And can you connect the speakers together for a multiroom installation? They are all useful functions, but it is a pity that you have to replace your old speakers for that. Although they have excellent sound quality, they cannot be described as smart or connected. Fortunately, Teufel, the company that also makes a lot of “smart” speakers, has sympathy for all those old speakers. With the Teufel Streamer you give them the same “connected” features that new speakers have.

The Teufel Streamer is a small box that you place next to your hi-fi system or directly next to the speakers. At the top there are a number of buttons to select sound sources, skip tracks or adjust the volume. The first configuration is simple. Connect the Streamer to the mains, download the Raumfeld app on your iPhone and follow the steps to connect the box to your Wi-Fi. Pro tip: You can also connect the Streamer to the router wired – that will ensure an even more stable connection. The Raumfeld app also has a clear structure, but a little more fi net tuning on the iPad would have been nice. Here, album covers are often blurred, but on the iPhone they are sharp.

Importing shared music to our Mac went smoothly, and we also had no problems using an external hard drive with music, connected to the streamer via USB. In the Raumfeld app you also make contact with all kinds of music streaming services. How about Spotify, Deezer, TuneIn (for radio), Soundcloud or Tidal? Unfortunately, Apple Music is missing from this list. To play music from this service via the Streamer, you unfortunately have to use bluetooth. The Streamer also supports that, of course, but you do lose some sound quality. You can connect analog sources such as a record player to the streamer via standard RCA plugs. That way you can also include it in a multiroom installation.

Sound quality

All the great functions of the Teufel Streamer would be worthless if the sound quality were ultimately disappointing. That is why we have listened to music extensively with it, through various sources. First some facts about the technology used. The Streamer contains a Cirrus chip that converts the digital audio signals into analog for the speakers. Apple also uses Cirrus chips in its iPhones and iPad – they are known for their good sound quality. This quality is confirmed during our listening test: music from the streamer sounds just as good as from CD or any other source of the same high quality. As mentioned, the quality of streaming via bluetooth decreases slightly, but you also have that with any other bluetooth device.

By the way, if you want to use your own digital to analog converter instead of the Cirrus chip, you can do so via the optical output of the Streamer. This can still make a difference in a super expensive hi-fi installation. Anyone who still has beautiful old speakers at home can quickly make them smart and connected with the Teufel Streamer. The good sound quality is a nice bonus.