Customer Ratings & Reviews

I will preface my thoughts by saying that Belkin absolutely should have included an optical and 3.5 mm cable with the device. These are not common cables that everyone has multiple of just laying about in their house. These are rather specialized cables (especially the optical) that most people don’t have. Getting this device and then realizing that you don’t have any immediate way to connect it is a total buzzkill. I cannot overemphasize this enough - for $99, the cables need to be included. Okay, now I had a rather specific use case scenario for this - I wanted to connect it to my first generation Sonos Connect in order to pipe AirPlay 2 audio from my iDevice into my various in-ceiling speakers via my Control4 home automation system. And, it works! But, I got lucky in terms of just happening to have the specific audio cable at home - a 3.5 mm to RCA (red and white) cable. The 3.5 mm went into the Belkin and the RCA went into the Sonos Connect. In a weird twist of fate, it just so happens that the specific cable that I needed and happened to have at home was made by Belkin, though I don’t remember the reason why I had that specific cable in the first place. Anyway, once you have everything connected and setup, the Belkin shows up as an AirPlay 2 destination in your iDevice’s audio output picker. And, it just works. So, Belkin if you’re reading this, please include the cables in your next iteration of this product.

The item works as advertised and as recommended by Best Buy Service Adviser.

Pushes sound from my AppleTV to another speaker I connected the Belkin to.

Second one we’ve purchased to make speakers homekit compatible.

Great product once installed. Absolutely terrible installation process and instructions; very very frustrating. They need to take a lesson from Apple.

nicely working really well my speakers love it too

Review for Belkin - SoundForm Connect Audio Adapter with Airplay 2 We put on an addition years ago with very nice, wired speakers in the ceiling. Recently, we’ve used them less often in favor of Bluetooth speakers that are portable and convenient for playing music using voice commands. The Belkin - SoundForm Connect Adapter gives us the best of both worlds! It’s a cinch to install and surprisingly tiny. We connected it directly to our stereo amplifier, but it would be equally at home on a TV home theater sound system or a TV sound bar. There’s an included usb power supply and either a digital audio out or a 1/8” stereo jack that runs through the amp to the speakers. Using the Belkin SOUNDFORM app and Airplay, you can cast your favorite song, album, or playlist to the connected speakers. I wish the instructions included just a *little* more info on Airplay itself. The fact that I still have a stereo system probably says more about me and my unfamiliarity with Airplay, but a few pointers would have made this a truly effortless learning curve!

I love that I was able to add airplay to my soundbar that did not have bluetooth. It gave new features to my older tech. Now I can play music in my family room and stream direct from my phone. Setup was super simple and the quality is great.

The setup I have only has Spotify Connect and not AirPlay, so being able to purchase an adapter that can add AirPlay to a stereo is wonderful. I did not test the analog out, but I did use the toslink connector into my external DAC and streamed music from my iPhone 13 Pro without any issues whatsoever. Set up was super easy. I held the phone near the SoundForm and installed in less than a minute. Sound quality via the toslink connection feeding my Topping E30 was superb. No dropouts. I also connected it to my Sennheiser Amber soundbar via the toslink connection and got wonderful sound. It is a little pricey, but the SoundForm Connect does exactly what it is supposed to do and does it extremely well. If you are looking for a device to add AirPlay to an existing component that does not have it, look no further.

Let's start with why you want AirPlay if you already have Bluetooth. First, audio quality. Bluetooth has limits and cannot play high quality audio in its full glory. In fact, it sounds noticeably different than the same music played from a CD. While AirPlay sounds far better, if you can't tell the difference, then either your audio system or you ears are not good enough, and you'll have no benefit here. Second, effects. Bluetooth cannot transmit surround sound or ATMOS signals, AirPlay can. Third, latency. That sound delay when you're watching a movie with Bluetooth audio goes away with AirPlay. Fourth, range. While Bluetooth has a decent range, AirPlay works across WiFi, so can be controlled from anywhere on the same network, without interference from devices like microwave ovens. Now, why would you want the SoundForm Connect versus a competing product? That's a much harder question to answer. Setup is through an app, except the SoundForm app was designed for the SoundForm Elite. which you probably know is not this unit. What should have taken a few minutes took me two hours. When the app instructions tell you to look for a specific light, you don't have it on your unit. The app searches for your device. And searches. And searches. You'll never know if it's searching for an Elite or your Connect, though, and eventually you will just give up and choose the manual connection option. This tells you to connect your iOS device to the SoundForm WiFi, except it won't connect - for me, at least, the first five times. The sixth time it magically worked. The app says to then return to the SoundForm app, except this doesn't actually accomplish anything. What you really need to do is follow the iOS prompts and add this to Apple Home. You don't want to use Apple Home? Then you can't use the Connect. Once connected, you can return to the SoundForm app, except the only thing you can really do here is adjust the volume. So now you can change the volume on your iOS device, your audio system, and the SoundForm app. The only thing the app does is useless; set it to max and leave it so that you never, ever have to open the app again. Once set up, it works well. It's lightweight and compact, and with 3.5mm and optical connectors, easy to attach. But the app makes it all entirely too frustrating to recommend.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Best Buy’s Technical Insider Network, TIN for short. Reviewers in this invitation-only program are provided products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased reviews. Initial impressions: The Belkin Soundform Connect Audio Adapter with Airplay2 works wonderfully. Setup was straightforward and easy. I have not experienced any signal disconnects after 10 hours of continuous use. The Soundform Connect can also be transported from sound system to sound system without losing the Airplay relationship with my iPhone. The only caveat is that you will need to supply your own cables. Setup: There are two ways to setup the Soundform Connect with your iPhone. The Soundform Connect has an NFC chip that a modern iPhone can use to establish the AirPlay connect. But what if your iPhone is an older model that lacks the ability read NFC chips? Belkin includes instructions on how to manually setup AirPlay. In my case I have an iPhone 6s. The bottom of the Soundform Connect has a unique code molded into the plastic. Unfortunately, the numbers are small and molded into the plastic and not painted. I needed a bright light and a magnifying glass to read the numbers. Next, I connected the Soundform Connect to my SVS Prime Wireless SoundBase. The SVS SoundBase is a mini desktop amplifier that sports Bluetooth, RCA, and fiberoptic inputs. It is perfect for testing the 3.5mm stereo and fiberoptic outputs on the Soundform Connect. Setup took me about 15 minutes. Sound: The Soundform Connect sounds much better than anything I can stream over Bluetooth. Airplay uses the 802.11n network standard for transmission instead of Bluetooth. 802.11 standards are the same used in for wireless network communications. What does this mean for AirPlay? Audio transmission quality is equivalent to CD quality. This is much nicer than the rubbish that is transmitted over Bluetooth. As mentioned earlier, my first round of testing was with the SVS SoundBase. Connected to the SoundBase are two SVS Prime Bookshelf speakers and a Martin Logan Dynamo 600X 10” down-firing subwoofer. CD quality over wireless is no joke. The Soundform Connect rocked this system. I held three audio sessions: two with the SVS SoundBase and one with my Pioneer Elite receiver. More on the Pioneer below. The first session I used a 3.5mm stereo to RCA cable. This tested the stereo output of the Soundform Connect. The audio was clear and did not have that “something is missing” sound that you normally get with Bluetooth on quality equipment. I listened for about an hour and then switched over to the fiberoptic. The fiberoptic session was noticeably better than the stereo cable. I am thinking this is because the cable is essentially taken out of the signal path. I listened to the same music as I did with the stereo cable. I got the same CD quality listening experience as I did with the stereo cable. Just better. I spent about an hour listening with the stereo cable and five with the fiberoptic. I just could not be brought back to using the stereo cable. Finally, I connected the Soundform Connect to my Pioneer Elite receiver. This will be the permanent home for the Soundform Connect. The reason is that the Pioneer Elite’s wireless capabilities are terrible. The sonic experience is okay when I can make a connection. And I am constantly fighting connection dropouts when my iPhone does connect. I connected the Soundform Connect to the receiver via fiberoptic, plugged the box into my power center, and instantly connected with my iPhone. There was not fuss and no additional setup for the iPhone. The Pioneer Elite drives a home theater that is setup to split the stereo signal to all theater speakers. The performance from the Soundform Connect was more than I could hope for. Final Thoughts: Why did I get this? I own a 5yr old Pioneer Elite receiver that struggles with Bluetooth connectivity. It is very frustrating. The Soundform Connect solved this issue for me. It not only solved the issue but AirPlay, in general, transmits CD quality sound. Much higher quality experience then Bluetooth by every measure. Does the Sound form support audio processing? No, it is not a DAC. Do not expect the Soundform Connect to improve a compressed, low quality, or poorly recorded audio file. It will also not enhance a strong audio source. The purpose of the Soundform Connect is to bring AirPlay capabilities to audio devices that do not have AirPlay capabilities. The Belkin Soundform Connect Audio Adapter with AirPlay2 does this job very well. And I would recommend this device to anyone looking to add AirPlay or AirPlay2 capabilities to an audio system or speaker that does not currently have this capability. Setup is easy. The only thing you need to worry about is picking up the right cable to connect the Soundform Connect to your audio device or speaker.

I did not know this existed and feel silly not trying to find something like it before. I have two stereo systems that are not new enough to have Airplay or even Bluetooth but are rattle the windows awesome and were high dollar in their day. The good is that while using this device I can easily access my device and stream music from my phone. Whereas before I would have leave my phone plugged up next to equipment. That in a nutshell is what won it for me. The bad, its audio output when connected via 3.5 mm is weak. I recommend using an optical cable when available for the best results. The app does not always recognize the device. It either will after a second or I have to reset. I have not experienced it losing the device mid use though. I also think the price could be about thirty-dollars cheaper than msrp aswell. Aside from that I personally am pleased to have and use the Belkin - SoundForm and would recommend after acknowledging my caveats. I did not know this existed and feel silly not trying to find something like it before. I have two stereo systems that are not new enough to have Airplay or even Bluetooth but are rattle the windows impressive and were high dollar in their day. The good is that while using this device I can easily access my stereo and stream music from my phone. Whereas before I would have to leave my phone plugged up next to my stereo equipment. That briefly is what won it for me. The bad, its audio output when connected via 3.5 mm (not included) is weak. I recommend using an optical cable (not included) when available for the best results. The app does not always recognize the device. It does after a second or sometimes I have to reset but it’s not that big of a deal. I have not experienced it losing the device mid use though. I also think the price could be about thirty-dollars cheaper than msrp as well. Aside from that I personally am pleased to have and use the Belkin - SoundForm and would recommend after acknowledging my caveats.

The Belkin Soundform Connect is an easy way to bring AirPlay2 to any stereo receiver, AVR, sound bar, or other music system and adopt it into the Apple ecosystem. This is a super simple device, and is installed by connecting the power adapter and USB-C cable to provide power, then connect your stereo receiver, AVR, sound bar or other music system using the 3.5mm phone jack or optical digital audio output. NOTE: you can use 3.5mm OR optical, but not both. Once the physical connections are completed, the device setup is completed via the Apple Home app on your iOS device. This can be accomplished via NFC, or by manually entering a code. Either method is super quick and easy. The NFC method didn't work for me, but the manual code method was so simple I still think the device is worth all 5 stars. If you are an Apple person with lots of AirPlay devices, you can add this to groups, scenes, etc. in the Home App. Several of these, along with HomePods, and other AirPlay 2 enabled devices provide a nice way to have a whole home audio system for parties and gatherings, but also allow for independent listening in various locations the rest of the time. Sound quality is excellent. Either connection delivers CD-quality sound, so for me, the connection method is mostly a matter of convenience. I tried both 3.5 (with a 3.5 to RCA adapter) and optical with my AVR, and then I used it with my vintage Pioneer SX-828 stereo receiver as well. Both sounded great. AirPlay 2 works with many different audio apps as well, so the variety of sources is quite large. I have used it with Apple Music, Spotify, PlexAmp, iHeart Radio, TuneIn Radio, and Pandora. All sounded great, and playback was seamless via iPhone, iPad, and Mac, although my iPhone was the go to device. If you are in the market for a way to integrate AirPlay 2 into devices that don't support it natively, the SoundForm connect is the solution for you. I love mine!

Belkin's SoundForm Connect is an easy way to bring AirPlay 2 capability to an existing audio system. In my situation I added the SoundForm Connect to my high end system in my listening room. Most high end audio gear does not include AirPlay 2 (or any streaming) capability at all. I plugged the adapter into my PS Audio DirectStream DAC via an optical cable. Setup was a cinch thought the HomeKit app on my phone and we were off to the races in just a couple minutes. I did try Belkin's app for setup, but never could get the app to see the adapter. Once the SoundForm Connect was active on my network I sent some music from Apple Music to the DAC to check it out. The adapter worked without a hitch. Audio sounded great from the optical connection. Not much one can say other than I experienced no audio dropouts or network issues over the course of the album I streamed. My biggest wish would be true bit perfect audio from the device, but I believe this is a limitation of AirPlay 2 itself. As it stands, everything sent is output at 16-bit/48Khz regardless of what the source material is. Does it matter? Well, depends on what you are using for playback. When I playback a song via Roon at even CD bandwidth (16-bit/44.1Khz) I do notice the audio loses some of the artificial 'edge' the resampled version gets via the SoundForm Connect. I hope Apple brings native playback to the table at some point, but that will probably be AirPlay 3 if ever. For now, the SoundForm Connect brings AirPlay 2 to my system in a compact convenient package. That is all it is supposed to do and Belkin did a great job (minus the flaky app) bringing that convince to market.

After having issues with setup I checked some forum posts and discovered that Belkin is no longer supporting this device so it is unable to work with any device running iOS 16+. So if you use an older phone/tablet, then it may be of some use, but it cannot utilize its advertised features with anything running current software

I was excited to finally see an AirPlay2 device I could add to some of my smaller speakers. Unfortunately, this device doesn't work when AirPlaying from a Windows PC. It works from a mobile device, but not a computer. I even opened a ticket with Belkin and they claimed it was Apple's issue and not theirs (even though other products have figured this out just fine). I ended up returning mine. :-(

My uncle has had these huge amazing speakers that remember loving growing up and technology really made it hard to keep the stereo up to date. This past Thanksgiving I hooked up the Soundform Adapter and magically brought the speakers back to life. My uncle then commandeered my Bluetooth and spent all the evening playing country music on my phone. If you’re wondering how setup is there are two wires you use and then choose your input/output. I was actually astonished with how easy setup was and how great the app was to setup as well. I’ve been a Belkin fan for life and actually had a auxiliary adapter in college that turned my car into a Bluetooth enabled car when cars were starting to get Bluetooth! All that is to say Belkin really stays ahead of the game and I’m glad this came in handy during our recent family gathering!

The Belkin SoundForm Connect is an awesome way to connect your Apple devices (via AirPlay) to other equipment that may be older, not have Wifi/bluetooth capabilities, etc. I connected the SoundForm via a 3.5mm cable to an older stereo system I have set up and wired throughout my basement. The SoundForm Connect allows me to AirPlay from any of my Apple gadgets to the older stereo system - and it sounds FANTASTIC! This is a great additional adapter to have if you don't have a way to stream your audio. I can also see this being useful if you have an older vehicle without a Bluetooth connection or ability to stream but has an input jack. Install it once and no need to have wires all over your dashboard! Great device - highly recommended!

Belkin Soundform Connect W/ Airplay I am an avid user of AirPlay devices for their better sound quality and increased transmission distances in a home. Because it utilizes Wi-Fi, you need a good router that provides good coverage in your space. This device can use either 2.4 or 5 Ghz Wi-Fi networks. The network it uses is set by what Wi-Fi your Apple device is set to during the setup process. SETUP: Setup is accomplished using the Apple Home App that is on most Apple devices. The provided instructions are pretty good for the average setup. If it doesn’t work, you may need to get further help on the Belkin website. I was using my IPhone XR set to my Home Network SSID. I had difficulty getting the phone to discover the device wirelessly. On my second try, I opened the Apple Home App and had to basically lay the phone on top of the Belkin device to get it to connect. Success! Keep in mind this device does NOT include any connecting cables for connections to RCA, 3.5 mm mini, or optical connections on many audio components. Many of us probably have some cables lying around, but be warned they are not in the box. PERFORMANCE: The sound that comes through seems to be very good quality. Keep in mind if the 3.5mm analog jack is used, the volume controls on your device likely control the output volume to your receiver or speaker. This is my experience. Also I noticed some small breakups or hiccups where there is a very short break in the music occasionally while listening. I couldn’t decide if it was an intermittent lose of communication to or from my router or an issue with the device. I have not experienced this phenomenon with my other AirPlay devices, a slight annoyance here. I also left the Soundform unplugged and unpowered for 24 hours. After repowering the device it connected to Wi-Fi displayed by the status light, however it did not play music. The Soundform showed up Airplay device on my Iphone so it was on the network, but it did not play even though my IPhone showed it was playing. I’m not exactly sure how I fixed it but by repowering it and closing and re-opening the Home App it started to work. Again, something I have not experienced with other Airplay devices. CONCLUSION: I like the device and the versatility it allows with other stereo equipment. I think Belkin should have included the cables (3.5mm and optical) in the box so the user would not have to worry about them. I am a little skeptical of it regarding the slight “dropouts” in sound as well as having to depend on the Apple Home app for setups. Other than that, once set up, it seems to work well

We moved into a house that had Legrand speakers prewired throughout. The previous owner was gracious enough to leave behind the NuVo P100 and P3100 amps because he couldn't use them in their new home. I was excited to play around with what the amps could do, but was disappointed when Legrand wanted several thousand dollars to upgrade the amps to ones that support Apple Music and AirPlay. And since Apple killed their AirPort router line, I needed something that could bring Apple Music and Airplay 2 features without the cost of replacing the amps or speakers. So the Belkin SoundForm Connect was exactly what I was looking for and it's worked beautifully. The SF Connect supports stereo out with a 3.5 cable, or digital audio with an optical output. Not sure why this needs to be said, but this thing is an adapter to make older amps / receivers work with Airplay 2... this thing is not an amp or receiver itself. So you can't just run this into speakers that are not powered themselves and capable of accepting an external sound source. Set up was a breeze, there's no additional companion app that I needed to download. I plugged it in and my iPhone's Home app was able to pair it with the code without an issue. I'm running the stereo 3.5 line into the Nuvo P100 - the Nuvo app lets you group speakers to make scenes, so I can group the speakers I want to Airplay out to in the Nuvo app... and then I select the SF Connect as a regular speaker in the AirPlay menu and boom - let there be sound. So why only 4 stars instead of 5? Mainly for the design of the module itself. The SF Connect uses a USB-C port for power, which is on one side of the unit and the outputs are on the other side of the module. So that makes keeping the install clean a bit of a challenge because I had to end up putting it on top of the P100 because I had cords coming out of both sides. In truth, you could pick up an older AirPort Express and get Airplay capabilities - but I'm hoping that since Belkin is now shipping these, that support / firmware / etc will last much longer, especially since I don't think Apple is supporting AE's anymore. If you're looking for a great way to add Airplay to an existing speaker set up, Hi-Fi kit, this is what you'll be wanting to pick up.