Listening to old HiFi components wirelessly via a Soundbar

[@AnthonyHigham6414001080]

My JBL sound bar recently started blasting out 60's rock music. Turned out my neighbours had bought a bluetooth vinyl turntable. I was impressed with the range but not so much with the music.

[@billrisbridger9868]

The ultimate "noisy neighbours"!

[@germaineliew2012]

How did they get to your sound bar in the first place?

[@R3TR0R4V3]

Are you kidding me, 60's rock music is the shit! 🤙

[@shiitakestick]

Yup ! My Aiwa exos9 BLASTS HIP HOP at 2AM every few weeks if I don't switch off the power , but LOUD !!!

[@jacobharvey2946]

We used to get that in our condo occasionally. The weird part is the LG sound bar in the bedroom would switch to Bluetooth and start playing loud music. I’d actively be using it, so I’d switch back to my input. Then it’d be taken over again, and again, and again… till I’d just turn it off. I don’t know if they were trolling. Or completely incompetent. But you’d think they’d figure it out pretty quick when THEIR device wasn’t working. Happened a few times, but randomly, with large gaps between occurrences.

[@TimRrstrm]

I am repeatedly fascinated by how I have no use at all for whatever it is Mat's reviewing, but I'll watch the entire video for just his soothing (Yorkshire?) voice.

[@markrobert9915]

He's from the Manchester-Liverpool area

[@toerag572]

It's really pleasing to see a modern cheap(ish) technology being added to a complex system and just working!

[@LyndonSoulGroove]

Great to know about these devices, interestingly in future when some stations get last airing on FM radio , FM transmitters will be useful to keep those retro radios working transmitting other audio sources to them

[@organiccold]

This remembers me an old LG Phone i had that had FM transmiter, was cool to listen to music in the car haha0

[@elliotease4390]

I bought a Bluetooth FM transmitter from Aldi for £20 around 3 years ago, initially used it in a old car I had at the time, when I upgraded cars, it became redundant, so I decided I wanted to try and use it to send the audio from my setup via Bluetooth to the transmitter and then connect that transmitter to the surround sound by aux and surprisingly, it sounds amazing.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Lots of Aldi stuff is surprisingly good quality

[@ronhutcherson9845]

I had two of those devices (not from Aldi). The first one sounded great but broke. The next one was built sturdier and looked better but sounded awful. They’re good tools if you get a good one.

[@add2k]

@@ronhutcherson9845 I've used many and the best I've found is the TP-Link HA100. Sounds great and doesn't make stupid noises upon connecting & disconnecting

[@jasonemanuel9070]

Hoe did you power it though,I have a car bluetooth transmitter I nolomger need since updating my car,but it can o ly be powered by a cigarette lighter socket.

[@MarcGrondin]

When it worked directly to the sound bar I got very excited for you. Even cheered out loud. I could tell you where pretty excited as well. Glad it worked out. And of course Sony is doing its own thing.

[@filip.zivkovic]

Oh, sony being sony. They're the most annoying company ever, but i still manage to like them. I still like their products.

[@frankowalker4662]

A couple of years ago I bought a much cheaper version of these. They cost £5 each so I got 2 of them, one for recieve and the other for transmit. They work realy well.

[@Sonnell]

My advice is, never use the analog in and outs of these cheap transmitters. Use their optical in and outs, connected to quality DAC-s. If you do that, these little transmitters/receivers sound perfect, because the rest is done digitally, and that is good within them. However their analog DAC-s are probably the cheapest stuff you can buy, they are nowhere compared to a quality DAC.

[@compzac]

yea only one issue, have you seen his HIFI, its all mostly analog anyway tape decks, 8-Tracks record players, yes he has CD and MD and some other stuff im sure but most of his stuff is running analog the whole way, so wheres he going to get the digital signal from?

[@Sonnell]

@@compzac For example my MD works like a DAC as well. And there are tons of relatively cheap but good DACs out there to buy. My suggestion was just a general one, for anybody reading.

[@igotchuoncamera3012]

Love seeing people make up there own unique solutions to problems, you should make your own version of pc building simulator but instead of PCs it's repairing old forgotten tech

[@dougbrowning82]

I've tried Circuit Builder, and it doesn't work well simulating analog circuits. Tried to build a 1950s B&W tube TV. got as far as modeling the sync and vertical circuits. The simulator gets bogged down, the mutivibrator wont oscillate without constant trigger pulses, and the vertical output waveform is the wrong shape.

[@slaytanicsabbath]

That "take it off' was hilarious

[@mrrandomperson3106]

It's a standard thing in his videos! I think he got fed up with the number of people from /r/thatpeelingfeeling.

[@meechmushrooms]

I know! Especially the way it cut off so abruptly-- 🤣 Techmoan knows what he's doing.

[@rolls_8798]

something that might be worth taking note of is that you are now: 1. using the bluetooth receiver from the separate unit, and seeing as it is a purpose-built device with big antennae and that costs a significant amount, it is highly likely it doesn't drop as many 'packets' (i don't know the audio/bluetooth terminology) and can use a higher resolution 2. same thing but with the dac. i might have expected a soundbar to have a pretty good dac seeing as the primary input is supposed to be digital (optical from the tv) but maybe not as good as that unit but I am pretty sure that apt-x made the biggest difference. there are a lot of people who couldn't tell the difference between low-res bluetooth streaming and a direct analogue input, i think you sort of need a little bit of time and experience on the better side of things to know - good for any aspiring audio folk that wired headphones are a lot cheaper than wireless ones and almost *always* sound better

[@richretrotech9426]

Shove it in there and sort it out later. That’s my process big time!

[@Flojoe6274]

My mother is smiling down on you from heaven for calling your sound system a "Hi Fi."

[@kitsvn]

Thank you, I really like your videos! Sony refers to LDAC as (“el-dack”) instead. Japanese language (エルダック), just in case you care to know!

[@champa224]

I use Fiio BTA30 because my wife bought me Sony 1000XM4's as a gift and they only support LDAC too, no aptX or aptX HD support. The Fiio was the only LDAC transmitter I could find at the time for a reasonable price. It has been quite excellent and although I know LDAC is still compressed, it is an excellent compromise for the convenience. The Fiio has a BT transmitter and receiver, along with just a standalone DAC, but also works over USB C as a sound card, which I stumbled across by accident and have been using for that as well. Since the inputs are only digital, I had to get an analog to digital adapter. I'm sure there is something lost, but it is convenient for listening to records quietly while doing dishes if I don't want to disturb everyone. It doesn't have the nice interface like this though, more like the aptX HD he is using. Sony with proprietary garbage again.

[@williamk3702]

'take it off...' is back! Thank goodness!

[@Goodmanperson55]

The FiiO BTA30 is my favorite recommendation specifically for these kinds of uses.

[@cjc363636]

I appreciate that you went and bought the receiver box for the analog input to the soundbar. I've done silly tech-nerd things like that before. Respect!

[@nicoras8803]

I immediately heard it sound more open and precise, I think it is great.

[@run2thestore]

This is a more elegant solution than the one I came up with. I use my digitizing setup. I have my hifi hooked up to the inputs on my computer’s audio interface, open up a DAW, monitor the inputs and select the output as my Bluetooth sound bar. There’s a fair amount of lag, but that doesn’t really matter for audio only.

[@zanna8585]

I can hardly imagine the amount of sockets in Techmoan's house

[@xblax]

Good choice! Have the same transmitter/receiver for my Hifi to connect BT headphones. It's working flawlessly for over a year now. Better than the alternatives that don't have a display.

[@hugonunes3654]

Nice video and good setup. If one wants to delve deeper in this kind of thing. There's some "transceivers" of bluetooth with the better codecs available (LDAC for example) geared towards audiophiles. One of those said devices is the FiiO BTA30 Pro and it works really great.

[@CheezeCracker]

In my experience, problem with LDAC is the awful range, that's if you want to keep it running at the highest bandwidth mode, 990kbps. We're talking 2 to 4 feet, S10 cellphone to a Bluetooth/USB/DAC/headphones Amp

[@hugonunes3654]

@@CheezeCracker Yeah i can see that happen. On my setup the devices arent that far from each other so it works fine on a relatively small space. That being said, the noticeable lag is another thing that may still deter most people from these transceivers. The technology is there for those who like audio and want to use bluetooth but it still has some quirks (both devices need to be able to process LDAC for example) and some rough edges.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@CheezeCracker I tended to use the 660k option for that reason, but even that was far more susceptible to interference from neighbours or the microwave than aptX HD or AAC.

[@robertcurtis3815]

All is right with the world during the wonderful moments you're deciphering techno waffle on KZbin! Keep it up buddy!

[@jack_fm2751]

Just what I’ve been looking for! Also would love a tour video of your hi-fi set up!

[@2011joser]

I currently use a Fiio Btr5 as an interface between my Android phone and my custom car audio system. In trying other Aptx HD recievers before landing on the Btr5, I found that the amplifier used to drive the line outputs makes a big difference in sound quality. Generally speaking, the higher the line output voltage, the better the sound quality. Most of the recievers use the same chipset for the radio but some use cheaper/lower output voltage amp circuits. In back to back listening with the Fiio there is a clear difference between aac and Aptx HD.

[@me2olive]

This is why I find Microsoft's use of SBC on their high-end Surface earphones really odd. I have a friend who had the exact same reaction to Apt-X, claimed that his SBC connection to his speakers was fine for him and he probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Then I brought over my Apt-X receiver one day, and he was blown away by the difference. It's a shame we have to deal with competing standards, but really nobody who cares about audio quality should settle for SBC any more, IMHO.

[@ArturdeSousaRocha]

The difference is probably about as much as between a 320 kbps MP3 and lossless. Despite many studies supposedly proving otherwise, the change to lossless brings a massive improvement in sound quality. It was a shock to me because I expected to hear no difference at all.

[@eadweard.]

@@ArturdeSousaRocha What better evidence do we have than the studies?

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@eadweard. the main thing is, most studies try to replicate the average listener in an average environment. Of course, it’s a running joke for half-deaf enthusiasts to claim they have a golden ear. But some people do actually measurably test at 5, or 10, or even 20dB more sensitive hearing than the average - in those “press the button when you hear the tone” tests across different volumes. To those people, it’s understandable that “the quiet section is masked by the louder lead instrument, so throw it away” logic of lossy compression doesn’t always match reality. But even if those people participate in any of the studies, they’re marked as outliers on the scattergraph, so they aren’t factored into any subsequent calculations or conclusions. Personally, I would like to see more studies of self-identified audiophiles, and separately people who have measurably more sensitive hearing, to compare and contrast the two groups.

[@eadweard.]

@@kaitlyn__L That all sounds very sensible and I'd be happy to see audiophile-focused tests. But point being we don't have better evidence than the existing studies ATM.

[@ArturdeSousaRocha]

@@eadweard. That's what gets me. For all I know I absolutely shouldn't be able to hear the difference. And yet it's night and day, not just something bordering on imperceptible. I guess there's a factor I didn't account for. Somehow I find it hard to believe multiple research teams bungled it.

[@crash.override]

The annoying thing for these, in the transmit-from-smartphone scenario, is you need AAC for iPhone, and aptX HD or LDAC for Android. And of course there's debate over whether the "HD" difference is noticeable, and whether LDAC is better/worse than aptX HD. The joys of patent licensing! Funnily enough, /transmitting/ LDAC is freely supported in current vanilla Android.

[@1ytcommenter]

you are absolutely right. without aac for apple and some sony devices and aptx hd all those bluetooth transmitters as pretty useless garbage. and yes the better audio quality is noticable.

[@JeffBilkins]

Also annoying the headphones with these tech are put in a much more expensive market segment. They could just support it in everything but obviously they'll gonna market it for extra.

[@hpalvz]

Yes, Sony made the LDAC encoder royalty-free, but not the decoder... so you must license it if you want your device to receive LDAC. And that's why only Sony things support LDAC 😅

[@StreetPreacherr]

That's why I stick with FLAC and use a Wifi connected receiver that supports DLNA networking ;) Sick of every brand having their own proprietary standard...

[@GYTCommnts]

@@StreetPreacherr Oh! 🤔 That's an interesting alternative! Thanks! 💪

[@billrisbridger9868]

Thanks for this video, it has dealt with a question I've been wondering about for a while! By the by, I find your presentation style just like having a chat with a slightly more knowledgeable mate i.e. relaxed but informative at the same time. Always enjoy your presentations, so thanks again.

[@picobyte]

The 'spatial' sound is also called stereo expander. It takes both channels and increases phase differences. Same principle as old analogue four point surround.

[@alvaros.]

Several years ago I bought and older version of that very same device (same brand, too). I connected it via optical fiber to my TV to be able to listen to the news, using a waterproof bluetooth speaker, while I have bath:o) The important thing to me was the range: it claims to have a range of up to 80 / 100 m (I don't remember the exact number). It works perfectly fine. Now I even use it to listen to the TV with bluetooth headphones while I make noisy activities, like vacuuming or washing the dishes.

[@thedarkknight1971]

Maybe a little thing, but, It's GREAT to see you using classic Technics gear as, I myself am 'Daily Driving' a Technics SU-600 'New Class A' Integrated Amp (I've owned since 1989, It's been serviced twice, and connected to my TV, Nvidia Shield K1 Tablet (using it as a media streaming/TV box) and 2 sets of midrange Pioneer speakers, it STILL sounds fantastic! As the saying goes... They don't make them like they used to (back in the days of Pioneer, Technics, Cambridge Audio, Sony, NAD etc etc), also showing that back then, and still to this day, you do not need 300/400/500 Watt power, when true high quality 30/40/50 Watt and a good set of speakers (or two) delivers, and delivers nicely! 🤔👌👍😏 😎🇬🇧

[@tenchuu007]

Sony using proprietary services in 2022. I'm shocked. (I am not actually shocked)

[@FredrikOstrozanszky]

The LDAC encoder is open source and does not require any licence. It is only the decoder that is proprietary. Not sure about AptX, but what I could find it's proprietary and owned by Qualcomm.

[@RonaldoTalison]

At least it is the best one, they're using the proprietary s* to push better technologies.

[@caramelldansen2204]

That's the problem with having 100s of different idiots warring with each other, making their own "standards" to mess over one another to the cost of us, instead of a unified working class making one standard that works for us.

[@MrSatyre1]

Sony, Yamaha, Denon, Marantz, Apple...

[@saiforos7928]

Ldac is open source with apache open license, apt x is proprietary from qualcomm so requires their chip (with the exception of exynos Samsung galaxy phones). Ldac is also part of the android open source project

[@groenendiek]

I had a similar situation, perhaps a little more common: to get video and surround sound from my computer to my AV receiver. To this end I bought a 10 meter HDMI cable, which works like a charm. Now if only Windows would allow for easy selecting your audio device without going through the hassle of selecting a dual display configuration and screen blinking when I power up the AV receiver and other nuisances related to this setup, that would have been sufficient. But it wasn't. So I ordered a 10 meter optical cable - just for the audio, so I can listen to some 5.1 music encoded with DTS, while skipping the display related issues. Those cables you can find quite cheap and, once nicely routed behind the sofa and a plinth, in my situation it works excellent.

[@NoMoneyG]

I recently bought that exact model for this exact thing! I couldn't get other brands to work. Thanks for this video!

[@thecensae]

i have that same battery pack and that thing is amazing. i was pretty skeptical how long it would last but it's going on 2 years of use now and i haven't noticed any degradation in the battery life.

[@rcboosted]

I have the previous generation of that transmitter from 1Mii as well! (without the LCD display) I used it to turn my sub-woofer into a wired sub-woofer. In low latency mode, it works great for that task!

[@NigelMelanisticSmith]

Just in case anyone is wondering, you can still pair 2 devices without a screen. Most Transmitter/Reciever combos have you just put them in proximity, and then they connect to the strongest device. So, let's say you turned off your TV Bluetooth, and only had your Sound bar Bluetooth on, they could connect to each other with no screens. I've done this before to get my Record Player to my Beyer's wirelessly.

[@MickeyMishra]

These devices are neat! I had the same issue a while ago and it worked the charm for projecting movies outside to the hifi I set up.

[@JerryShugars]

LDAC has the highest bitrate for wireless codecs. It might be worth getting the LDAC transmitter.

[@Gold63Beast]

I’ve had the same problem and actually quit trying. I’m glad to see a company that has made a quality Bluetooth product. Awesome Video.

[@KennethNicholson1972]

I have tried and failed so many times with bluetooth adapters/transmitters. Now I just go old school wherever possible with simple stereo cables from my TV, Gaming PC, Bluray/DVD player, Console, Laptop, and even Cellphone, to an RCA selector switch box on my HIFI Aux inputs. No delay at all, awesome sound reproduction in full stereo, no gaps or pauses, no breaks, no connection issues. Newer technology does not mean better, sadly.

[@phranerphamily]

It totally sounded better even in the video. :) Entertaining and informative as always

[@klaernie]

This is probably the first time ever I bought something based only on a youtube review! Over the last year I've used quite a few bluetooth transmitter pairs to turn my Rode NT-USB Headphone out into a wireless signal. The range has always sucked, but at the same time people around me can use bluetooth across the entire flat, and I don't even make it into the kitchen. I just ordered the B03+, for exactly these reasons: - It has a screen, so the UI is already better than any of the simpler receivers. - It it's powered externally, so the entire design is not built to be constrained by battery longevity - It has line input gain setting - so as I know my setup here is prone to noise, but now I can just use more output volume on my NT-USB and reduce it back on the BT03+. This then easily drowns out any noisy signal. So thanks a lot Mat! I think you just showed me the way to a pleasant freedom everyone around me has!

[@amandar.1396]

I haven't scrolled through the rest of the comments, so not sure whether someone's mentioned it, but it is possible to get it done with AirPlay on a Raspberry Pi. I've done it myself to get an always-on solution with high quality wireless audio sent from any AirPlay device to a hi-fi system. By no means it's a perfect solution, but for my case scenario I found it works better than using bluetooth transmitters.

[@MikeCabell]

If you get a chance, take a look at the FiiO BTA30 and BTA30 Pro version (pro version has an amp stage). They work really well, support SBC, AAC, all types of AptX, and LDAC. I have a pro one going out of my turntable to a non-pro version optical out into a sound bar in the living room.

[@DJNeiloSF]

From an audio quality perspective it would be interesting to hear how a set up like this would sound if you bypass the BT Tx A/D and Rx D/A - in other words, only use the optical I/O. As these are budget devices it's hard to imagine they use quality A/D and D/A.

[@ILoveWomen]

i can't imagine it making that big of a difference since even cheap DACs and ADCs seem decent nowadays. that being said I personally opted for the 1Mii B03Pro for my hifi since that came with an ESS Sabre DAC (though I'm not sure what ADC it is, probably just whatever Qualcomm chip it uses for Bluetooth)

[@dougbrowning82]

His Hi-Fi setup is analog, and the only free input on his soundbar is analog.

[@kylehazachode]

I use an old Mac Mini and a couple apps called Airfoil and Soundflower. My Soundflower is setup so that it takes the audio input (hifi rack) and routes it to Airfoil, which is the app that sends the audio out via AirPlay to my homepods, airport expresses, and apple tv. Whenever I see a mac mini for ~$100 on fb marketplace, I will buy it. I recently bought an M1 Macbook Air. I was pleased to discover that my Mac Minis can AirPlay to my Macbook Air's speakers/headphones; basically turns my Macbook into a portable Airport Express

[@Colaholiker]

Regarding the 360 Sound Mapping, it is really fascinating what modern audio systems can do. I usually watch KZbin on my laptop while sitting on my couch (in case anyone wonders why I don't use my TV for it - the TV set is so old, I would need a computer with S-Video out to drive the TV, it predates interfaces like HDMI by a long time), and sometimes I stream the audio from my laptop to my surround system via Bluetooth. Now for the interesting bit about it. When I watch let's say your video, it somehow seems to know when you are on screen talking to the camera or when you are doing voice-overs. When you are in front of the camera, your voice comes from the front speakers only, and the surround channels may only play background music if there is any. When you are doing a voice-over, your voice goes through all channels. I have absolutely no idea how that is even possible, given that there is just a stereo signal being transmitted via Bluetooth and the surround system has no clue on what is visible on screen (AI could surely detect if there is a human face with a moving mouth, but it would need the video signal to do so). But it works. Pretty well, I might add.

[@mathsterk]

It's way simpler than an AI, upmixing is generally done by comparing the stereo channels to find the mono content, which is sent to the center/front speakers, then you can also check the difference between the stereo channels to find the stereo content, and route that to the other speakers. You can do some other trickery like delay/reverb on the surround speakers to make the audio fill the room a bit better. At least that's how I upmix stereo content to my 4.2 system

[@Colaholiker]

@@DaedalusHelios I am aware of that, but I am a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" type of person. My TV is a 1992 Philips 100 Hz CRT that seems to last forever, much longer than anything new would last. I already do have a game plan what to replace it with when it finally dies on me. Not a specific model of course, as this would be outdated too quickly, but an idea of what to get. It would certainly not be a conventional thing sold as TV, but a digital signage monitor. (Size depending on price and financial capabilities at the time) I don't need anything that is a TV, I don't have access to TV service anyway. (Cable is way too expensive, Satellite is not possible because my landlord doesn't allow installing a dish, and terrestrial is... well, nothing where I live.) My current TV is only used for DVD anyway, so a digital signage monitor, paired with whatever recorded media player i have at that time and a computer for KZbin will do for me. (And no, I don't use Netflix and such, as I hate everything that I would need to have a subscription for. I rather buy movies and stuff on a medium that I can keep and can play however often I want for as long as I want). And the biggest pro for a digital signage monitor is that they come without all this "smart" crap TVs have nowadays. I don't need (and don't want) anything with voice control, spyware and what else these things got. However good the image quality will be, I don't want any of that stuff in my home.

[@Azlehria]

@@Colaholiker I had a gig installing digital signage for a while, a few years ago. Most of them are just regular (higher-end) TVs, smart crap and all.

[@Colaholiker]

@@Azlehria I checked my usual dealer for all computer and electronics related things and these are completely distinct devices. They don't have any kind of tuner, no apps on them and so on.. Of course they likely share a lot of components, they are a display device after all, but I think they are more suited to what I would want.

[@jjcoolaus]

APTX would probably sound even better transmitted digitally. For a tiny solution that works well, I use a ugreen Bluetooth transmitter/receiver to send audio from the 3.5mm headphone jack on my am/fm radio to Bluetooth headphones

[@EsotericArctos]

I think with normal stereo it may not make a lot of difference, but once you get into multichannel audio it would really make a difference. I think the APT-X receiver likely has a lot higher quality DAC than the Soundbar has and that is likely what is really making the difference. It really would not surprise me if Sony had limited the quality artificially on SBC in order to upsell there LDAC protocol devices.

[@rambo8wradio]

aptX has simply higher bandwidth than SBC, it can send more information. It's like switching YT from 360 to 1080p (but video). You need better internet to get higher quality video.

[@mndlessdrwer]

I have used all of the major USB codecs except AAC and there is a substantial difference in quality between SBC and Apt-X, particularly if you have Apt-X HD. There is also an improvement when you move up to LDAC, but it is less noticeable unless you start listening in closely to tracks with a lot of detail in the midbass and bass regions, or tracks that have sub-bass encoded into them, as LDAC will provide more detail in those regions compared to Apt-X. Whether or not any of that matters to you will depend on your hearing, the capabilities of your speakers, and the types and quality of the music you listen to. If you're listening to low quality recordings of songs that don't have a lot of detail in the bass and sub-bass regions or the upper treble regions then you're probably not missing out on much with standard Apt-X or even SBC. If you're using good speakers and listening to songs with detailed bass and treble and you've got CD-quality recordings to play back, then you will probably want Apt-X as a minimum.

[@michaeltrabtree7718]

Sure wish this was around when I hooked my TV to my old Kenwood amp. I bought a very early version that was way too basic and had constant drop outs, so I ran super long rca cables around the room to the stereo. I think if I move I'll probably just get these. Thanks!

[@adultkarate1820]

If I won the powerball I’d hire this guy to coil ALL my cables :]

[@misterrickschannel2238]

I just purchased a $12 Bluetooth Tx/Rx to use with my non-Bluetooth devices. It works just fine for what I currently need.

[@nazznomad]

Thanks for the link to Amazon Canada as there is a $20 coupon instead of $5 so the one with the display on it is a mere £46 or $$66 Canadian 😀 You're the bestest Matt

[@recklessroges]

A perfect Techmoan review. Thanks.

[@llMarvelous]

My thought on first version of setup was: “it doesn’t sound very good”, and when I heard the second one, I thought: “this is much better”, all of this before any comments from Matthew So although this audio was recorded with a microphone from a soundbar, before that was transmitted over Bluetooth, gone through at least 2 analog->digital digital->analog conversions, I was listening to it on my iPad through AirPods watching video screwed up by KZbin - I noticed the difference I can only imagine what difference was in reality

[@springbay1]

Matt, your Sony NW-A55 DAP supports LDAC. And your NW-A100 does as well.

[@dashcamandy2242]

14:01 - "I'm not using this the way the manufacturer intended." 1Mii: "Hey, looks like we need to expand our instruction manual to include a third practical use for our devices!"

[@SDAune]

Interesting Bluetooth stuff but what I really want is that shirt.

[@Romantyk_Zagrebelski]

I think that this device is good for simultaneously transmitting sound to many headphones. For a music lover, if he likes to have a lot of different media, it is good to have a mixer with the right number of channels and connect it to a tube or transistor amplifier. A bluetooth receiver is a good thing - you can use it to send sound from a gadget to an old tube radio. But I am a supporter of a cable connection - I myself soldered an adapter for a tube radio from stereo to mono

[@snocrushr]

A perfect example of why I will never buy any Sony products, because of their proprietary formats that don't play well with others. 🇨🇦 Thanks for the video.

[@brickviking667]

Nice writeup, and well explained.

[@static-san]

Really interesting to see such a strong result of SBC versus AptX. I have a portable BT speaker that is SBC only and it sounds okay, but I get AptX to my Radsone Earstudio (a BT receiver) and I've always said that that's better than anything else - even better than the earphone socket on my phone. The funny thing with Sony's proprietary Bluetooth codecs, though. is that their phones can _send_ both LDAC and AptX. :-)

[@compzac]

well of course, why wouldnt they? that wouldnt make any sense to say hey we are going to make a phone, use android the most popular OS and then lock down its bluetooth to only SBC or LDAC that would be like if apple got rid of the headphone jack and then forced all usuers to buy either the air pods or pods max to be able to listen to music on them, it doesnt make business sense to say oh we arent going to support apt-X cause we have LDAC, at least on our phones from their headphones yes it makes more sense, mostly cause while only sony devices can receive LDAC most smartphones can also send LDAC so you can use them with most devices even if they arent sony branded yes LDAC is proprietary, but well its well enough adopted that, my phone can send LDAC to my headphones, my walkman MP3 player, and my laptop, they all support LDAC transmission

[@michaelangeloabarreto4588]

I found an interesting app called Vinyl Cast, that will turn any device you can plug into a USB C Soundcard connected to the phone into a Google Cast enabled device. The original point of the app is to allow record players to play through Google Assistant speakers.

[@AudioFileZ]

One of the times you are reviewing something I own. I bought the BO-3 for Apt-X figuring if it had that it should emphasize a higher quality sound than many units in both standard and high-quality audio. I think this is a good sounding nicely realized Bluetooth receiver/transmitter. I would recommend it without reserve.

[@RobertHancock1]

There are some differences between devices in terms of how good their SBC implementation is as well, which can come into play. Recently it was found that some hacks can be used to increase the SBC bit rate to improve the audio quality and still be compatible with most devices. This is often called something like SBC-XQ. It's said that this can equal or even surpass the AptX codecs in terms of quality.

[@compzac]

SBC-XQ is an update to the standard specifically because of the limitation of SBC itself, it makes sense it sounds better as its doing along the same lines of APT-x and LDAC by repackaging the audio before transmission, only issue is just like all the others, both sides have to support it, and a lot dont at all because they either support apt-x or have some standard of their own like Sony with LDAC or apple with A1 so you get kinda stuck when bluetooth devices dont want to play nice and you get SBC which yes some companies kinda shiv SBC because its the fallback so why make it sound at all ok

[@RobertHancock1]

@@compzac It's not an update to the standard, it's just taking advantage of the available parameters in the standard in a different way to increase the overall bit rate. Most existing devices work fine with it.

[@Rebel9668]

Never tried anything like that. I have a vintage receiver or two and just run the audio output of my smart tv into a DAC and run that to the aux. in of my receiver and it works great. Well enough that I did the same to my bedroom tv and the receiver I use in there. Admittedly I used some 20 ft rca cables from the DAC to the receiver but they're well out of sight. I have a set of headphones that are bluetooth and capable of running wired or wirelessly but I seldom use them, and then when I do I use them wired. It might just be that I'm old and have too many radios around my place, but I've just never really found a good use for bluetooth. Every room has at least 1 radio and there are several more out in the garage. They all have a warm rich "tube" sound but that could be because they all run on vacuum tubes :)

[@NerdyMeathead]

Lol the audiophiles are watching this seething at the teeth with the soundbar listening. I think this device is awesome

[@GYTCommnts]

I have a similar one, cheaper, and works flawlessly. You can connect two Bluetooth capable devices at once, like the one in the video (for example, converting an old mp3 player to Bluetooth from the mini plug jack, and sharing the music to two Bluetooth headphones). Very useful device. Even with some phones that have BT, it behaves better, is more powerful the transmission, and you can share the output. So I use it even with my phone, that HAS A MINI PLUG JACK (mandatory for me in my phones until no longer exists).

[@mikequinlan9585]

Awesome! You solved a problem I had where I want to send the music from my TT to my Apple HomePods in a different part of the house. Super cool 😎

[@DROOG1E]

Had some success using those mini BT transmitter/receivers (think: simplified, non-screen version of what's in the vid). Ran the audio out from a projector to the soundbar. Was a little finicky, though, but I think cause I cheaped out a bit too much on them. Haven't really found a proper use of them since but could see them maybe being used for some kind of outdoor setup around the garage or something.

[@unclecharlton998]

love your vids been watching for a loooooooong while great stuff always keep it up we love you

[@AiraBai]

Good that you tested it again with an receiver with a better encoding. Yes it hard to notice a problem at a first glance without comparison, but that is how those compressions are designed since MPEG/JPEG. Subtle using the "error correction" of the brain to save on bits. Also your music choice in the video helped it a bit, it wasn't overly complex. The problem arises with SBC if you got complex music, like in most harder genres of electronic music. U start to think first that the headphones/speaker are missing some low range, but if you really listen to it, u notice that it is just cutting the low frequencies away, while there are highs and mids running. And once you notice, you will notice it all the time -.- What I found that sometimes helps is using an compressor. Normally that would degrade the source, but for my bose true wireless in ears, it gives them their sound quality I expected them from them.

[@InternetLad]

Sounds like what you're looking for is a Volumio environment of some kind. . . Incredible amount of flexibility once you get into it. Just need a Pi to get started and some soft of DAC/AMP HAT

[@MnACreations]

Pretty neat. Thank you for sharing!

[@frigolero]

these divices work pretty good. only the da converters inside sound really horrible. so using it with optical input/output realy sounds a lot better!

[@MrKletch]

Love your videos! Keep up the great work!

[@loloaqici82qb4ipp]

If you had a cleaner coming once or twice a week I imagine you'd specify "Don't go poking around the rear of my HiFi with the vacuum cleaner OR ELSE....

[@WhenTheManComesAround]

Lol 😆 Thanks for the laugh my friend! You always get me with the removal of protective film 😆👏👏👍

[@siberx4]

Bluetooth audio codes are, like most of the bluetooth standard, an absolute mess. As you've discovered, aptX does indeed sound measurably better, but getting it working on both ends is difficult unless you carefully read the specs, and then Apple devices all use AAC instead of aptX so no matter what you need multiple standards, and many devices don't have a screen or other visual feedback to confirm your devices actually connected with the proper standard. To make things even worse, the "fallback" SBC codec supported as a base standard by everything can also sound wildly different because there's a range of *bitrates* for SBC (47-345kbps) that the standard says devices can choose to support, and the only "requirement" is to support the very lowest one at a minimum. At the very highest bitrates SBC can actually sound quite decent, but the lowest-end ones are truly dreadful and you won't know what you get until you try to connect things together - fun!

[@o2wow]

I used the same devices to get music from a Mac mini, with a very weak Bluetooth, to a stereo one floor up.

[@duncan-rmi]

I have a fairly normal sony a/v amp in four-speaker mode, with hdmi devices attached, & pictures on a true-HD computer monitor; there's also a mac mini wired into this amp, with a choice of hdmi or analogue audio via a usb interface. there are about ten stereo cassette machines dotted around, all fed from the same stereo buss & coming back into the amp via a big switcher. there are also a number of open-reel machines, including two four-channel machines (an older teac than yours, & a revox c274). the latest arrival is an old sony quad/sq decoder, which now sits on the discreet multichannel inputs of the sony amp. this sony box has four VU meters & lots of in/out, & can also fake quadrasonic sound from stereo, & at this latter it is very good indeed, extracting phase & level information from the stereo channels so there's no artificial audio being generated. I really wish there could be a quad revival of some sort. even a decent wav player... :-/

[@duncan-rmi]

get two of the £40 ones, then? :-)

[@muchagrande1687]

If I remember correctly you can also do this with the Bluesound Node 2.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Nice overview - I didn't even know that there were a few different codecs for BT audio transmission. I'll be building an EL84 single ended amp with a built-in BT receiver, and now that I know it, I'd go for one that supports LDAC. Thanks for the heads up!

[@darrenerickson1288]

Nice product! I might have a use for it in receive mode into my HiFi from my MP3 player (AP80 Pro) in Bluetooth so I have the device with to control FF or pause. Lol... I almost asked a question that you answered right after that in the video - I feel like a puppet! 😂

[@donkmeister]

I wouldn't have bothered trying with Apple Airplay first; the lossless mode is the only one worth having, and latency is 2 seconds on that which gets annoying. APTX is near ubiquitous, too. I've fitted a similar APTX HD receiver in a couple of my old cars (no Bluetooth audio due to age, but high quality audio due to being old barges), using the RCA AUX AV inputs and am very happy with them.

[@tgheretford]

I have a AptX Low Latency Bluetooth transmitter that I use with headphones to drown out a noisy neighbour but the problem I have is with the range of headphones which also support noise cancellation. It's mostly either Sennheiser or Avantree. Every Sennheiser ones I have bought have a bug with the firmware where the audio will click and pop every few seconds regardless of whatever brand of transmitter you use. Despite informing Sennheiser of this problem, they have done nothing to fix the issue. Buying headphones is a gamble as retailers insist on calling AptX only headphones "low latency" when you'll discover that the video and audio have a perceptible difference. It is odd that we haven't really seen TV manufacturers embrace wireless headphone technology though I suspect Sony TV's will only ever support LDAC if they ever do.

[@kaitlyn__L]

In some cases, aptX can report the ping time to the host device, which will delay the audio and video such that they’re in sync again when coming out the headphones. So on those devices the specific latency doesn’t matter too much as the experience will still be the same (except for a different visual delay after you press play). But that doesn’t help at all with transmitters from separate TVs! I would like if the manufacturer had to specify “for phone/tablet” when claiming to be suitable for watching visual media. Sadly I somehow suspect they’d argue that’s 99% of uses and thus redundant, to wriggle out of it.

[@RobCCTV]

For true HiFi connections, you should ALWAYS use gold plated connectors. With ordinary tinned connectors, after a year or so of very slight but inevitable corrosion (which will NOT be visible to the eye), the sound quality starts to deteriorate.

[@jacobmarzynski7719]

I use a Sonos Connect to send audio from my bedroom hi-fi system to another Sonos Connect hooked up to the surround sound system on the living room TV and various IKEA Symfonisk Sonos speakers around the house

[@chaos.corner]

Good info. I bought a BT transmitter so I could rig up a switch to easily switch between speakers and BT headphones but I went cheap the audio is awful with all sorts of electrical noise. Not sure if I want to go that expensive but I'll check out the options.

[@Carl-G]

That is clever & I was thinking the other day how can I get my music from my HI-FI to my Surround sound system so I will look into this. Another fantastic video from Techmoan ;)

[@ColtGColtG]

Always be wary of more budget things that claim AptX encoding. for example Monoprice items often claim AptX but when you check in a smartphone or hi fi setup that will report what codecs are supported, they will always be the standard base level codec. which is odd since they are proud and verifiable THX partners so they know how to do the licensing processes.

[@denizaydemir2]

FYI you can use an Apple AirPort Express and its headphone jack to get AirPlay support on third party speakers.

[@Techmoan]

What was needed is an Airplay *transmitter* not a receiver.

[@TheWeardale1]

I've got an audioengine B1 that uses AptX codec... i use my windows 10 laptop (that also supports it) - and whilst listening to music via amazon music - it's cd sound quality with my decent hifi... you pay more, but it's worth it..

[@RCAvhstape]

I've been looking for a way to listen to my record changer from my Bluetooth speaker while sitting out on my deck, this might be the ticket!

[@kevinallen9106]

‘Hold on a minute let me just pause my minidisc player’… pulls out a ‘rare’ RM-D10P titler. 🧐😄. Nice to see your MXD-D5C featured (still waiting for the video! 😉). Keep up the great work!

[@rbartsch]

Physically Bluetooth does not have enough bandwidth for lossless audio codecs. I suggest to go for 5GHz-WLAN-based solutions (e.g. DLNA, Denon HEOS, etc ) with FLAC codec.

[@imgladnotu9527]

why do you think that LDAC doesnt go the full 1k+ bandwith spectrum?

[@imgladnotu9527]

why do you think that LDAC doesnt go the full 1k+ bandwith spectrum?

[@rbartsch]

@@imgladnotu9527 LDAC uses some kind of lossless with 16bit@44100 kHz. For higher bit-/samplingrates it uses data reduction algorithms. The encoder is free but decoders need to be licensed with SONY.