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Topic: Bluetooth or not? (Read 1584 times) previous topic - next topic
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Bluetooth or not?

Hi,

I'm currently playing with Illustrate's Asset Upnp server sending to both my Samsung Galaxy S3 and (the latest whatever number or generation! - has the rubbish new small connector) Ipad. I want to next connect to my amp, probably via an old Pure ipod dock for the time being.

So.. connecting the ipad to the ipod dock.. I would normally head towards wired connections for stability and making sure interference and speed isn't affected, but with the ipad it would be nice to use a bluetooth dongle (which would also allow the connection of my S3 etc.) - so that the ipad can still be used whilst playing and also not be restricted by the cable.

I've come across this for a wired option.. (it says iphone 5 but I assume it'll work with the ipad too)
http://www.cablejive.com/products/dockBoss...r-iPhone-5.html

And this for a bluetooth option..
http://www.amazon.co.uk/KitSound-Bluetooth...2281&sr=8-4

1) Does anyone have experience of either setup? How do you find it works?
2) Can you suggest any better products?
3) More generally, Can anyone tell me whether the bluetooth route will allow streaming of FLAC?
4) And finally, what about the audio quality?

Thanks in advance!
 

Bluetooth or not?

Reply #1 –
for 3) I guess you mean ALAC rather than FLAC? Either way, as far as I'm aware it will be converted to SBC (or sometimes apt-x) as part of the transmission over Bluetooth same as any other codec. I believe apt-x has a lossless version, but I don't think that's used in bluetooth applications which are limited to 512Kbps.

and 4) I looked into the quality of SBC over bluetooth recently and found this, which basically says the bitrate is high enough that it'll be transparent even though it's not a particularly fancy codec:

http://soundexpert.org/news/-/blogs/blueto...io-quality-a2dp

What I never found was a good explanation of how much headroom there was in the bandwidth and what it does if there's transmission problems. I was dealing with *very* cheap bluetooth headset recievers and a very low powered Android phone when I looked into this and pauses and glitches were the key problem.  And that was with the two devices within arms reach, I think they only really claim 10m as a best case scenario.

As for 1) and 2) it's not clear whether you actually intend to use the ipod dock as an ipod dock (i.e. physicall plug an ipod or iphone into it). If not, and you're just using it because you've got it lying around, you could just plug a bluetooth dongle directly into the amp rather than get one that plugs into the old 35pin iPhone connector which will expand your options and give a bit more flexibility since you can move it around and plug it into anything with a standard stereo connector.

There's a generic battery powered bluetooth reciever that's sold under various brands but generally with the product code BTT005 that seems to be getting good reviews (I was looking for something for the car).

And there's this logitech unit, which seems designed for this usage with phono connectors and wired power:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Wireless-...ref=pd_sim_ce_1