Looking for a wireless transmitter-reciever Options

[markanini]

Does anyone know of a wireless transmitter-receiver that works with line-levels and has a fairly portable receiver part?

This post has been edited by markanini: Feb 1 2012, 13:09

[rick.hughes]

Does anyone know of a wireless transmitter-receiver that works with line-levels and has a fairly portable receiver part?

I've used this with pretty good success:
Audioengine W1

Another option would be WiFi. These have a jack which does double-duty as stereo audio or S/PDIF.
Airport Express
If you don't want to use iTunes there are AirPlay-like plugins available from third-parties.

[markanini]

The Audioengine W1 looks nice a nice product. I need the reciever end to be battery powered though. Basically I want move about freely when listening to PC audio output through headphones. I've been looking at some AD2P (Bluetooth) devices, anyone have a comment on these?
Here's the signal chain I was aiming for: Sound card line-output > wireless transmitter > wireless reciever(battery powered) > headphone amp(battery powered) > headphones
Most AD2P devices I've seen are receiver only so I guess I need a BT dongle. But how does the dongle interface with PC audio output?

EDIT:Clarification

This post has been edited by markanini: Feb 1 2012, 18:28

[pdq]

How about a low-power FM transmitter and a DAP with FM?

[markanini]

I have considered such a solution, pdq. I've mostly heard bad things about audio quality though. Not that Bluetooth audio gets a better rap in that regard.

[JJZolx]

How did you plan on controlling playback it if all you have is a dumb receiver connected to a headphone amp in another part of the house?

One solution that comes to mind is the Squeezebox Radio. It's not inexpensive, but it has other uses, such as the ability to listen without headphones. It can operate on battery and has a 3.5mm output jack. You run Squeezebox Server on the computer and the audio is streamed via wifi. You control playback from the Radio's front panel.

If you have a wifi capable smart phone or tablet, a similar solution would be to run one of the Android or iOS apps capable of playing from Squeezebox Server. If you have the PC, the wifi network and the phone or tablet, then all you need is the software.

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=87364

[markanini]

I considered your suggestions, JJZolx.

I'm somewhat leaning toward this inexpensive 2.4G-based package: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-4GHZ-Wirel...d-/120768566615 If it works well I'd be content.

[andy o]

Bluetooth audio is good enough IMO, though I use Sennheiser headphones with the Kleer standard. The bigger problem with Bluetooth is latency from what I've experienced, but for music only it's not an issue. I have this adapter which I bought exclusively for the same reason as you (audio from computer), but again, for videos it doesn't work.

If your PC doesn't have bluetooth A2DP, which I think W7 doesn't offer native drivers for, and you buy a dongle, it will basically show up as another audio device on Windows and you'll have to select that as default, or in your player, if it allows for that.

Another advantage of BT is that it readily works with iOS and Android devices, no dongle required.

The newer version looks pretty cool.

This post has been edited by andy o: Feb 3 2012, 03:35

[markanini]

Picked up a no-name Bluetooth 2.1 dongle with BlueSoleil software included and a BTR006 Bluetooth receiver locally today. I've listened to a handful of tracks from different albums by now and I haven't heard any obvious artifacts, latency seems small enough, not annoying when watching video. I'll do an RMAA test and post the results if anyone's interested. I might look into different A2DP software to examine audio quality differences, if any. I'm pretty content with audio quality right now.

This post has been edited by markanini: Feb 3 2012, 23:49

[Roseval]

Bluetooth bandwidth is a bit limited.
The maximum bitrate is 576 kbps for 2 channel audio.
As far as I know Bluetooth audio devices runs at 48 kHz.
All your audio is resampled to this rate and lossy compression is needed to fit within the 576 constrain.
The codec used is in general SBC.
There is an alternative codec called APT-X but you need both a sender and a receiver supporting this proprietary protocol.
My headphone supports both SBC and APT-X.
I do hear a slight improvement using APT-X but this has been tested sighted (don’t know how to swap Bluetooth connections blindfolded) so this is a nice violation of TOS #8
However, if you want to investigate differences in sound quality due to software this codec might be an option.

[markanini]

Thanks for you info, Roseval! I have 16/48 only so I resample in foobar2000. Max avaliable bitrate in BlueSoleil is 328kb/s according to this: http://soundexpert.org/news/-/blogs/blueto...io-quality-a2dp.

[andy o]

There is an alternative codec called APT-X but you need both a sender and a receiver supporting this proprietary protocol.

I'd read about APT-X but I didn't realize there were already products out with support for this. I've been looking to see if iOS devices (Touch 4 specifically) support this, but just came up with this unsourced bit of "news" which seems very unreliable. Do you know if they included it with iOS 5?

[Roseval]

Can’t tell you as I’m not very familiar with Apple products.
All I know is that Sennheiser has a range of Bluetooth headphone supporting APT-X. Bought one.
As my laptop doesn’t (APT-X is not part of the BT standard) I bought a dongle supporting this protocol too.
There is a dongle by Sennheiser for the iPod

This post has been edited by Roseval: Feb 4 2012, 01:26

[markanini]

Apt-x is intriguing, comparable to wavpack lossy. If I'd re-buy a dongle(Creative BT-D1) and reciever with APT-X(Jaybird uSport) it wouldn't be a dirt cheap solution anymore, but not crazy expensive.

This post has been edited by markanini: Feb 4 2012, 02:44

[Roseval]

Some alternatives
http://www.orb.com/en.html
http://www.playgostore.com/
http://www.aperionaudio.com/catalog/Wirele...ssories,84.aspx

[mzil]

The Audioengine W1 looks nice a nice product. I need the reciever end to be battery powered though. Basically I want move about freely when listening to PC audio output through headphones. I've been looking at some AD2P (Bluetooth) devices, anyone have a comment on these?
Here's the signal chain I was aiming for: Sound card line-output > wireless transmitter > wireless reciever(battery powered) > headphone amp(battery powered) > headphones
Most AD2P devices I've seen are receiver only so I guess I need a BT dongle. But how does the dongle interface with PC audio output?

EDIT:Clarification

Years back I used to use a Motorola DC800 BT transmitter to listen to analog sources through my etymotic ETY8 BT in ear headphones. The transmitter is bidirectional though and is also a BT to analog receiver, with RCA line outs. It is powered by a mini USB port , so you would have to rig (or buy) a battery pack to USB plug in order to power it portably.

It sounded fine and had no serious artifacts of its own, beyond the limitations of BT technology itself that I would hear on my etymotics from other bluetooth sources. Pretty good, not perfect though. For that you need to be tethered.

The dimensions listed at Amazon are wrong. It is just shy of 4.75 in. long, 3.5 in. wide, and 1.125 in. at the thickest diameter (the cylindrical part) and 1 in. thick for the main rectangular body. [with the retractable feet for vertical use retracted]

It has A2DP.

This post has been edited by mzil: Feb 4 2012, 19:04