Monday 19 February 2018

Bluetooth APT-X / A2DP Bluetooth Receiver

These Bluetooth receivers make it possible to transform any audio system into a wireless music reception platform for smartphones. This you already know! Here, we will focus on the different APT-X and A2DP dongles currently on the market.

APT-X Bluetooth receivers take the form of a small key or a small box to connect to the living room audio system. They answer to a problem more and more present in our homes: to broadcast quickly and wireless music stored on our expensive mobile devices. And with the resurgence of these (smartphone, tablets, netbooks), and the rise of dematerialized music, the trend is not likely to reverse. So if you want to keep your usual setup, while accessing wireless streaming from most devices, then Bluetooth receivers are a great option. If you want to read more about the Best Bluetooth Audio Transmitter you can visit many blogs.



A2DP Bluetooth receivers. If the audio quality is lower than that of the Bluetooth APT-X codec, A2DP Bluetooth receivers have the merit of being less expensive, and compatible with a wider range of mobile devices.In fact, they are almost universal, since virtually all smartphones, tablets or netbooks of recent years manage the A2DP. To be quite honest, a Bluetooth AD2P dongle is enough to listen to MP3s, and will suit the vast majority of users (for high-quality files it's another story). Others will be forced to use it: for example, the basic iPads and iPhones are not APT-X compatible (you have to add a dongle on the iDevice, which is not really practical: just pass on a wireless DAC).

Also Read: 

  1. Bluetooth: what is it and how does it work?  


  2. All about Bluetooth: connected objects and geomarketing 




In Bluetooth, the "Apple Maniacs" will have to settle for the A2DP! Very affordable solutions exist, such as Connect Research CRBT011 which is offered at less than 35 €. Compact and efficient, it comes with a Mini-jack output to be easily connected to a chain, a preamp, an amp or a pair of powered speakers. It can also charge any smartphone with its integrated USB port! Perfect for who wants to go wireless without breaking the bank. 

However, the AD2P standard shows its limits with high-quality files like FLAC, ALAC, or WAV, and to a lesser extent with MP3 HQs. The bass then loses consistency, becoming coarser, the medium turns to cavernous, and the treble becomes a little rougher. Tested and approved. The explanation of this loss of quality is very simple: the transfer rate of the receiver becomes insufficient to restore all the mass of information contained in the audio file (several factors come into account including the resolution and the sampling rate)! But, because there is always a "but", the mobile devices to ship this codec are not very numerous ... To our knowledge, we can note some Samsung smartphones (Galaxy S3, Tab7, Note 10.1 ...), players / tablets Creative (Zen X-Fi13, ZiiO 7 ...), or recent Mac computers under OSX Lion or Mountain Lion (Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, Mac Mini ...). Only those lucky enough to own any of these products will be able to take advantage of the APT-X standard! As a reminder, this codec offers a compression ratio of 4: 1, a resolution of 16 bits, and a bandwidth of 10 Hz-22 kHz: enough to enjoy its wireless music in a very porch quality of the CD

So, if you have a compatible Bluetooth device (or an iPhone, and add an APT-X transmitter does not bother you) then the APT-X codec is for you! Three different solutions are available to you. The first, well known to our readers, is Advance Acoustic, and goes by the name of WTX-500 . Very practical, it takes the form of a mini-box (13 x 55 x 60 mm) to connect directly to the RCA input of your amp. It offers a bandwidth ranging from 10Hz to 22kHz, and a sampling rate of 16Bits / 44.1kHz. The Bluetooth receiver APT-X Focal Universal Wireless Receiversharing identical technical characteristics, and very similar dimensions (14 x 56 x 60 mm). A simple question of taste, especially as they are offered at the same price of 99 €! This is still very affordable, and even if your smartphone is not compatible, there is a good chance that your next acquisition will be. Think about it ... Finally, to conclude, Advance completes its offer with a high-end APT-X receiver, endowed with a rich connectivity. Indeed, this Advance WTX-1000  is not in the half-measure: it includes an Optical output, a Coaxial output, and an RCA output, to be connected to all your devices. Its neat presentation and luxurious finish will open the doors of high-end installations wishing to enjoy a peak of streaming! A real favorite !  

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