[Neytrino]

Got mine UGREEN CM668.​

I can compare it with VAORLO YEP-T10P:
Sound quality - hear no any difference (aptX-HD B&W PX-7)
Distance - CM668 is inferior to 1-1.5 meters (one load-bearing reinforced concrete wall, YEP-T10P tested with a connected antenna).
Audio interface - Same (2ch 24/96 max).
Codecs - same (SBC/aptx/aptX-ll (not supported on PX-7)/aptX-HD
Size and appearance - the CM668 is significantly smaller, has no external antenna and looks much better.

 

[Dimitry188]

Hello, any opinions about the Sony Inzone Buds ?

Made for gaming with new codec Bluetooth LC3, offering +- 30ms of latency and 12 hours of battery. They works ONLY under LC3 codec paired with the dongle in bundle.

I think that the main problem here will be the weak sound quality of the headphones themselves.
Today, hybrid scheme provide the best sound, and for some reason Sony stubbornly uses "ordinary" purely dynamic drivers in their TWS headphones.
As a result, headphones from this manufacturer provide excellent noise reduction, but the sound, to put it mildly, is not striking.

 

[itchyears]

I don't have any of the Sony full-sized BT-headphones but I do have several "high-end"(?) bluetooth/wireless headphones primarily for music listening in different situations/locations (Focal Bathys, Audeze Maxwell, Ananda BT, Deva Pro, ATH DSR9bt and DSR7bt, Drop Panda (R.I.P.), Beyerdynamic Amiron Wireless, ...) and the sound from the Arctis Nova pro WL is definitively not in that league; it is obviously optimized for gaming (FPS footsteps, etc.) but that does not mean it is bad - just a bit bright/sibilant. I do not use them for gaming but actually for work (and I do not use their PC/Windows app for EQ). I like them for their features: they have truly simultaneous and independent 2.4GHz (=lag-free) wireless / bluetooth connections (continuously) with seamless switch from the video/media-source to the communication-device, hot-swapable batteries, configurable ANC/awareness modes and also allow the additional mix-in of the analogue 3.5mm aux/line-input in the wireless stream. In terms of wireless sound *transmission* they are very good and probably better than the LDAC/aptX BT headphones above (no lossless BT codecs tried yet), but in terms of sound *reproduction* they are not really on par.

Sorry if I am bugging you, just one last query and its much appreciated!

I forgot to ask how do you compare the sound quality for music between your Audeze Maxwell and Focal bathys?

I only ask since Sony dropped the pre-order price on their new planar based wireless headphones recently here, which feels a bargain @ £129.99 so am tempted

 

[TheFritz]

I forgot to ask how do you compare the sound quality for music between your Audeze Maxwell and Focal bathys?

Do not want to deviate too much from the topic ... but briefly summarized: I use them in different situations; the Bathys with its ANC and transparency mode with aptX BT on the go/for travel (and sometimes connected as USB-DAC-device to a laptop/iPad-Pro which further improves the very good sound quality) and the (bulky and heavy) Maxwell with its USB-dongle to immerse myself in music at home. The Bathys is in my opinion much more refined and more "mature" while the Maxwell is more pleasing to my ears with impressive planar bass performance and all its DSP modes. Sometimes I use the Maxwell for communication (home office) as well with its fantastic NC for the microphone. The Maxwell (dongle) supports only 48 and 96 kHz (16/24 bit) sampling natively (no 44/88/192 kHz - so no bitperfect sound for some sources ... but we are talking of wireless headphones here anyway). For me, the Bathys allows critical and focused listening (including bitperfect audio in USB-DAC-mode) while the Maxwell is somewhat a very good "fun" headphone for media of all sorts (and is only half the price of the Bathys)... Since I assume Sony will use the acquired Audeze expertise for those new planars, I would expect similar things from them (to be scaled with the price presumably). Hope that helps.

P.S.: You may have noticed that I do not consider the Maxwell as being the "best wireless headphone" as some reviewers do but I still like it a lot for what it delivers.

 

[itchyears]

Do not want to deviate too much from the topic ... but briefly summarized: I use them in different situations; the Bathys with its ANC and transparency mode with aptX BT on the go/for travel (and sometimes connected as USB-DAC-device to a laptop/iPad-Pro which further improves the very good sound quality) and the (bulky and heavy) Maxwell with its USB-dongle to immerse myself in music at home. The Bathys is in my opinion much more refined and more "mature" while the Maxwell is more pleasing to my ears with impressive planar bass performance and all its DSP modes. Sometimes I use the Maxwell for communication (home office) as well with its fantastic NC for the microphone. The Maxwell (dongle) supports only 48 and 96 kHz (16/24 bit) sampling natively (no 44/88/192 kHz - so no bitperfect sound for some sources ... but we are talking of wireless headphones here anyway). For me, the Bathys allows critical and focused listening (including bitperfect audio in USB-DAC-mode) while the Maxwell is somewhat a very good "fun" headphone for media of all sorts (and is only half the price of the Bathys)... Since I assume Sony will use the acquired Audeze expertise for those new planars, I would expect similar things from them (to be scaled with the price presumably). Hope that helps.

P.S.: You may have noticed that I do not consider the Maxwell as being the "best wireless headphone" as some reviewers do but I still like it a lot for what it delivers.

thanks makes things much more clearer, yes the maxwells have that hype behind it hopefully more headfiers know better!

 

[C4PPY]

Now this is cool.
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...res-audio-bluetooth-transmitter?ref=discovery

 

[tristanape]

Some guy did slot his (Reddit/Framework) and claimed it worked even though he is now missing some pins on rear.

Told you dude! In all seriousness I am not that brave.

 

[tristanape]

Helmutcheese, thank you again for the software link. So I have the KB8P and it works great so far. I need to order a second one. Any advice on whether I should just buy another KB8P or go ahead and get the KB9P? The price difference doesn't matter. I just want whichever one works best! Thank y'all again for recommending this stuff.

 

[bamzero]

Hi there, just got a KB9P to use with my Definitive Sym 1's for aptX LL.

Dongle is on fw 2.14, and out of the box it's seems to be working as intended but there's a couple of things.
It defaults to 24bit/48kHz and works, though I do get some blips every now and again. If I change to any other setting, I just get screeches and distortion.
After a fresh reboot, I was able to change without any of that for a while but caused problems soon enough, and still a few blips here and there. I am running it in a desktop grommet USB3 hub so distance is small and pretty much line of sight, but I have read USB3 can cause inteference.. I guess I should try in a 2.0 port as well

One other thing, in the screenshots for the Assistant 1.x I saw a setting to disable USB audio when no device was connected. Is there any way to enable that for 2.x? As I use a USB amp and speakers when not using headphones, would be great to not have to manually switch output like the way it worked with a normal BT connection, falling back to speakers when the headphones disconnect.

Also tried it on my Android TV boxes (S905X based), gets recognised but audio cuts in and out every second. Thinking I should have stuck with the KB9 since latency was my main concern, then probably could have used with TV box as well.

 

[helmutcheese]

Helmutcheese, thank you again for the software link. So I have the KB8P and it works great so far. I need to order a second one. Any advice on whether I should just buy another KB8P or go ahead and get the KB9P? The price difference doesn't matter. I just want whichever one works best! Thank y'all again for recommending this stuff.

My KB9P is missing 16/44.1, it starts at 16/48 if that matters, I would think it is an oversight on the FW and would think other sellers may have more up to date versions.

I just use my Creative BT-W5 now.


@ bamzero, Can you check in Windows Audio settings and see if you can set it to 16/44.1, thanks.

​

 

[bamzero]

My KB9P is missing 16/44.1, it starts at 16/48 if that matters, I would think it is an oversight on the FW and would think other sellers may have more up to date versions.

I just use my Creative BT-W5 now.


@ bamzero, Can you check in Windows Audio settings and see if you can set it to 16/44.1, thanks.

​

Yep, same here.

I thought KB8P and KB9P support the same formats, the main difference being the AUX input on the 9.
The specs do list "Selectable sample rate: 16-24Bit / 48-96Khz" but being a combined listing for the KB8, 9 and P models I'm not sure if it applies to all.
The TX40 does list support for 16-24/44-96 though.

I did ask my Aliexpress seller to send the Assistant software and what the latest firmware available was. The only reply i got was "OK" (but no software or firmware sent) So no idea if 2.14 is the most current firmware.

Tried the dongle on my Android phone. Working but still getting the odd clicks/glitches so maybe not something specific to my PC then. Pity I can't tell what formats it's running.

 

[itchyears]

Hi there, just got a KB9P to use with my Definitive Sym 1's for aptX LL.

Dongle is on fw 2.14, and out of the box it's seems to be working as intended but there's a couple of things.
It defaults to 24bit/48kHz and works, though I do get some blips every now and again. If I change to any other setting, I just get screeches and distortion.
After a fresh reboot, I was able to change without any of that for a while but caused problems soon enough, and still a few blips here and there. I am running it in a desktop grommet USB3 hub so distance is small and pretty much line of sight, but I have read USB3 can cause inteference.. I guess I should try in a 2.0 port as well

One other thing, in the screenshots for the Assistant 1.x I saw a setting to disable USB audio when no device was connected. Is there any way to enable that for 2.x? As I use a USB amp and speakers when not using headphones, would be great to not have to manually switch output like the way it worked with a normal BT connection, falling back to speakers when the headphones disconnect.

Also tried it on my Android TV boxes (S905X based), gets recognised but audio cuts in and out every second. Thinking I should have stuck with the KB9 since latency was my main concern, then probably could have used with TV box as well.

Is there no way you could disable the devices sound via the windows sound control tab? I use to do something similar by short cutting the volume icon onto desktop and maybe one can create an macro/script and hotkey the function so its an on/off.

Or get one of those usb extension leads with on/off button.

Not tried any of the KB series dongles since many found while they worked others not so well, its all trial and error many found the Creative dongles to be better.

I found usb 3.0 to much more fussy then 2.0, but then again some usb 2.0 ports didn't work so well but on an ancient 20 year old PC oddly I dug out of the attic that usb 2.0 port had the least interference and cleanest signal so again its literally an trial and error process.

I also found my usb 3.0 hub and even usb extension 2.0/3.0 cables were causing some issues also, these BT usb dongles appear to work more reliable and cleaner when their directly plugged into a genuine usb connection ie directly into the back mainboard usb ports or directly into the Kodi/Nvidia shield or TV or directly into the phone.
I mentioned some of my findings here

Someone also mentioned 16bit KB series usb dongles work better for Kodi/shield and TV also although never tried this, my Creative dongles (BT-L4) work well enough on my Nvidia shield but still have audio drops and sometimes fail completely despite being connected so require a hard pull and re-plug. Glitchy is an understatement but its id say 80-90% working ok.

Bluetooth is not as easy as it should be imo

 

[bamzero]

Thanks for the info.

As far as the audio output device goes, I mean I can do it in 3 clicks via the sound icon in the tray, or set up a shortcut key to switch between devices (SoundSwitch has a few nice features) but automatic would be better It just worked when using normal BT. Connect and BT headphones took priority. Disconnect them and it would fall back to my speakers.

I'm actually trialling some Arctis Nova 7's at the moment. As much as I like my Sym 1's and I miss the ANC, those Nova's are so much more comfortable after longer sessions. There is also audio fallback in the GG software that seems to be working properly in the latest update. Latency is good, dongle also works properly on my Android TV boxes as well as my phone and not getting the clicks or glitches either.

So good chance I might be abandoning BT, for gaming and video at least.

 

[itchyears]

Thanks for the info.

As far as the audio output device goes, I mean I can do it in 3 clicks via the sound icon in the tray, or set up a shortcut key to switch between devices (SoundSwitch has a few nice features) but automatic would be better It just worked when using normal BT. Connect and BT headphones took priority. Disconnect them and it would fall back to my speakers.

I'm actually trialling some Arctis Nova 7's at the moment. As much as I like my Sym 1's and I miss the ANC, those Nova's are so much more comfortable after longer sessions. There is also audio fallback in the GG software that seems to be working properly in the latest update. Latency is good, dongle also works properly on my Android TV boxes as well as my phone and not getting the clicks or glitches either.

So good chance I might be abandoning BT, for gaming and video at least.

That is good to hear, never heard of those Sym 1s but quick google and they do look very good design and quality wise, just out dated with the newer tech naturally.

Good to hear the novas are doing well and that the 2.4ghz dongle is working on your android box, I will hopefully be doing the same next week got with the Artic Pros the one with the break out box with usb input, 3.5mm inputs and optical inputs, hopefully lipsync latency is not an issue and Ill compare it to my Creative hybrid Zens with Bluetooth LE audio.

Bluetooths a great technology but for in home/work it feels like wireless and wifi technology might be the better way forward especially with latency, stability and sound quality.

 

[HanzoSlash43]

Is the BT-W5 still the "best" Aptx Adaptive dongle out there?