[turbobb]

@Rurouni - mind giving this a shot with your SBH-80? (on moderate volume first): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPbLuqtCMw&feature=youtu.be&t=49m21s
 
It's Hovering Glows by Terre Thaemlitz and one of the tracks I like to test sub bass with. The first impact should occur at 49:41. I've run this through a few BT cans (including WP380 which is BT 3.0 as well) so I know this source is clean and not distorted.

 

[Rurouni]

Hi turbobb, interesting track, but gosh the sub bass is a little overwhelming in the mix : )
 
Did not hear any distortion when the sub bass kicked in, but the source isn't very clear so there was v little definition in the bass hits. After the 49:41 mark, I seemed to hear a little bit of distortion sampling mixed with sounds of nature, am I correct? Also around 53:10-53:12 mark there is a sampling of a sort of electronic distortion beat, is that intentional? I hear it at 54:11 as well and when the bass hits, you hear the initial bass impact then a sort of distortion decay.
 
On this piece by the Art of Noise, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJBtIe-m3N8&list=PLEFA8C002E9BAF5DC I do hear a moment of distortion at the 1:10-1:11 mark. It is a little like slight crackling, which I have heard before in other bluetooth sets, but again, I am not sure if its the source, codec/bluetooth or just pushing the driver too hard. Rest of the track sounds great though.
 
On more complex pieces with good recording like this version of Take 5  (start at 0:37 mark) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glT-z8XANwM (with albeit less sub bass, but still a great bass lines all the way) everything sounds great

 

[Rurouni]

After further extensive listening, I noticed that for the tracks where one can hear some distortion, it occurs not just in the sub-bass regions, and occurs only when listening volumes are maxed out. Lowering the listening volume eliminates the distortion.
 
So perhaps it is a limitation of the compressed audio stream magnifying imperfections in recording, which is further highlighted through the transparency of the dynamic driver.
 
On well recorded tracks such as Telarac's Battle of Gettysburg soundtrack, there is little or no discernible distortion at max volumes (when I note max volume - these are levels where one should not be listening at constantly)

 

[turbobb]

49:41 - no distortion on my end using various aptX cans. As for 53:10 & 54:11 mark, yes there is an intentional bass layer but not sure if it's distorted.
 
As for AON, I actually have that CD & at the point you reference there is first something like wind chimes and then a specific hit of a percussion instrument (wood block, clave or some kind of cymbal?) that is not heard at the very beginning of the song nor at 2:22 which both feature this same exact passage).  
 
That Take 5 track was a joy to listen to on the AF62 (current fave BT cans w/aptX). Suffice to say, I think the technology is up to snuff and should only get better as they tweak the codec. Hopefully more devices will continue to adopt aptX.

 

[CZ Eddie]

Can any of you recommend a nice quality, longer range APT-X transmitter?
I use my APT-X Velodyne headphones connected to my HTPC for watching movies & TV.  But my Avantree Saturn transmitter just can't push the Bluetooth very far.  Maybe ten feet before it starts breaking up.  

 

[puntloos]

This is not a recommendation YET since I haven't actually received the device yet, but as far as I am aware, the Tosblue X2 is the only device that satisfied my requirements:
 
1/ Bluetooth 3.0 or better. (this was the hard part. Forget about BT 4 for now..)
2/ Apt-X support
3/ Multi-point. You can listen to this device with 2 headsets
4/ Optical in (analogue is cute and all, but I am looking for sound quality..)
 
http://telme2.com/introducing-tosblueX2.html
 
Paid $74 (incl shipping to europe)
 
Key downside: No battery. Not that I personally want this, mine will be velcro'ed to my stereo, but maybe some people want to move around with this stuff.
 
(also bought a LG-BTS1 as the receiver, which indeed also supports Apt-x and BT 3.0.. now hoping the 2 devices will indeed succesfully find eachother)

 

[zzffnn]

Guys, check this out:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1629248706/earin-the-worlds-smallest-wireless-earbuds/description

Basically, those are a tiny pair of BA IEMs (Knowles SR Siren) without any external wire, microphone, or remote control (they are not the Dash). They work with smartphone or computers via Bluetooth 4.0 and AptX. The designer, who has worked for Sony Ericsson,  seems to focus on simplicity, ergonomics and sound quality. I quizzed the designer a bit and he seemed to be competent.

That Kickstarter project has reached almost twice of its original funding goal and sold out early bird specials (which I was able to obtain for £89). Now the Bluetooth IEMs can still be pre-ordered at £119-129. The estimated delivery time is 7 months away (Jan 2015) though.

 

[james444]

^ Just guessing, but it's probably the same one who designed the HBH-IS800 in 2008. Back then, the weak point was reception and will possibly be again on these. Still, it's something that deserves backing.

 

[SilverEars]

Not sure if this one was ever mentioned here, but I was quite impressed with all the features it has.  Not sure about sonic quality though.  
 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hellobragi/the-dash-wireless-smart-in-ear-headphones

 

[ClieOS]

Basically, those are a tiny pair of BA IEMs (Knowles SR Siren) ...

 
That's my only concern about it. I can live with relatively short battery life but not if it doesn't deliver great SQ, and Siren isn't exactly known to have great SQ in the past.
 
 

  Not sure if this one was ever mentioned here, but I was quite impressed with all the features it has.  Not sure about sonic quality though.  
 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hellobragi/the-dash-wireless-smart-in-ear-headphones

 
Too much focus on being smart and sporty.

 

[zzffnn]

That's my only concern about it. I can live with relatively short battery life but not if it doesn't deliver great SQ, and Siren isn't exactly known to have great SQ in the past.

I did ask the designer why not use ED or TWFK and how are they improving treble limitation of Siren. The designer said the new Siren series have improved treble performance and they are going to playing with damping.

Personally I am not too concerned about the final 10% of sound quality in a wireless product, as I am using them in exercise. The Earin seem to be the best on the market and have better fit/seal and acoustic design than the Dash (which focuses too much on "cool" features), which is why I backed Earin for £89.

The designers of Dash, who have worked for AKG, sent me the frequency graph of their prototype and told me that they are improving treble via digital processing. Still, I thought Dash had too much going inside, so I only backed it for $2.

Let us hope wireless audio gets better in the near future.

 

[ClieOS]

Well, finger crossed the new Siren will indeed be better.
 
Yep, I agree. I too think Dash is trying to accomplish too many things at once.

 

[schizo]

So my music player is a Cowon X7, which has awesome audio quality but no bluetooth. For various reasons and situations I wanted to look into a bluetooth transmitter and bluetooth headset solution, plugging the transmitter into the X7 via 3.5mm jack, and during my looking up of transmitters I saw apt-x on one and started looking into that to see if it really should matter but have yet to find opinions that directly relate to my situation of 3.5mm to transmitter to headset setup. So with my setup in mind, should I bother with making sure whatever transmitter (and thus then headset too) has apt-x capabilities or should I not bother based on my intended use of pretty much being for use with my X7? If I should bother, does anyone have any recommendations for decent transmitters under $60?
 
Thx for any help in comments and/or product recommendations.

 

[puntloos]

I bought and experimented with this - http://www.telme2.com/webshop/index.php?id_product=16&controller=product and it works fine.
It works much better with digital input for obvious reasons but if you give it an analog jack it'll work pretty well, it had some noisiness but I think that was mostly my source, I just jammed it into my small music player.
 
Sound quality is excellent with apt-x. Build quality is very plasticky but not a dealbreaker IMO. Note that the device takes USB power, and doesnt have its own battery.
 
[edit] updated, the one I linked was the X, the X2 allows to connect 2 listening devices..

 

[dabotsonline]

Has anyone tried the CLIPS CS300? It only seems to be available on eBay and is rather cheap looking, but looks can - of course - be deceptive.
 
I'm interested in a receiver unit that will allow me to use my own headphones. One member states that they think the LG BTS1 is superior to the Samsung HS3000. When gaming or playing a video - for instance, a 1080p Netflix stream on a Nexus 7 (2013) running Android KitKat or 'L' Preview - will the sound still be both wirelessly transmitted and in sync? Or will this require an apX Low Latency compatible device such as the HTC One M8 (including the Google Play Edition?) What about an iPad Air, given that iOS 7 lacks aptX support?
 
Presumably the most high-bandwidth solution would be a Wi-Fi Direct receiver with 3.5mm output, a microphone, answer/end call buttons and transport controls. Does anybody know if one exists?