[mcnaugha]

Hi,

Sorry, haven't had time to read through the thread. Just stumbled across it via search.

I'm looking for a USB bluetooth adapter to use with my Win 11 laptop, to connect to a Dali Katch G2 bluetooth speaker via aptX HD without truncating the word size to 16 bit like my Creative BT-W3 adapter does.

Can anyone recommend a product that will do this? Would prefer something I could buy in UK from Amazon etc. and doesn't need language translation/firmware updates etc. to make it work as desired. I'm not into having to fiddle about with configuration etc. Will buy from China though if there's no alternative.

All help much appreciated!

Cheers

For some reason, the products on Amazon [UK] never specify if they are either 16-bit or 24-bit. I messaged the seller there because it’s so annoying. I might as well try. It feels like they’ve got a job lot of the 16-bit and are hoping to con enough customers into taking those Because most might not care. They’re missing a market because there are those here that might preference those if they could trust they’d get the best.

So, for now, Aliexpress is the only way to be sure you’re getting 24-bit by specifically selecting that model during purchase.

You could also be our Guinea pig and buy the Creative BT-W4 to see if your aptX HD speaker can still connect to it. Officially it should be able to however none of us have been 100% certain that we’ve been using aptX Adaptive-only transmitters. Each of the others appear to state that they have the aptX HD codec enabled as well. Suppose one could always return the BT-W4 upon discovering that it does not connect to your speaker.

Otherwise, if you’ve got the 2-3 week patience… buy from Ali. We remain big fans of the KB8P and KB9P dongles because of their management app.

 

[imagpie]

After my frustration with the Nura transmitter, I have ended up with a Motorola Edge 30 Ultra phone. Its Aptx Adaptive is the same level, if Nura's app's codec reporting is accurate. HQ 96k. It's the best the Nuratrue Pro have sounded. I had thought they were faulty, but I now think my previous phone was just dying! I might keep my eye out for any Lossless transmitters later down the line, but this is wonderful as it is.

Keeping the transmitter around for its low latency capabilities with my VR headset though. It works really well there.

 

[mcnaugha]

After my frustration with the Nura transmitter, I have ended up with a Motorola Edge 30 Ultra phone. Its Aptx Adaptive is the same level, if Nura's app's codec reporting is accurate. HQ 96k. It's the best the Nuratrue Pro have sounded. I had thought they were faulty, but I now think my previous phone was just dying! I might keep my eye out for any Lossless transmitters later down the line, but this is wonderful as it is.

Keeping the transmitter around for its low latency capabilities with my VR headset though. It works really well there.

It really is the only way to listen to them. I can’t fault the NuraTrue Pro’s via Adaptive or Lossless.

I’ve compared them to Bose QCE II’s and just today the LG T90Q’s and they‘re not competing. The NuraTrue Pro stands above on them on another level.


Speaking of the LG T90Q’s… just had my first experience of Dolby Atmos spatial audio with head tracking… What an absolutely worthless gimmick. I was tainted I think by a comment I read about it just being automated balance control. Oh my god, that’s exactly what it is. I can’t believe how disappointing it is. Your music doesn’t even sound good with it either. Nothing near as rich as aptX Adaptive/Lossless. I hate how the other earbud is quite literally silence when you turn your head… it’s not even a subtle effect. It’s truly no different than someone swinging the balance control left or right. Expected so much more with all the hype and people banging on about it… and the fact that Qualcomm is adding spatial this year.

 

[mcnaugha]

epp-fun seller on Amazon just confirmed that the products they sell are not 24-bit/96KHz. That’s all they said. Nothing more.

 

[helmutcheese]

Creative BT-W4 (QCC3056) arrived, pretty small not inc the USB C to A adapter.

Set up with Soundpeats H1, aptX Adaptive as expected and shows this in the Creative App in TEXT and a Purple LED, set up the various setting to 16/44.1 (CD RIP's is my main source) but the MIC does not have these same settings it's got some weird numbers in addition to the normal ones not that I really need the MIC so set to default 16/48 and Muted.

Disabled all the Sound Mode/Acoustic Engine/EQ/Mixer settings.

Audio Driver was updated auto by the App, but FW is still the Initial Release so no update so far.

It does not have Multipoint unlike the KB9P and can only remember 4 devices and the BT output is limited to 24/48 (24/96 USB side).

Connected the FiiO Neckband after disabling all bar aptX HD and it connected via SBC (the status LED on BT-W4 stayed Purple till I power cycled it then it turned Blue (not ideal if this is the case every time) so again aptX is not backwards compatible in the way we were made to believe it was and this my first Native aptX Adaptive dongle where it Auto picks the codec unlike the Chinese Dongles we can choose any codec, via the App if we prefer.

EDIT: Above little issue seems ok now after pairing 4 sets of earbuds and connecting then disconnecting between them, it now releases the earbuds and flashes white till the next pair connect then shows the correct LED colour for that set of earbuds Codec so does not stick.

Good news is Hardware Vol/Play/Pause/Skip Tracks all work unlike our dongles, well it did not work for me on the KB8/9 dongles on any of my buds, apart from volume on some but on others it was the earbuds internal volume that was moving up/down not Windows Volume Slider and AFAIR Play/pause simply muted the sound, but the track keep playing.

Walked about house and fine and no audio weirdness I read others get on this dongle, but it can take time to arise, not sure if the dongles sound different to each other as some claim this one is worse but would be easier on other earbuds as these H1's are bass heavy and not in a good way.

If our dongles did 16/44.1 (the 24bit models at least are missing this), I would not have bought this, that and some curiosity for the App etc but so far, the Chinese Dongles give you the same at the very least with the LED colour/Codec manual choice and App visuals for Device and Codec and even the new App is ok looking IMO.

You cannot pair via the App on this, it is a button press on the dongle only, but you can reset all paired devices from App or the button.

It can even carry the weak BT range on my FiiO FW5 a bit further/better so far less break up going to kitchen.

EDIT 2: You can Pair from the App, not sure how I missed it.

 

[helmutcheese]

Nope problem persists, the Soundpeats QCC3040 based earbuds (Sonic Pro & H1 Prem) are being keep connected even after I put them in their charge case.

This does not happen on any other devices they connect to and there is no real way to disconnect in the Creative App, you choose another set of earbuds, and it will then disconnect and try to connect to the other earbuds and time out if they are off.

EDIT: Tested all my earbuds, only those 2 do this, I am sure the Soundpeats Mini Pro (aptX Adaptive) is also QCC3040, but they has ANC so not sure.

Still Creative need add a Disconnect option and sort the app layout out IMO.

 

[rlw6534]

Does anyone else have the Sennheiser BTD 600? I have had mine for a couple of days, using it on my MacBook Pro. When connected to my Qudelix 5K, I only see bitrates of 279 kbps in the Qudelix app, never higher for aptX adaptive... I updated to the latest firmware but nothing changed. Obviously I was expecting better. There isn't really any way to configure the dongle (I am getting the purple light)... Ideas?

 

[mcnaugha]

Does anyone else have the Sennheiser BTD 600? I have had mine for a couple of days, using it on my MacBook Pro. When connected to my Qudelix 5K, I only see bitrates of 279 kbps in the Qudelix app, never higher for aptX adaptive... I updated to the latest firmware but nothing changed. Obviously I was expecting better. There isn't really any way to configure the dongle (I am getting the purple light)... Ideas?

according to the manual, purple means it’s in Microsoft Teams mode…which judging by that transmission rate, is a low latency mode. Do you have Teams active on your Mac?

 

[rlw6534]

according to the manual, purple means it’s in Microsoft Teams mode…which judging by that transmission rate, is a low latency mode. Do you have Teams active on your Mac?

Not installed. The Q5k app shows that is using aptX Adaptive, it's just that there doesn't seem to be any "adaptive" happening, always 277-280 Kbps... which I believe is the slowest rate.

Edit:

OK, maybe it is pink rather than purple. Old eyes...

 

[mcnaugha]

Not installed. The Q5k app shows that is using aptX Adaptive, it's just that there doesn't seem to be any "adaptive" happening, always 277-280 Kbps... which I believe is the slowest rate.

Slowest rate equals lowest latency. Ideal for a real-time chat client like Teams.

You could try using the Audio MIDI Setup app to ensure the mic input is not assigned to the dongle. That might get it out of the chat client latency mode.

 

[rlw6534]

Slowest rate equals lowest latency. Ideal for a real-time chat client like Teams.

You could try using the MIDI app to ensure the mic input is not assigned to the dongle. That might get it out of the chat client latency mode.

No dice. The mic was assigned to the MacBook's internal microphone. Tried switching it around, but no change.

BTW, thanks for replying.

 

[mcnaugha]

No dice. The mic was assigned to the MacBook's internal microphone. Tried switching it around, but no change.

BTW, thanks for replying.

Did your MIDI app show the "Microsoft Teams Audio" device in the list? Microsoft are installing a driver at /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/MSTeamsAudioDevice.driver and the firmware of your BTD 600 has been programmed to detect this. When it does, it automatically switches into its Teams mode, displaying the purple LED. I can't see that there is any way around it, other than removing this Teams audio device driver. I don't know the proper uninstall method/command but I'd be shoving the whole MSTeamAudioDevice.driver folder in the trash/bin and rebooting. It seems Senheiser's priority with this dongle is to support chat clients and not high quality audio.

It's possible any installation of M365 Apps for Mac, could result in the Teams installation. Even if you throw away the Teams app, that won't pull out this audio device driver.

If that audio device driver isn't there then I'm stumped for now.

 

[rlw6534]

Did your MIDI app show the "Microsoft Teams Audio" device in the list? Microsoft are installing a driver at /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/MSTeamsAudioDevice.driver and the firmware of your BTD 600 has been programmed to detect this. When it does, it automatically switches into its Teams mode, displaying the purple LED. I can't see that there is any way around it, other than removing this Teams audio device driver. I don't know the proper uninstall method/command but I'd be shoving the whole MSTeamAudioDevice.driver folder in the trash/bin and rebooting. It seems Senheiser's priority with this dongle is to support chat clients and not high quality audio.

It's possible any installation of M365 Apps for Mac, could result in the Teams installation. Even if you throw away the Teams app, that won't pull out this audio device driver.

If that audio device driver isn't there then I'm stumped for now.

Nope, no Microsoft devices:

 

[asheny]

IMO KB9P for now as you get App control so can decide what Codecs you want and if you want Quality or Latency to be priority for aptX Adaptive.

Can anyone confirm whether, if I had a KB9B (or other KB model?), and saved the codec and Adaptive quality/latency settings with the app, if the settings then should stay that way if I was to then take it and use it in a different machine (or console) without the app? Thanks.

 

[helmutcheese]

AFAIK yes that is why it reboots when you change those settings as it is stored on the Dongle.