[cel4145]

I'm looking for a bluetooth receiver/DAC that I can pair with the Samsung S9 for $50 or less. The receiver should allow the phone to control the volume. I want APTx and AAC. Range should be pretty good, as I would prefer it could reach from one room to the next through a wall about 20ft away, but not a requirement. And of course decent SQ, on order of a Chromecast Audio.

For the time being, it will be used with a pair of studio monitors, but will eventually be hooked up to an older Marantz AVR that doesn't have bluetooth so I can use it with my headphones and other speakers. So an optical output might be nice, but not required.

I was looking at the SMSL B1 HiFi Stereo Audio Bluetooth CSR 4.2 on Amazon, but I'm always gun shy of SMSL because some models are good, and some models don't last.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[mattiav]

Advanced Sound Accessport Air?

FiiO BTR1K?

I have the former, and it’s a perfectly decent and very affordable little device, but not super refined. Around 100 gets you the Radsone ES100 or the BlueWave GET, the former having balanced output, the latter having a higher output version. Not a major issue with speakers probably. But I am not aware of any BT receivers with an optical out.

 

[alamnp]

Advanced Sound Accessport Air?

FiiO BTR1K?

I have the former, and it’s a perfectly decent and very affordable little device, but not super refined. Around 100 gets you the Radsone ES100 or the BlueWave GET, the former having balanced output, the latter having a higher output version. Not a major issue with speakers probably. But I am not aware of any BT receivers with an optical out.

The new 1More BT DAC works really nice, but they are sold out everywhere.

 

[silent-circuit]

Why aren't you just using a Chromecast Audio?

My bedroom system is a CCA connected via optical out to a Topping D50 to a pair of JBL 305PMKII. Works great, haven't found an app that won't let me cast to them, volume control from the phone, etc. The DAC is obviously optional and could be a later upgrade. Any bluetooth receiver / DAC you get for $50 is probably going to sound worse (or certainly no better) than a CCA.