[canoman]

Hello,
Just want to share this small DYI effort with others who are in similar needs as I am regarding wireless sound.
I was looking for a BT APTX headset with nice sound quality for quite a long time. Tried different over and on-ear options and realised I also need in-ear one with sound signature similar to my IE8 (it suites workouts very nicely). Basically I figured I need just a bloetooth module compatible with IE8 (my wallet was unhappy with another possible round of trying different in-ear items). Quick search for available devices brought no results, and I decided to modify some existing to fit my needs.
My choice was Bluedio S2 Bluetooth sports headset (mainly because I already had it). It's cheap, supports everything I wanted (BT 4.0 and APT-X) and is very compact and light-weighted.
Soundwise the device does not impress, lack of bass, details, pretty much everything is disappointing, except feeling that the main bottle neck is in it's earpieces.
So, I bought spare cable for IE8 on ebay and prepared to merge them together:

 
After cutting the earpieces and connectors it turned out the wiring is very thin on both so I thought soldering them would be better then just twisting.

 
In order to seal the connections properly, I first dipped them into glue, to make basic insulation )), then after drying with heatgun covered with heat shrink wraps. In order to keep the joints from unwanted bending I also inserted short 0.5mm wires into wraps before heating them, so that those parts became more rigid. 
 
This is what I've got in the end. IE8 with BT 4.0 and APT-X

 
This is what was used:

 
When I started listening I was so surprised of how great is electronics in that Bluedio S2 (for $27) and how crappy were their earphones. The thing now sounds just like Sansa Clip when I plug IE8 there. 
I tried many other things before going with this and only Sony MDR 1 RBT MkII sounds better, others like Harman Kardon BT Premium Over-Ear Headphones , UE 9000, Denon Ah-NCW500 are behind.
 
I would encourage trying this, and in case anyone finds better BT receivers suitable for the job, I would appreciate sharing it with me.
 
Cheers

 

[anduril]

I think some thread necro is justified... great job there! I like your way of thinking.
I'm kinda surprised that no one was interested in this.
 
I have been looking for a BT set and found Sony SBH80, but it is a bit too expensive for my taste.
In fact as the price of Bluedio S2 is now less than $15 (already decided to buy it) and we have a lot of new cheap good IEMs, I might try something similar soon but using one of the solid SQ <$10 IEMs like KZ or Monoprice.
 
Thanks for this thread!

 

[canoman]

Thanks mate,

I was surprised a little noone cared, it was not a big thing of course to rave about but no interest at all in months, hehe ))
Anyway, the thing works a treat, and amplification and bluetooth decoding for such money I think are awesome.

I have tried many other options like Sony rbt 1 mk2, Harman Kardon Bt, Denon AH NCW 500, Logitech 9000 to name the most interesting ones, and now I only have these and sony, which would go on sale if battery life of these was longer.

Cheers

 

[canoman]

Hello,

I was wondering if you tried this mod, and your opinion on results in case you did.

 

[anduril]

I spent this time hunting for a cheap SBH80 (no luck) and exploring my options. My MP8320's cable starts coming apart, so that may be a good hint on the direction I'll end up taking.
 
Although there are other quite interesting alternatives... e.g. Bluedio N2 for $11 shipped (but not sure about APT-X and such), or Bluedio i6 for $16, which is bulky, but gives call ID plus is plug and play, so doesn't have to be soldered...
 
In fact the thing I liked most about your solution was the elegance of being non-invasive, especially considering the price of your IEMs.
I may go for cheaper/dirtier solution as my phones are in fact cheaper than the bluetooth module itself
 
Will surely let you know what I end up doing... it just doesn't have to be soon