[Jeepz]

Hey y'all!

I stumbled across the MEE Audio BTX1 a week back and done research but haven't seen any reviews about these.

http://www.meeaudio.com/BTA-BTX1-BK/

Seems like they tick almost all of the boxes:

+ AAC/aptX support
+ Great battery life
+ Good cable management (seemingly, from pictures)
+ MMCX
+ Relatively established brand
+ Reasonable price (~$60 USD at time of writing)
- Not water/sweat resistant (not a huge deal, however...)

Anyone have experience with these? And quirks? I thought I'd ask before taking the plunge.

Cheers!

 

[maniac2003]

Yep that one is interesting.
Although I do find it odd that the text mentiones AAC+aptX but the product picture only has the aptX logo present.

 

[Devodonaldson]

Hey y'all!

I stumbled across the MEE Audio BTX1 a week back and done research but haven't seen any reviews about these.

http://www.meeaudio.com/BTA-BTX1-BK/

Seems like they tick almost all of the boxes:

+ AAC/aptX support
+ Great battery life
+ Good cable management (seemingly, from pictures)
+ MMCX
+ Relatively established brand
+ Reasonable price (~$60 USD at time of writing)
- Not water/sweat resistant (not a huge deal, however...)

Anyone have experience with these? And quirks? I thought I'd ask before taking the plunge.

Cheers!

I'll review it for uou now. Regarding APT-X, it's a virtual home run. Has enough power to drive my Monoprice m300 in ear Planars well. Good amp staging, which is the most important part. The level of sound is going to be based on your iems, etc. But this cable does it right. Of course it's not going to reach the same level of detail as a wired hi wuality portable DAC, but it's more than reasonable, and even better for the money. Only downside for me was that I didn't want over ear cable, but switching left for right and flipping upside down, I was able to deal with wearing over ear. On normal over ear iems this will be a normal application

 

[maniac2003]

Thanks!

 

[Jeepz]

I'll review it for uou now. Regarding APT-X, it's a virtual home run. Has enough power to drive my Monoprice m300 in ear Planars well. Good amp staging, which is the most important part. The level of sound is going to be based on your iems, etc. But this cable does it right. Of course it's not going to reach the same level of detail as a wired hi wuality portable DAC, but it's more than reasonable, and even better for the money. Only downside for me was that I didn't want over ear cable, but switching left for right and flipping upside down, I was able to deal with wearing over ear. On normal over ear iems this will be a normal application

Perfect -- thanks for the update!

I've actually grown to love the over-ear cable style -- adds a lot of stability for me.

Do you notice any connection/audio drop outs from the bluetooth connection at times?

 

[Devodonaldson]

Perfect -- thanks for the update!

I've actually grown to love the over-ear cable style -- adds a lot of stability for me.

Do you notice any connection/audio drop outs from the bluetooth connection at times?

Nothing that I don't get from other cables. I exercise with it, no issue. I walk through the parking lot of my local Target, and I get minor dropouts, but that happens with every Bluetooth device there. So overall, the bluetBlue performance has been very good

 

[m4rkw]

how long does the battery last from full to off?

 

[Devodonaldson]

how long does the battery last from full to off?

Haven't used straight long enough to burn it out as I don't use bluetBlue audio for long sessions. Have gone 4hrs without issue. That was the longest I've used it though

 

[cnbb]

I'll review it for uou now.

any hissing noise?

 

[Devodonaldson]

Have had no issues other than what I have with any other Bluetooth device in certain areas. No hissing

 

[petralian]

I got the MEE Bluetooth BTX1 and connected my Shure SE 846 with them and here is what I experienced with it...

+ AAC and AptX Sound quality (that is what I bought it for as the Shure bluetooth cable doesn't have any of that... yeah really What were you thinking Shure...)
+ Quality MMCX connectors (well connected and similar resistance when turning the IEM while connected to MMCX as with the original Shure cables, plugging out was a bit harder as it should be on the left but rotating the IEM a bit around the axis when pulling made it easier)
+ Balance (well balanced on both sides, no pulling or rubbing against my head)
+ Battery (surely lasts more as 7 hours, I did not do an exact test but I left it on my head for an entire working day)

- Connectivity (when I wear it tight the receiver presses against my head and I get bad signal with my iphone x in my trousers pocket (right side) so I noticed I started walking a lot with my phone in my hands to avoid connection loss)
- Only 1 connection can be active (I have to switch my phone in flightmode, turn off and on the headphones and then it will connect to my macbook... annoying as heck)
- Microphone sound quality (terrible, I had to hold the micro right in front of my mouth for anyone to understand me and even then it was very bad quality)
- Cheap looking (button panel design is too old and cheap, the rubber cap covering the charging port is a different color, there is an obious line marking where the 2 sides have been glued together, the LED light is soldered to the board and a small hole in the shell lets the LED light come through)
- Clunky controls (the middle button is the one powering it on but it feels exactly the same as the other two buttons so often I end up pressing the wrong button to turn on or off the receiver. This could have been easily fixed by adding some bevel to the middle button or raising it up a bit).

Conclusion: Use the MEE Audio Bluetooth BTX1 to commute and listen to music... not for gym and making phone calls all day.

Screenshot 1: Active Codec: AAC (I was listening to Apple music)...
Use alt key + click on the bluetooth icon to see more details on bluetooth connections when using OSX


Screenshot 2:
1. Raw RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) is quite ok... The MEE Bluetooth BTX1 receiver is located on the part where the buttons are located. You can cover up parts of headphones with your hands to try that out.
2. Data rate is a stable 30000 bytes per sec (~ 240 kpbs which is the song quality)
Use Bluetooth Explorer to get this information and switch codec manually on OSX: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/enable-aptx-aac-bluetooth-audio-codecs-macos/


Screenshot 3: Bitrate matches with the song I was playing on Apple Music... all good here.


Screenshot 4: The song I was listening to on Apple Music


Screenshot 5: I then forced the connection to AptX and played a FLAC


Screenshot 6:
Notice a higher bitrate when playing a FLAC file.


Screenshot 7: translated into Kbps


Last I noticed when forcing it on AptX and playing Apple Music (AAC) it still will use AptX at high bitrate to play that music unless you ticked the "Enable AAC" in Bluetooth Explorer to enable using the AAC codec again at which point OSX will prefer using AAC instead of AptX.

Some more pics of my Shure SE 846 connected to the MEE Audio Bluetooth BTX1

 

[raptor18]

Would someone be kind and test if this can activate google assistant on an android?
(Or siri on an iphone?)

Edit : it does

 

[Papa253]

Does anyone have or tried the btx2?
If so what are your thoughts on it?

 

[AndrewJ15]

I have the btx1 and find its generally pretty good. Has good battery life, except phone will say it has 30% life left and then pretty much be dead. Sound quality is fine, there is a drop from the standard cable but nothing major compared to the convenience of them.

Two issues I do have with them.

1/. The connector on the right ear when moved/touched can lose audio altogether, I've tested with other cables and definitely is from the connection. Generally it's not an issue but can be a minor annoyance.

2/. In busy areas i.e. Crowded train stations I find the connection drops quite frequently. I have tried with phone out of pocket which sometimes helps but not always.

I have just taken the plunge on the btx2 and so will see how they perform but from what I have read they sound more stable from a connectivity point for view so here's hoping.

 

[dfung]

I have the BTX2 on its way. I'm new to this game, so BTX2 doesn't have LDAC, does that mean it's not as good?
Someone rec this instead - Elecom LBT-HPC1000RC