[jasswolf]

Ain't my line though, I only care about sound quality, which includes compensation of sound compression artifacts (which will take place anyway since aptX is just as lossy as SBC 328 kbit/s is). Windows BT stack doesn't support aptX LL, so I don't really dream about low latency wireless. My phone does support aptX LL, but I don't need it there cuz base aptX latency is OK for videos and I don't play games on phone anyway.

Disagree on your thoughts on latency, but it's a matter of taste and tolerance I suppose. With regard to aptX support in W10, do you have any documentation on that? Because I don't see why W10 would prevent that, it'd simply be a matter of hardware support and the drivers for said hardware.

I've seen USB adaptors sold and branded with aptX low latency (Creative BT-W2 comes to mind), so I'm not sure how they'd be able to make such a claim.

No APTX HD/LL, no USB.
Regular APTX is plenty enough for great sound, B&O H7 sounds fantastic with APTX.

Early thoughts on the different between wired and bluetooth sound on the ML850?

 

[ARPortugal]

Ellie has opened shipping to Portugal.
If anyone needs to open shipping to another country, you can just contact the seller on Aliexpress.

Thanks. Are there any cupons for the store? Summer Sale ended. =S

 

[Hal Rockwell]

Boom

Where did you get the ML850?

 

[klogg4]

Regular APTX is plenty enough for great sound

That's what I'm thinking! Although it doesn't compare to lossless, it's close enough to completely satisfy my needs on a road. I think even SBC is not that bad - the issue with most BT headphones nowadays are headphones themselves, and integrated DAC+Amp. So I'm super interested in these ML850 - can't wait for your review!

Because I don't see why W10 would prevent that, it'd simply be a matter of hardware support and the drivers for said hardware.

That's not actually true. With BT you have software that's called BT Stack. In typical case you use stack provided by operating system - that's how most dongles work, and they don't need any drivers as well. In Android you have super advanced stack that supports aptX HD/LL/Adaptive, LDAC, LHDC, AAC and some others, regardless of BT chip used in a phone/tablet/TV. Windows BT stack on the other hand only supports basic aptX (since 1703 build - all previous Windows versions only support SBC by default), but since it's a standard stack, you can use aptX with virtually any BT dongle, even these old BT 2.0 ones.

More complex codecs like aptX LL are possible, but only if custom BT stack is used (by Intel, for example), but it becomes more and more rare case recently.

 

[BenF]

Thanks. Are there any cupons for the store? Summer Sale ended. =S

You can use the coupons in the first post:

================================
When buying Pro 82 or GM200 in the TakstarAudio store, you can get a 6$ discount by using the the promo code "XBRLTX7RMT6X" when placing your order (if the price excluding shipping is above 63$) or you can get a 4$ discount by using the the promo code "LKYYR3GWIAE2" when placing your order (if the price excluding shipping is above 50$).
If you are interested in Takstar HF580 - you can get a 25$ discount by using the the promo code "VNW5AKFHBLIW" when placing your order.
Or - you can leave the message "Head-Fi" in the order before paying it to receive these discounts from the total price including shipping!

These codes are active until October 10th 2020.
These are exclusive codes, please don't share them outside Head-Fi!

Pro 82 v2 - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808454492.html
GM200 - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33012705103.html
HF580 - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32997885429.html
================================

 

[XLR8]

Listening to the Pro82 right now.
Sweet sweet music...

Thanks Takstar for a wonderful product.

 

[BenF]

Early thoughts on the different between wired and bluetooth sound on the ML850?

Frequency response is the same on wired and Bluetooth, there seems to be no DSP/EQ correction.

 

[jasswolf]

Frequency response is the same on wired and Bluetooth, there seems to be no DSP/EQ correction.

No signs of hiss during fade-outs?

And with respect to the sound signature, would you say it aligns more with the GM200, or the Pro 82?

 

[jasswolf]

Where did you get the ML850?

It's available on Alibaba direct from Takstar.

More complex codecs like aptX LL are possible, but only if custom BT stack is used (by Intel, for example), but it becomes more and more rare case recently.

I just cited an example of this earlier, the Creative BT-W2, which is a USD $30 dongle. There's enough such products out there, but I'm probably going to wait for proper Bluetooth 5.2 adoption, especially given I'll upgrade my phone in the next 18 months.

Looking forward to getting a 5.2 adaptor that I can just plug and play with various headphones.

 

[klogg4]

I just cited an example of this earlier, the Creative BT-W2, which is a USD $30 dongle.

I've searched about it more closely. It's not technically a dongle, it's an audio transiever. That means - it acts as a soundcard to PC and does all Bluetooth magic internally. So it has nothing to do with Win10 and it's Bluetooth stack - it doesn't use any software BT stack at all. You can't also connect anything else to it rather than headphones. You can't switch between multiple BT headphones through a Windows menu either. Just to clarify

Frequency response is the same on wired and Bluetooth, there seems to be no DSP/EQ correction.

That's superb! Now the only question is - how's the sound?

 

[BenF]

...That's not actually true. With BT you have software that's called BT Stack. In typical case you use stack provided by operating system - that's how most dongles work, and they don't need any drivers as well. In Android you have super advanced stack that supports aptX HD/LL/Adaptive, LDAC, LHDC, AAC and some others, regardless of BT chip used in a phone/tablet/TV. Windows BT stack on the other hand only supports basic aptX (since 1703 build - all previous Windows versions only support SBC by default), but since it's a standard stack, you can use aptX with virtually any BT dongle, even these old BT 2.0 ones.

More complex codecs like aptX LL are possible, but only if custom BT stack is used (by Intel, for example), but it becomes more and more rare case recently.

I have Avantree Leaf that works like that too. Now Avantree has put out a long range model:

 

[BenF]

Working on the ML850 review - does anyone wants specific questions addressed?

 

[BenF]

 

[OscarPaz]

You can finally check whether they are exactly the same?

 

[BenF]

You can finally check whether they are exactly the same?

Yep.
Hopefully DA2 will have the same synergy with Pro 82 and O2 as Idea does, so I can stop buying random DACs