[LCMusicLover]

Got some demo GoPods. Initial impressions:

Striking difference between GoPod & UTWS5 headstages right out of the box:

- GoPod much more wrap-around/enveloping, but completely 2-d
- UTWS5 more ‘out-in-front’ but with much more depth of image

The difference is quite stark — nearly Empryean vs HifiMan HEK (well, not really, but in that neighborhood).

Holds for all three IEMs (Vega, Volt, IT07) but most apparent from the iBassos.

Also, GoPod really emphasizes the authority of Vega’s bass — GoPods seem warm-tilted vs UTWS5.

Combining the two differences, UTWS5 seem more referency, but maybe ‘thinner’, while the GoPods seem ‘richer/fuller’.

I can imagine owning a set just to drive my Vegas.

 

[Toastybob]

Are there any TWS adapters with Bluetooth LE?

 

[Benzo277]

what is the best bt neckband currently available? I am looking to prioritize power and battery life.

 

[C_Lindbergh]

what is the best bt neckband currently available? I am looking to prioritize power and battery life.

Nothing new for like 3 years I believe... :/ Other than basic neckbands from Aliexpress, without any extra amp/dac nor app.

 

[joshsx]

what is the best bt neckband currently available? I am looking to prioritize power and battery life.

Moondrop Little White

 

[Thieme]

I was looking into this:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256....0.0.230a38daNQmGA0&mp=1&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

Apart from BT5.3 and LDAC, it also says aptx Lossless!

Also call quality should also be good as per claims

Anyone tried something similar?

Old post but for other people reading here. I have one of these and at the start I was happy with them but I didn't have any reference points. Now after learning more about audio I think it was a mistake. The build quality is not super great, it seems there is no real protection that keeps the wires from twisting. It is really just a shrinkwrap around the ends of the pods. Then there is the issue of the noise when nothing is playing or with music that has silences (somehow this was a lot worse on the right side than on the left for me). The connectors also aren't as tight for me? I lost an iem with them on. (Edit: it was actually the iem connector that was bad.) Lastly they just lack power.
I am still waiting for some shorter cables but I plan to use a fiio btr3k bluetooth clip hanging on a lanyard using short audio cables. Still have to try how this works out in practice but at least the sound quality is a loooot better

 

[NotKunvinced]

what is the best bt neckband currently available? I am looking to prioritize power and battery life.

Best? I'm not sure you'll get a definite answer on this. It depends what you're looking for really.
If battery life is most important then these are the winners as far as I have tried.

Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out! €13.00 55%OFF | Xiaomi I35 Earphones Bluetooth 5.1 Headphones Sport Earbuds Built-in Mic Neckband Headphone Stereo Earbuds Headset For Running
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EjvQRHL

They sound OK, I only use them to listen to spoken word while I'm working so they're perfect for that.
The battery lasts pretty much the 100 hours advertised.
They've been out in the lashing rain and freezing cold with me for hours and still work perfectly.
The range on them is quite good too, I only experienced a drop out once, when I left my phone in the house and went out to the gate to check for post. It cut out when I was about 25m from the front of the house.
Nondetachable earbuds though so you're stuck with what it comes with.

Hope that's of some help.

 

[trevdawg94]

what is the best bt neckband currently available? I am looking to prioritize power and battery life.

For MMCX the Shanling MW200 is still the best option though some people have reliability issues while Hiby's WU1 is a close second but it's been out of stock for over nine months. For 2-pin Moondrop's Littlewhite is the best option but it doesn't support LDAC as it uses LHDC instead; Hiby makes a 2-pin version of the WU1 but it's out of stock as well. Note that I haven't used the Littlewhite so I can't comment on it's sound or battery life but most reviews are positive.

There are a lot of other cheaper options without a dedicated DAC/amp on AliExpress that aren't worth the money, even LDAC can't make up for the lack of power. The only decent budget option I've found is TRN's BT3S Pro, it has some but not a lot of low end and only supports aptX HD but I love the swappable cables. It's cheap enough that you can have a couple of spares to swap out while charging and it lets you easily swap what IEM/earbud you're using without wearing out the connectors from repeated swaps.

 

[joshsx]

For MMCX the Shanling MW200 is still the best option though some people have reliability issues while Hiby's WU1 is a close second but it's been out of stock for over nine months. For 2-pin Moondrop's Littlewhite is the best option but it doesn't support LDAC as it uses LHDC instead; Hiby makes a 2-pin version of the WU1 but it's out of stock as well. Note that I haven't used the Littlewhite so I can't comment on it's sound or battery life but most reviews are positive.

There are a lot of other cheaper options without a dedicated DAC/amp on AliExpress that aren't worth the money, even LDAC can't make up for the lack of power. The only decent budget option I've found is TRN's BT3S Pro, it has some but not a lot of low end and only supports aptX HD but I love the swappable cables. It's cheap enough that you can have a couple of spares to swap out while charging and it lets you easily swap what IEM/earbud you're using without wearing out the connectors from repeated swaps.

Little White user for 3 months. Battery lasts through the day listening to music on and off, mostly on standby and then connecting to bedroom TV at night while wife sleeps. Comfortable enough to wear lying down, isn't affected by the pillow position. Uses same chip as Dawn Pro. MDP has 2 chips.

Im easily satiated, so everything sounds good to me on my Simgots.

The cute Chinese dude saying Power On, Connecting, Pairing, Disconnected - is adorable.

 

[akatsuki]

I have been using the BGVP M2 and M3 for a long time, they work pretty well. I even tried them with my 64Audio U12ts when I had those and they were pretty good. Currently using the M3 with Truthear Hexas and the M2 with Simgot EM6Ls.

The M3s don't seem to be multipoint, but the M2s are, so that was a bit of a downgrade. The switching is a bit slow between sources on the M2.

So I was looking at newer options, and there are a bunch of no-brand QCC5181 cables on Aliexpress that are similar, but I would also consider doing a TWS conversion versus a behind the neck, but I like having the cable to let them hang when I am not using them.

The one thing that sucks about them is they just have shaped plastic to hook around the ears instead of a wire.

 

[ikcalb]

For MMCX the Shanling MW200 is still the best option though some people have reliability issues while Hiby's WU1 is a close second but it's been out of stock for over nine months. For 2-pin Moondrop's Littlewhite is the best option but it doesn't support LDAC as it uses LHDC instead; Hiby makes a 2-pin version of the WU1 but it's out of stock as well. Note that I haven't used the Littlewhite so I can't comment on it's sound or battery life but most reviews are positive.

There are a lot of other cheaper options without a dedicated DAC/amp on AliExpress that aren't worth the money, even LDAC can't make up for the lack of power. The only decent budget option I've found is TRN's BT3S Pro, it has some but not a lot of low end and only supports aptX HD but I love the swappable cables. It's cheap enough that you can have a couple of spares to swap out while charging and it lets you easily swap what IEM/earbud you're using without wearing out the connectors from repeated swaps.

Hi,

I'm looking for a bt adapter for aonic 4s.

You still recommend MW200 - do you have a source for EU? I can only find it at aliexpress for 150€+
(Looks like they're discontinued now too)

Also the RMCE-BT2 is discontinued
And i heard nothing really good about the nyx+.

I'm a little out of alternatives.
At this point I'd consider a TWS2 ( utws15 when its available)

although I really like having a cable (dangling), battery life, ldac.

 

[ikcalb]

I have been using the BGVP M2 and M3 for a long time, they work pretty well. I even tried them with my 64Audio U12ts when I had those and they were pretty good. Currently using the M3 with Truthear Hexas and the M2 with Simgot EM6Ls.

The M3s don't seem to be multipoint, but the M2s are, so that was a bit of a downgrade. The switching is a bit slow between sources on the M2.

So I was looking at newer options, and there are a bunch of no-brand QCC5181 cables on Aliexpress that are similar, but I would also consider doing a TWS conversion versus a behind the neck, but I like having the cable to let them hang when I am not using them.

The one thing that sucks about them is they just have shaped plastic to hook around the ears instead of a wire.

Hi,

Can you tell me a little more about M2/M3? They seem like a bargain, but I don't seem to find much (trustworthy) info

Like: sound quality compared to other options, battery life, mic audio quality, durability.

Thanks!

 

[trevdawg94]

Hi,

I'm looking for a bt adapter for aonic 4s.

You still recommend MW200 - do you have a source for EU? I can only find it at aliexpress for 150€+
(Looks like they're discontinued now too)

Also the RMCE-BT2 is discontinued
And i heard nothing really good about the nyx+.

I'm a little out of alternatives.
At this point I'd consider a TWS2 ( utws15 when its available)

although I really like having a cable (dangling), battery life, ldac.

AliExpress is the only place I've found the MW200 (Shanling official store link), it was out of stock for several months before they had around a dozen available for sale again. $130 USD is the standard price for me but I got it on sale for $100 during one of AE's sales so if you can wait for the official store to have it in stock during a sale it might be around 110-120€ for you. I still recommend them, they're able to drive my 2-pin modded KSC35's at a high enough volume level that they're uncomfortable to listen to. Most other Bluetooth adapters don't have the power to drive them since they don't include a dedicated amp chip, the only other one that might is Hiby' WU1 but that's been out of stock since April/May 2023. Even if power isn't your main concern the dedicated amp makes a world of a difference to low end fullness, it's not quite as good as a full-fledged DAC/amp like the Qudelix 5K but it's pretty close.

I wasn't able to find a seller for a legitimate version of the RMCE-BT2, just cheap clones that likely won't sound as good. The only way I would buy one would be a seller on eBay with good reviews or someone from this forum. But I'm guessing most people who have a legitimate version won't be selling theirs anytime soon.

If you dig far enough into the reviews of the Nyx+ there are issues with it that made me question whether it's worth the money. I could live with the voice alerts being in Chinese but when customers were saying they're not much better than cheap $25 AE BT neckbands even though they supposedly have a dedicated amp is what kept me from buying one. If you look at the design of the Nyx+ it looks very close to those cheap neckbands on AE; I tried one of them to see how bad they were and while they weren't horrible they weren't great either. Surprisingly they did support LDAC if you manually selected the codec but it didn't make much of a difference to the sound.

I can't really comment about in-ear earbuds or IEMs as I only listen to flat head earbuds or earphones. But I do have the UTWS3 and while they're not cheap they do have the most low end of any TWS BT adapter I've tried. I haven't run into the charging pin issue with them but I've only had them for a few months and I haven't used them a lot. They're available for around $90 USD and could be something to get you by until the UTWS15 is available since it will likely be this fall or winter based off of comments by Fiio in the 2023/2024 new products thread.

 

[ikcalb]

AliExpress is the only place I've found the MW200 (Shanling official store link), it was out of stock for several months before they had around a dozen available for sale again. $130 USD is the standard price for me but I got it on sale for $100 during one of AE's sales so if you can wait for the official store to have it in stock during a sale it might be around 110-120€ for you. I still recommend them, they're able to drive my 2-pin modded KSC35's at a high enough volume level that they're uncomfortable to listen to. Most other Bluetooth adapters don't have the power to drive them since they don't include a dedicated amp chip, the only other one that might is Hiby' WU1 but that's been out of stock since April/May 2023. Even if power isn't your main concern the dedicated amp makes a world of a difference to low end fullness, it's not quite as good as a full-fledged DAC/amp like the Qudelix 5K but it's pretty close.

I wasn't able to find a seller for a legitimate version of the RMCE-BT2, just cheap clones that likely won't sound as good. The only way I would buy one would be a seller on eBay with good reviews or someone from this forum. But I'm guessing most people who have a legitimate version won't be selling theirs anytime soon.

If you dig far enough into the reviews of the Nyx+ there are issues with it that made me question whether it's worth the money. I could live with the voice alerts being in Chinese but when customers were saying they're not much better than cheap $25 AE BT neckbands even though they supposedly have a dedicated amp is what kept me from buying one. If you look at the design of the Nyx+ it looks very close to those cheap neckbands on AE; I tried one of them to see how bad they were and while they weren't horrible they weren't great either. Surprisingly they did support LDAC if you manually selected the codec but it didn't make much of a difference to the sound.

I can't really comment about in-ear earbuds or IEMs as I only listen to flat head earbuds or earphones. But I do have the UTWS3 and while they're not cheap they do have the most low end of any TWS BT adapter I've tried. I haven't run into the charging pin issue with them but I've only had them for a few months and I haven't used them a lot. They're available for around $90 USD and could be something to get you by until the UTWS15 is available since it will likely be this fall or winter based off of comments by Fiio in the 2023/2024 new products thread.

Hi,

Thank you for taking the time, I appreciate it!
If I may ask 2 more things:
In the past I used a fiio lcbt1 - I'm a little concerned with
a) wearing comfort. Sport, biking, rowing,...
b) how small can I pack it without damaging? // durability (Normally I roll my buds up and stash them in a pocket)


It's a pity that this seems to be such a market niche :/

Out of curiosity: did you compare UTWS3 to the UTWS5s?
I had those on my list as well, before i read about the charging issues. This is a complete dealbreaker for me, unfortunately. (i hate charging stuff already)

For any TWS I'd need to connect them with some kind of string (to dangle). That seems a little stupid though.

 

[Jaysound]

I've done hundreds of hours of research and trial-and-error testing over the years and, while I have no experience with some of the items you mentioned, I can tell you where I ended up. I have the Aonic 4 also. For almost all of my daily listening I use the TW2. For cable and a bit better sound I use the FiiO BTR-5 (BTR-7 is also out now). I'm very happy with the TW2 sound quality. For EQ, just for a little bass boost, I use Flat Equalizer from Beat Blend Labs on my Android phone. And perhaps most importantly, for tips I use AZLA SednaEarfit Crystal Standard.

I was leery about the sound quality of the TW2 after comparing to the BTR-5 at first, but was persuaded by members here that the conveniences would overwhelmingly outweigh any minor difference in SQ and they were right. I never think about it. I do exercises and martial arts etc so having no cable is a plus, but even still I'm very happy with the SQ. That Flat Equalizer works great, better than the one with the Shure PLAY app. The BTR is superb.

And man oh man the virtues of the right tips means everything! Try the ones I suggested! I did TONS of research and then trial-and-error on tips alone (good hundred-plus hours just on tips, discarded dozens of types before finding this). Be sure to buy the size you think you need and also the size up and the size down, and experiment with fit until you find the ideal fit for a very good seal. The tips should be comfortable in your ear and yet seal so well it might even make a "pop" sound when you remove it. And it might take a different size for each ear, which is not uncommon.

By the way, the RMCE-BT2 is in my opinion a waste of time. Why would anyone even consider it? I've used it and thrown it away. Very disappointing. BT sound quality is poor and the form factor is very inconvenient.

If you can afford it, the TW2 will make you very happy if you combine it with the EQ and tips I suggested. And I'm sure for a cable the BTR-7 will have you even a bit happier.