[billbishere]

Hey everyone - I have had this on my mind for awhile and the more I see companies like FIIO come out with BT receiver DAC's it raises a question for me.

Is there a SQ improvement using a wired set of headphones and plugging them into a High Quality BT receiver

vs.

The exact same set of headphones with the BT built in.

Logically I can't think of any reason there would be any difference at all because a BT signal is a BT signal. It has to be received and converted regardless. Maybe having more mw output on the standalone device might make a difference. But, the actual DAC conversion / quality must be the same...no?

Sorry if there are topics discussing this - it's hard to search for to get any decent results. I mostly get just wired vs wireless stuff.

 

[pbui44]

A BT transmitter can be poorly made, allowing interference to come through. Of course, this interference is different from what you typically hear on cell phones. Rather, this interference will affect sound quality by reducing transmission frequency, but is usually created by physical objects, like multiple walls and such.

 

[billbishere]

But both built in BT reciever and a stand alone BT receiver would be suffer from that issue... No?

 

[pbui44]

But both built in BT reciever and a stand alone BT receiver would be suffer from that issue... No?

Once again, it all depends on the quality of the build, from the outside to the inside. Limits on how far the BT signal will transmit, or distance, always plays a factor, but whether your BT device will keep playing or not and under what conditions also play factors.

 

[billbishere]

While the BT signal is important overall, it's not the main question here.... I am talking about 2 different ways of receiving the signal.


Like for instance -
Bowers and Wilkins PX using BlueTooth APTXHD vs ES100 receiving the Bluetooth signal via APTXHD and then connect with a 3.5mm cable to Bowers and Wilkins from the ES100.


I am trying to figure out if there is a quality difference between the 2 methods because hype would have be believe the ES100 Via BT with a Cable out to the PX is somehow going to be a better SQ... While in theory the headphones should sound better since they are using a 3.5 mm, the amp is still getting the audio Via Bluetooth.

There is a DAC / AMP built into Bowers and Wilkins PX as well as the ES100. While there may be hardware differences I would think the SQ would be hindered by bluetooth itself since both devices are using the same exact codec, version, etc of bluetooth. there shouldn/'t be any difference in SQ as bluetooth is sorta "capped" at how well it can produce sound, unlike a cable into the main source.

Hope that makes more sense.

 

[SilverEars]

This is a very good question, and I think using a portable BT receiver with headphone input you CAN (depends on what you get) get better performance for dynamic driver based iems or full sized that require strong amping.

In my experience, stronger the amp's driving, the better controlled and the dynamic driver is and quicker the driver, especially noticed with speed and tightness with bass.

So, with standard BT earphones, you have no choice but the amp that is built in to the module(And I'm sure that's the biggest factor for sub-optimal performance of BT iems (with a dynamic driver) compared to a well amped wired). On the other hand, you have more flexibility to choose the amp with wired iems if usibg those BT DAC/Amp receivers, and pick out a strong driving one for better dynamic driver performance.

I think high quality codec comes into factor after you have a quality transducer that is able to be amped well. So, primary importance is strong amping and a quality driver. And then the bitrate of the signal.

 

[pbui44]

So looking at the signature of @billbishere earlier in this thread:

Desk:
Topping D10 > Pangea USB > Cavalli Liquid Spark > AQ Nighthawk Carbon + Sennheiser 58X

Mobile:
Bowers and Wilkins PX :::: iSine10's w/Cipher on Android :::: Bose Soundlink OE :::: Bose Soundsport :::: ATH-S700BT :::: Jaybird Tarah Pro :::: KZ ZS10 Pro w/Sonata HD DAC

I never owned a stand-alone BT receiver, so I did not know how to approach this questions. However, the post made by @SilverEars was very clear and concise after @billbishere made clarifications on specific BT products and I thought it was very insightful.

If you want to try something new, experiment with your BT setups, while wearing this:

 

[billbishere]

...

 

[billbishere]

This is a very good question, and I think using a portable BT receiver with headphone input you CAN (depends on what you get) get better performance for dynamic driver based iems or full sized that require strong amping.

In my experience, stronger the amp's driving, the better controlled and the dynamic driver is and quicker the driver, especially noticed with speed and tightness with bass.

So, with standard BT earphones, you have no choice but the amp that is built in to the module(And I'm sure that's the biggest factor for sub-optimal performance of BT iems (with a dynamic driver) compared to a well amped wired). On the other hand, you have more flexibility to choose the amp with wired iems if usibg those BT DAC/Amp receivers, and pick out a strong driving one for better dynamic driver performance.

I think high quality codec comes into factor after you have a quality transducer that is able to be amped well. So, primary importance is strong amping and a quality driver. And then the bitrate of the signal.

I was thinking of a situation where those variables dont exist. A. Headphones have BT receiver, DAC, and AMP built in. or B. Headphones cabled to a device that is a BT receiver, DAC and amp. All other things equal.


Thing is you can never have the same BT combo device that is integrated and then as a external BT Combo unit. But really it shouldn't matter in the end having all things equal outside of my experiment.

Now with what we do have at our disposal I am of the opinion you are going to be able to achieve better SQ with a external BT Combo device only because you have the ability to choose a better BT Dac Combo, and a better headphone than we have access to in the Bluetooth world. None of the current Bluetooth integrated headphones can compete with a top end Analog headphones and External BT DAC.

I would think until they can truly meet a wired headphones performance over a wireless connection we will continue to have this situation.