Advice on Bluetooth peripherals for audio

[rdst_1]

Creating a new thread after a very very long time it seems, because I was searching for the Audio section and it was nowhere to be found. [emoji16]

Coming to the matter at hand, I am using a very old laptop - the Haswell Lenovo G510. When recently, I tried using my KZ bluetooth earphones with it, I found out that the laptop was unable to support both audio stream through bluetooth and internet through WiFi, at the same time. Probably due to both of them being on the same chip and not having enough bandwidth.

So I bought the basic TPlink Bluetooth Adaptor - UB400 (https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07NQ5YGDW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_zhF8Fb7TWA69N?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1).
After buying this, the KZ earphones started working even with internet, but sound quality is very bad and as is volume, despite the dongle showing connected via AptX.

Another issue, somewhat different, is that I am unable to use my Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker with this laptop. With the in-built bluetooth, the same issue arises of both audio and internet not working at the same time. With the dongle and installing the drivers and software, it connects with the Echo Dot but when showing the services connected, it doesn't allow the Echo Dot to serve as an A2DP sink and only as an A2DP source, which again defeats the purpose for me.

So what do I need?

1) Has anyone been able to use Echo Dot as a bluetooth speaker with a Windows 7 laptop/PC.

2) If not, then I need to buy 2 things -
a) A bluetooth adaptor for my laptop which allows streaming of audio at good quality and volume unlike the current adaptor, and
b) A bluetooth receiver(possibly one which works on a charger and not on battery) which I can connect to the 3.5mm cable of my Edifier C3.

Want to spend as less as I can without compromising on audio quality. Also would love this to work with the Echo Dot as that saves me money.

Edit - Was able to get this working with the Echo dot. Had accidentally switched on 'Content Protection' which was why it wasn't allowing the Echo Dot to work as a Bluetooth Headset, but it is working now. Audio quality and volume is still not good enough though, so looking for a solution for that.

 

[red dragon]

There are literally thousands of cheap BT receivers available in Amazon with 3.5mm female port, I bought at least 10 of them ranging from 10 to 50 EUR for my shitty car, none sounded good and each of them died within few weeks!!
Please don't go for those cheap ones... complete waste...
Didn't this forum have a dedicated audio section?

 

[calvin1719]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but a follow-up question: a lot of BT devices don't specify codec support, even in manuals or datasheets. Where does one look this up?

Also, for this particular issue, you may want to look into replacing the wifi/BT chip in your laptop with a newer one. I'm not sure about that model, but this chip is easily replaceable in the lenovo I have, it doesn't even need solder.

Finally, for the BT sink, are you looking for "good enough, there's no static and enough volume" or does it need to be actually good?

 

[rdst_1]

One can check reviews, but a lot of audio specific hardware does list the codecs they support. Another way is to find the hardware they have.
As for my issue, changing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module might have worked, but changing to a bluetooth dongle was a sure shot way to go. I used to have the Redmi Note 9 Pro before and this issue was present with that phone as well. Issue got resolved after moving to the LG G8X, which shows that the flagship chipsets are better not only in terms of CPU speeds. Both phones used to connect via AptX HD.
The sound quality and volume are OK for watching Youtube and stuff and my current needs are being met, but I would love to know why my KZ earphones sound so different using the same cable when connected to this dongle as compared to when connected to my phone. So would like to know if better audio-specific bluetooth peripherals are being used by people and their experience with it. I see Bluetooth hubs being sold online even in the 5k range which are audio centric, but would like to know of real world experiences before buying them.

 

[deusExMachina]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but a follow-up question: a lot of BT devices don't specify codec support, even in manuals or datasheets. Where does one look this up?

It's safe to assume that they only have basic Bluetooth SBC codec if they don't list AAC or AptX in the spec sheet.