Bluetooth receiver with digital output, should it affect sound quality ?

[Phonautograph]

I want to buy a Bluetooth receiver with a digital output , should I consider certain specifications to avoid sound quality degradation , I think since it has a digital output my sound quality would be rather determined by the downstream equipment , or is there some other sort of acoustic degradation it may cause ? And what are your recommended products?

[Cebolla]

Is there a reason why you have to use Bluetooth for receiving audio in the first place, given that it does not transmit lossless audio and so you may not be able to avoid sound quality degradation just by that choice alone?

[Phonautograph]

37 minutes ago, Cebolla said:

Is there a reason why you have to use Bluetooth for receiving audio in the first place, given that it does not transmit lossless audio and so you may not be able to avoid sound quality degradation just by that choice alone?

Oh no It won’t be used for playing lossless audio files , but rather for Casual listening from mainstream streaming services such as Deezer , I have noticed a significant drop in audio quality (flatness) on the same speaker when I used a bt receiver with an analog output , than digital input to my DAC , thus I want to get one with a digital output and not rely on the bt receiver dac 

[Blackmorec]

On 8/24/2019 at 7:39 PM, Phonautograph said:

Oh no It won’t be used for playing lossless audio files , but rather for Casual listening from mainstream streaming services such as Deezer , I have noticed a significant drop in audio quality (flatness) on the same speaker when I used a bt receiver with an analog output , than digital input to my DAC , thus I want to get one with a digital output and not rely on the bt receiver dac 

BT will always cause degradation in audio sound quality. Any reason you can’t use wi-fi?

[John Mason]

I don't believe that there are any bt devices that do digital out. Your use case sounds like a potentially great candidate for a Google Chromecast audio device, although they only do optical iirc.

 

 

[Phonautograph]

On 8/27/2019 at 2:06 PM, Blackmorec said:

BT will always cause degradation in audio sound quality. Any reason you can’t use wi-fi?

Yeah you are right I just read about about Bluetooth audio compression I thought the degradation in sound quality was due to the bt receiver crappy dac only , I want something that can be used in house that can receive signal from mobile devices (Android +iOS )

[Phonautograph]

1 hour ago, John Mason said:

I don't believe that there are any bt devices that do digital out. Your use case sounds like a potentially great candidate for a Google Chromecast audio device, although they only do optical iirc.

 

 

That looks great

[PAR]

1 hour ago, John Mason said:

Google Chromecast audio device,

 As I pointed out in another thread recently, Chromecast audio products are now discontinued by Google.

 

Is the OP fixed on a a wireless connection?  I am assuming that he is talking about his home installation and not a mobile one so I would  have thought that , for Deezer etc. a simple wired connection from e.g. a PC or Mac to the DAC via USB would provide the best quality. On the other hand as he is using a phone or a tablet as the source I can't think offhand of a lossless not wireless connection. He could, for example, consider something like an Audioquest Dragonfly connected to his phone or tablet with a wired output from the 3.5 mm AQ output to his amp. But lossless digital all the way , hmmm.

[John Mason]

Yes Google stopped selling them some time ago, that's why you can pick them up so cheaply now. They still work perfectly well and noone expects Google to pull the plug on the protocol any time soon.

[Phonautograph]

31 minutes ago, PAR said:

 As I pointed out in another thread recently, Chromecast audio products are now discontinued by Google.

 

Is the OP fixed on a a wireless connection?  I am assuming that he is talking about his home installation and not a mobile one so I would  have thought that , for Deezer etc. a simple wired connection from e.g. a PC or Mac to the DAC via USB would provide the best quality. On the other hand as he is using a phone or a tablet as the source I can't think offhand of a lossless not wireless connection. He could, for example, consider something like an Audioquest Dragonfly connected to his phone or tablet with a wired output from the 3.5 mm AQ output to his amp. But lossless digital all the way , hmmm.

I already have a pc source connected to a dac to my system , my audio system already has a decent built in dac as well , I want to add wireless connectivity to it with digital output so that other house users could play it easily through their  mobile devices while benefiting from the built in dac 

[PAR]

Thanks for the explanation.  I now appreciate your need better. Unfortunately I cannot think of a wireless music transmission protocol from a mobile device other than BT ( aptx, aptx HD  etc. variants included).

[Rexp]

5 hours ago, John Mason said:

I don't believe that there are any bt devices that do digital out. Your use case sounds like a potentially great candidate for a Google Chromecast audio device, although they only do optical iirc.

 

 

There are and one guy i read is using a chord hugo2 with his. 

[Rexp]

Curiosity got the better of me, I bought a BT Receiver with optical out:

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/CRDC-Bluetooth-5-0-Audio-Transmitter-Receiver-CSR8675-Aptx-HD-Adapter-Optical-Toslink-3-5mm-AUX/32878549408.html

 

So far with aptx HD, the digital out sounds good and comparable to the Chromecast but with the added bonus of gapless playback. The analog out is not good though so try other options. 

[Melvin]

The only two with digital-out that I'm aware of are the iFi nano iOne and the somewhat older Wyred 4 Sound bLink. The iOne has much greater flexibility (maybe overkill) and is less than half the cost of the bLink. I haven't heard the iOne so I'm clueless if it provides better sound than the bLink. FWIW, I purchased a bLink when they were first released a few years ago. It's based on their well-reviewed Remedy re-clocker and provides some of the best sounding Bluetooth I've experienced. Best of luck.

[Rexp]

With this thing, I actually prefer AAC to aptx hd, should be the otber way round ofcourse. May need to try another model, plenty of options around:

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-bluetooth-audio-receiver-for-your-home-stereo-or-speakers/

 

[Phonautograph]

Any news about Devices that support the aptx adaptive codec ?

[seeteeyou]

$99 Qudelix-5K with aptX Adaptive

 

https://www.qudelix.com/5k-dacamp

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-qudelix-5k-thread.914628/