Music Via Bluetooth - Sound Quality?

[RAC]

I am using the Belkin BT receiver in conjunction with the iPod app to play music wirelessly to my stereo. It sounds quite good but I have niggling doubts about the sound quality.

The iPad's BT is 2.1 EDR which provides a "practical" bandwidth of 2 MBits/sec plus. Good quality mp3 is 320 kBits/ sec so even allowing for 2 channels there would seem to ample bandwidth.

Any opinions?

 

[twerppoet]

I have only once criteria for audio. It sounds good enough for me. After that it is goes to the realm of those with younger ears, and half crazed audiophiles who have evidently been cross bred with wolves; so keen is their hearing.

The problem with evaluating your BT headset is, is it the buds, or the bandwidth, or some other niggling loss? Short of a full testing lab there is't any way to know. Not to mention you are using a portable device that is hardly the top end of quality audio electronics.

There is probably a comprehensive review on some audiophile site that you could look up, if you understand the jargon. Past work in telephony and radio only gives me about half the technobabble prerequisite.

If you like them, good enough, yes?

 

[Superbike81]

He doesn't have a BT headset, he has a receiver that connects to his stereo and plays through his speakers.

So this is purely a question of the Bluetooth quality.

Technically there should be no degradation in sound quality in even lossless FLAC format because bluetooth provides enough bandwith for it. I haven't done it with an iPad, but I have tested my Android's bluetooth connecting to to the Volvo premium audio system in the car I ordered from them and it seems to sound just as good as going through USB or AUX.

 

[twerppoet]

He doesn't have a BT headset, he has a receiver that connects to his stereo and plays through his speakers.

So this is purely a question of the Bluetooth quality.

Oops. Reading too fast.

 

[RAC]

Thanks guys, I am probably just being picky. I first tried to do this with Apple TV but it doesn't seem to ouput via the optical output unless the TV is on. Bizzarly, you can turn the TV off once the optical output is established.

The BT option works well and does sound pretty good. One slightly odd thing, if I touch the iPad while music is playing there is a once only, brief gap in the sound. I can't decide whether it is some sort of interference with Bluetooth transmission when I touch the case or perhaps the accelerometer triggering a hardware interrupt.