• 03-16-2014, 05:39 AM
    thekid
    Entered the world of blue-tooth music streaming
    After reading a Stereophile magazine review about an inexpensive blue-tooth receiver I decided to pick one up. The one reviewed was a receiver from iLive that runs only about $25. My initial impressions of it were very favorable but after less than a week of use it died but not my interest in this technology/gear.

    I am sure this technology is not new to most here but it is new to me since I only got a smart phone last Fall. In any case Best Buy has a Rocketfish receiver on sale and I had a $20 gift card so went ahead and picked it up.


    Initial impressions were favorable though its signal is actualy not as strong as the cheaper iLive unit. The phone needs to pretty much maintain a line of sight with the receiver or it will cut out. Initially I tried it with my Denon set up and it seemed a little strong in the treble area but an adjustment with the tone controls corrected this.

    The nice thing about the Rocketfish unit is that it has a optical connection. So using an Audioquest optical cable I ran the signal through my MSB DAC and there was a noticeable improvement. The DAC brought out the lower end and more depth to the music.

    I don't have a "golden ear" so I can certainly see the appeal of these devices/format for many people.
  • 03-20-2014, 08:07 AM
    TheHills44060
    I always wondered about the reliability of the connection with these bluetooth receiver/adapter thingies but it sounds like you're having some pretty good success so far. I may or may not pick up something similar for my sister's stereo.
  • 03-28-2014, 10:10 AM
    TheHills44060
    Seriously considering a bluetooth receiver now but all of the reviews, regardless of the make/model, all say that the range stinks. So far the Logitech unit and the Rocketfish seem the best so far i guess.
  • 03-28-2014, 10:40 AM
    thekid
    I have had the Rocketfish now for a couple of weeks. One of the nice features is that it has an optical connection and I can say it is a step in sound compared to the analog RCA connection. The optical also allows me an easier hook-up to my outboard DAC. I had an audio enthusiast friend over a couple of days ago and he was pretty impressed with it.
  • 04-03-2014, 05:10 AM
    TheHills44060
    Well I stopped at Best Buy yesterday to pick up the Rocketfish but they were out. Kinda glad anyway because I cannot stand Best Buy...soooo i did some more researching on the internet and finally decided on the Philips AEA2000/37. It had very good reviews and was only 19 bucks. My main concern was range and sound quality and from what I have read it is a good performer. It does not have an optical out but I can live without that since the A/V receiver its will be connected to doesn't have an optical in anyway. My only concern is that it is not aptX but I have no idea if it makes that much of a difference or not. Plus this is all for my sister so I doubt she's be able to tell the difference anyway.

    I'll update once I receive the unit and give it a spin.
  • 04-03-2014, 05:58 PM
    thekid
    I am not familiar with the Philips, look forward to your review.
  • 04-10-2014, 06:59 PM
    TheHills44060
    Well thekid I must thank you. After reading your experience I finally decided to give an adapter a shot and it's great. I hooked it up to my sisters receiver and I'll be damned if it doesn't work way better than it should. Pairing was a snap ans I literally could walk out to the patio, to the sunroom, even upstairs and never lost connection. I didn't think bluetooth had that type of range. Even switching songs in different rooms I never lost connection. The sound quality is pretty good too, sure i can tell the difference from the bluetooth streamed copy of a song and the cd version but that's to be expected.

    I ended up getting the same Philips unit for myself:
    http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...dulik/pbt1.jpg
    http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...dulik/pbt2.jpg

    Keep in mind this unit does not have a digital out but I didn't need one because both the toslink and dig coax inputs on my dac are already occupied. The sound quality is perfectly acceptable for just messing around with convenient music.
  • 04-10-2014, 08:26 PM
    thekid
    Glad to hear it has worked out for you. As you mention the SQ is pretty good but the ease of use is excellent with these type of devices.
  • 04-11-2014, 04:16 AM
    TheHills44060
    Oh I forgot to ask. What format are the songs on your phone in? I figured FLAC would be overkill so I've converted them to 320kbps mp3's but then again maybe that's even unnecessary given the limitations of Bluetooth? I'm still not entirely familiar with the technology so I guess I'll have to experiment with sample rate/size/sound quality. Ideally the more songs I can jam into the phone the better.
  • 04-11-2014, 07:05 AM
    recoveryone
    Is there a phone that supports FLAC format?
  • 04-11-2014, 08:20 AM
    TheHills44060
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by recoveryone View Post
    Is there a phone that supports FLAC format?

    Not sure about that one recovery. I have very limited cell phone knowledge but I do know that none of the music players currently on my phone recognizes FLAC. I don't know if there is an android application that does.
  • 04-11-2014, 05:26 PM
    thekid
    Hills not sure of the format. I am listening to Pandora via my I-Phone. Perhaps someone here may know the format. In addition the Rocketfish is then connected to my MSB Link DAC.
  • 04-12-2014, 05:08 AM
    TheHills44060
    Ahh ok, yeah Pandora is cool. My data plan on my phone is very basic so i don''t do a lot of streaming. I always liked the MSB dacs and there different levels of updatability.

    Tried to edit my original post with better pictures but now the edit button is gone? Interesting.