Monoprice Premium Bluetooth 5 Transmitter & Receiver with aptx HD, aptX, aptX Low Latency, AAC, and SBC Codecs and Optical and Aux Inputs Small

Excellent value. Using as a Bluetooth receiver, I connected audio out to my DAC/Amp using the SPDIF RX port and the supplied optical SPDIF cord. I got power by connecting the supplied USB charging cable to the USB firmware update port on my DAC (pleased to find it provides power). Pressed the power button and it immediately showed up as an available Bluetooth device on my iPhone. Opened the Qobuz app and successfully streamed music. Sound quality seemed excellent - not quite as good as streaming from USB on my PC or using DTS Play-Fi, but still very dynamic and clear. Since I streamed from iPhone, I’m guessing it’s using the AAC codec listed as available, but can’t say for certain. Noticed that the Qobuz app automatically switched from Hi-Res down to CD quality when using this to stream. Since it selected CD quality rather than MP3, maybe that suggests it’s using AAC rather than the lower quality SBC codec. I also used for streaming from various other apps (e.g., podcast apps) from my iPhone, which was my intended purpose since I can stream from my music apps over WiFi using DTS Play-Fi. However, the stream quality was good enough with this device via SPDIF that I’d be fine using it for casual music listening, and it also opens up playing from websites and apps that aren’t available via Play-Fi. I highly recommend as a Bluetooth digital streamer providing extreme ease of use and high quality for a very low cost. I cannot comment on the quality of the internal DAC in this device, if one needed to connect it directly to an analog input on a stereo receiver or powered speakers, since I only used it via the digital SPDIF outlet to my DAC.UPDATE: I got around to test listening to the DAC in this Bluetooth receiver, running its analog out via RCA jack to an analog input on my amp. Honestly, I tried A/B switching between this versus running it digitally to my dedicated DAC and thought both sounded great. This one might be a tiny bit on the brighter side, but in any case sounded very good with a variety of Hi Res jazz and classical through my main home stereo. I was able to use aptX HD codec from Android and AAC codec from iphone (aptX HD seemed a little better, but just a little).

The device connects quickly to my receiver (Qudelix 5k) and transmits in AptX HD exactly as advertised. The sound is great and serves its purpose great.My one issue is with connectivity. It's not always the greatest. When placed slightly behind the TV, connectivity is very poor and disconnects semi-frequently. When moved in front of the TV, connectivity is better but can often be finicky if my receiver isn't in direct sight of it. This wouldn't be terrible if these hiccups didn't cause this horrible loud clicking noise that's much louder than the rest of the audio.Still great receiver for the price. Much better than some other receivers that I've used that would have a channel imbalance that would result in one side lagging behind the other when using AptX HD

I thought and assumed they all sound the same, but not so. I've bought a cheap BT receiver not knowing this. Did a little listening and read up some info. Finnally, it's about the supported format for high quality sound. The cheap one is good for talking on my phone and such, but it probably lacked the many codes and/or codec for music. This area can be complicated, but they should have a list of supported formats, not only for MP3, which is not in the rank, Hi-Fi, high definition sound. But the list goes on to suggest the better.This tranceiver I ordered from Amazon got exactly as it described, the above list of code/codec (code and decode)If you are gonna hook up a bunch of portable speakers like I do for three of them, then you'd purchase this BT tranceiver and you'll need a universal 1/8 or 3.5mm spliter. Some name like U-Spliter on Amazon. It comes with about 5 additional output and an extra 1/8 pigtail to plug it in to your source. There's plenty to connection after that. It's universal, you can do this eighter way, it will work.If you'll used speakers this way, my first advice is to manually turn down each speaker, next to nothing. Why? You may get blown away, surprisingly, when connected. Thank me for this one.Now that you got it all way down low, you'll want to turn your phone all the way up and max it out. This way you'll get the most from your phone, as far as BT is concerned.The rest is manual, controlling the volume of each speaker to your likeness. There's my experience with them, and this way there's no confusion of music delay cause they're all on the same page. Good for the party.I've had a couple of small portables I didn't wanted to put them away when I bought a gigantic W King T11. My two Med onn. rugged from Walmart still stand (5yrs). They sounded awesomely great none other can match. I've bought and returned a larger onn. from Walmart it's nothing to compare with the old one. But so the new W King arived, it's a closest and coolest match to that great sound, only 100W louder, not as the two small for about 10W each. Took me 6mos trying to get the best sound for the money. Have you got an ear full yet. Thank you.

Does not work with Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. It works with all my cheaper bluetooth headsets. It will work with WH-1000XM3s the first time you pair them. But then every subsequent time after the first pairing when you reconnect the devices you get audio loaded with distortion. Not sure if it's a Sony problem or a Monoprice problem. My Sony headphones work fine with every other device I've used them with. This transmitter worked fine with every other pair of bluetooth headphones I connected it to.