Are all Bluetooth dongles invented equal?

dlockers · 15 Apr 2021 at 22:18

I seem to get much better range on my work laptop's inbuilt bluetooth versus my dongle on my desktop. Is there a "best" dongle to use in conjunction with wireless headphones?

Thanks

TALON1973 · 15 Apr 2021 at 23:41

Bluetooth v5.2 is the most up to date.

XeNoNF50 · 17 Apr 2021 at 18:57

dLockers said:
I seem to get much better range on my work laptop's inbuilt bluetooth versus my dongle on my desktop. Is there a "best" dongle to use in conjunction with wireless headphones?

Thanks

Bluetooth has a number of codecs from SBC to AAC to AptX to LDAC. Windows support is a bit crap but generally if you can get a chain where your transmitter and receiver supports AAC (about as good as you can hope for with windows) then you will get better sound quality.

It's a very complex ecosystem with Windows.

Sgt_Pepper · 26 Apr 2021 at 23:02

In terms of the best PC dongle, although it's not actually a dongle, I came across the FiiOBTA30 earlier this year when looking for Bluetooth transmitters. Can be used as a BT transmitter and a BT receiver. Worked really well in my system, used it as part of a ghetto streaming setup from my PC to my HIFI as I already had a Bluetooth receiver on my amp

dlockers · 18 Jun 2021 at 20:51

Bumping this as I still haven't found something that gives me as good range as my built in bluetooth card in my laptop.

Are there any specific recommendations?

I took a look at the FiiOBTA but it is a bit more than I wanted to spend.

andy_mk3 · 18 Jun 2021 at 20:55

dLockers said:
I still haven't found something that gives me as good range as my built in bluetooth card in my laptop.

Laptop's Bluetooth will normally have a long antenna that goes around the screen which helps with the range, that's generally why.

Semple · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:00

What sort of range are you after? Also need to consider if it's travelling through walls then it'll decrease potential ranges.

dlockers · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:21

no idea what said:
Laptop's Bluetooth will normally have a long antenna that goes around the screen which helps with the range, that's generally why.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/tp-l...-6-bluetooth-5.0-pci-e-adapter-nw-222-tp.html

This is the one I was looking at. I expect the antennas are just for WiFi though?

Semple said:
What sort of range are you after? Also need to consider if it's travelling through walls then it'll decrease potential ranges.

It isn't anything nuts - my kitchen is a line-of-sight-no-walls 3m/4m max distance from the PC. It roughly gets there with a tiny mini USB Bluetooth dongle (TP Link) but it breaks up when I turn 180 degrees.

I'm tempted to just run a USB extension and "stick it" to back of my monitor with the mini USB adaptor in and see how I get on.

andy_mk3 · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:24

Thanks mods, I didn't even quote the link and you deleted my post lol.

dLockers said:
This is the one I was looking at. I expect the antennas are just for WiFi though?

As per my deleted post, it'd be a complete guess, one would assume they were for bluetooth as well though, as the signal would be terrible without the antenna.

Semple · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:27

dLockers said:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/tp-l...-6-bluetooth-5.0-pci-e-adapter-nw-222-tp.html

This is the one I was looking at. I expect the antennas are just for WiFi though?

It isn't anything nuts - my kitchen is a line-of-sight-no-walls 3m/4m max distance from the PC. It roughly gets there with a tiny mini USB Bluetooth dongle (TP Link) but it breaks up when I turn 180 degrees.

I'm tempted to just run a USB extension and "stick it" to back of my monitor with the mini USB adaptor in and see how I get on.

Ah it should easily easily do 3/4m without dropping. My new Jabra headset can get upto 15ish meters through 2 walls and only suffers minor loss. My old Plantronics headset could easily do 50-100 meters through several walls, although quality was significantly lower than the Jabra so less bandwidth needed.

dlockers · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:31

Semple said:
Ah it should easily easily do 3/4m without dropping. My new Jabra headset can get upto 15ish meters through 2 walls and only suffers minor loss. My old Plantronics headset could easily do 50-100 meters through several walls, although quality was significantly lower than the Jabra so less bandwidth needed.

With the PCI-E device I linked?

What Jabra headset out of interest? My Plantronics headset (BB Pro2) mic sucks bad.

Semple · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:37

dLockers said:
With the PCI-E device I linked?

What Jabra headset out of interest? My Plantronics headset (BB Pro2) mic sucks bad.

Sorry i mean all modern bluetooth devices should easily do 3/4m.

I've got the Jabra Evolve 65 with the base station. It has a dongle for the bluetooth though (specifically chose this so i could undock the laptop and still use the headset).

Minstadave · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:44

It's probably antenna related. The laptops Bluetooth chip will almost certainly use the WiFi antennas.

My motherboards Bluetooth was awful until I connected the WiFi antenna and now it's brilliant.

The little USB dongles haven't got a decent antenna so range will suffer.

dlockers · 18 Jun 2021 at 21:56

Thanks chaps. I'll give the TP Link a go and see if it solves my immediate bother.

Then I'll get a Jabra Evolve 65 like @Semple has I think. Providing it has Bluetooth 5?

Semple · 18 Jun 2021 at 23:41

dLockers said:
Thanks chaps. I'll give the TP Link a go and see if it solves my immediate bother.

Then I'll get a Jabra Evolve 65 like @Semple has I think. Providing it has Bluetooth 5?

https://www.jabra.co.uk/business/office-headsets/jabra-evolve/jabra-evolve-65##6593-823-399

Ah seems it's only Bluetooth 4.0. Surprising considering the cost of the headset. I think with the dock it's about £175.

dlockers · 9 Jul 2021 at 12:49

Just a small bump on this. I upgraded the dongle to an ASUS BT 5.0 one. It made no difference (maybe even marginally worse). However I have now moved the device so it is more 'antenna' like placement on a USB extension... seems to have got me that extra foot or so that was frustrating me.