Top positive review
Relatively easy install for a Bluetooth device, good sound, and decent range. Highly recommended.
By M. K. Mcgregor on Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2016
Adapter installed flawlessly. OK, it was a multistage install, but no real issues. My system is Windows 7 64-bit and did have a CSR v2.0 installed in it prior to this adapter. I expected some required uninstall, but as I usually try first and ask questions later, I just dropped it into a USB slot to see if MS could sort it out. Windows updated Installation happened and completed normally and I was able to pair a Bluetooth 4.0 headset (Bohm) without issue. There were some uninstalled parts of the driver when I examined the device in the Bluetooth list. Well, despite no installation errors per se, it did not appear as a sound playback device; due to the missing drivers not provided through Windows Update. So, I went to the Broadcom site, they make the chipset is this unit (you could also get them from the Pluggable support site) to get the latest drivers ([...]). They appear to support XP to Windows 10 and some Linux distros. Downloaded the small installer (boradcom, pluggable is the full 200MB at once) which proceeded to install a bunch of additional software (~200MB). It completed and All the device features now had drivers installing for them. Completed and no errors. Still no sound. This is resolved by simply entering the sound mixer on Windows (click the speaker in the lower right corner and select Mixer and finally use the dropdown under the Device column above the slider) and select your paired Bluetooth headset as the playback device. You can also this as the default playback device; check the control panel. After that it worked without issue. Other programs like games or Skype may also require you to set a new device as the playback or microphone device. That part is kind of a pain, but does allow a headset for Skype and speakers for normal windows playback. Range was not what I expected. I thought this was a type 1 with 100 meter (typical 20-30 meter) range. It appears to be a typical type 2 with 33 meter (typical 10 meter) range; and that with assumed clear line of sight. Site states 10 meter (33') range. I actually just read that ([...]and [...]). Granted I was testing in a house with one wall between me and the unit. Sound is very good. I noticed some clipping or click when I change volume in Windows, but that is not uncommon. Playback however is excellent within 20-30 feet. Beyond that it comes and goes in a house setting; your mileage will vary. I was able to go upstairs in my house (and not directly above) out to around 30' from the computer when I would get cutouts; more or less. Not all that I hoped (was hoping to walk the house, but this unit would not do that), but the installation ease, sound quality, and decent multi-room range make this a great buy if you need Bluetooth connectivity for a machine without it or one that does not support the newer 4.0 standard. Not sure if the microphone on my BT headset or the connectivity or sound generation of this adapter is not very good. Sound recorded on a Skype echo test was not good; muffled and not crisp at all. I'm not sure that I will be using it for more than listening at this point. I will do some real people tests and use different headsets and update later. Right now I'm "blaming" the headset. I will also try to do some more line of sight testing to see if the range improves at all Good unit so far, but I've only had it for about 1 hour and I'm listening to music and completed my installation and testing. You may have installation issues if you have previous or current Bluetooth driver installed. Checkout the Pluggable link above. There they also have a nice comprehensive FAQ that tries answer many installation issues. I did not use them, but I did look through them while downloading the drivers. Very good adapter. Highly recommended. I've tried many imported knockoffs, mostly BT 2.0, and this is by far the easiest and most complete install. Most have incomplete or failing drivers and provide limited functionality or poor and somewhat distorted sound quality. I have found another good vendor that does appear to care about the user. Getting tough to find these days. Installed in a second machine at work, again no problems following the same steps as above despite it being a radically different machine but still Windows 7 64-bit. I've ordered a second one!
Top critical review
If you can get it to work, it's good... It took a couple of hours for something that should've taken 2 minutes.
By Ronald E. Mahler on Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2016
I bought this adapter for two reasons... One, I wanted a bluetooth adapter so I could stream iTunes directly to my kitchen stereo... Two, because this one was the biggest seller and had some of the highest reviews on Amazon. Let's get the positive part out of the way, because, I'm really leaving this review to explain why I'm giving three stars. So, the positive... I finally was able to pair this with the primary device that I had intended for... my kitchen stereo... and now that it is, I have everything working quite nicely... the sound is completely acceptable and the goal of playing my massive collection of music in the kitchen has been achieved. Yeah! And, oh yeah... this thing is incredibly small. Now, for the negative(s). First and foremost, my main problem was a strange combination of poor range and backward compatibility... I have usb 3.0... I have tons of usb slots... two in the front and almost a dozen in the back. I wanted to have this unit plugged in to the front of my tower... it's small, it wouldn't be in the way, it's only about 12 feet away from the stereo in the kitchen, and I'd be able to see the slight blue glow coming from it so that I'd know it was on... Plugging it in was simple enough and it did indeed install automatically and nearly instantly... after that, however, I spent a couple of hours on something that should have been done and over with. In short, when the unit was plugged directly into the front tower slot as I intended, it would pair with devices that were within a few feet... things such as an iPhone, a nexus, a portable speaker, etc. However, outside of that few feet... nothing. I figured there must be a distance issue... so I got one of my old usb 2.0 hubs with a 2 foot extension cord... just to see if that extra two feet would make it happen... and, viola!, it happened... Connected perfectly. No complaints... however, after that, I noticed something odd... I put the unit, still connected to the extension hub, RIGHT NEXT TO the usb slot on the tower where I had originally attempted to connect it (because said slot is right near the top of the tower case)... and it still worked... wah? This unit actually worked even further away while connected to the hub... I extended the cord the full two feet AWAY from the kitchen stereo direction and it still worked fine... So, I plugged the unit directly back in to the tower to see if I was missing something.. nope, wouldn't work more than a few feet. At this point, I don't even care anymore... I've installed the extension hub to a slot in the back of the tower and hid the unit away on my desk... out of sight and it works. It is bothersome though... why would a bluetooth dongle not work correctly connected directly to my usb 3.0 tower slot, but work in the same geographic location when connected to the same usb 3.0 slot via a usb 2.0 extension? I don't know. One thing I do know, however, I'd be up a creek without a paddle if I didn't have that extension hub... I would have return this unit, without question. Oh, and one last thing... I'm not sure if this is the case with all pc usb bluetooth adapters or not, but iTunes wouldn't automatically send the audio via bluetooth... Luckily I found the solution... If you're having this problem, simply go into iTunes, click "edit" on the top menu... then "preferences"... then in the preferences menu click on the playback tab... then go down to the drop box next to "play audio using:" and change it to "direct sound"... click OK... turn off iTunes and then restart it... make sure you're connected to your bluetooth device and then start playing music... problem solved.
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