Selecting the BT codec in Win11?

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RJVB

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  • #1
    I got a nice deal on a 1Mii BP06-Pro BT receiver to add to my AV amp; even came with an optical cable. For now I'm only driving it from a Win11 PC, and a bit to my surprise I couldn't find any information on or control over the codec used.

    The PC has a Realtek 8852BE adapter that should support aptX and the BP06 does too (including the low-latency variant), but despite that I'm still seeing about 0.3 sec of delay which suggests the basic BT audio codec is being used. Regular aptX should have a lower latency than that, no?

    I googled around a bit, but could only find a paying solution, apparently requiring both "Bluetooth Tweaker" and an alternative driver from the same company. At least the latter will have its license coupled to the motherboard and that's not something I'll consider accepting.

    Are there really no free (or OS-included) options to use a lower-latency BT codec under MSWin11? Is there at least a way to define the observed latency so video streamed through a web browser is more or less lip-synced with the audio?

    Thanks!
     
    Paladin

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  • #2
    The OS (Windows 11) seems to claim support for a number of high quality, low latency codecs like LDAC and aptX etc. but there is no management interface for it that I have seen. Any such functionality would have to come from the driver package just like some of the more advanced features in sound cards and video cards, printers, etc. I think the Alternative A2DP driver thing lets you do a demo at least so you can see if it makes any difference. I would give that a shot first and see how it goes. I haven't seen anything else.
     
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    RJVB

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  • #3
    I thought I'd ask here because I expected that people use BT headphones to watch streaming video or play games, neither of which is pleasurable with the latency I'm seeing currently. Games are the kind of software that might just include their own drivers for this ... but actually Chrome maybe does too. Didn't occur to me to check yet, but it's become so much of an OS in itself...

    How's this situation on Linux? I noticed that PipeWire has implementations for various BT codecs and PulseAudio also contains BT components. The former is pure Linux (AFAIK, annoyingly and alas) but the latter is supposed to work on MSWin too.
     
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    mpat

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  • #4
    RJVB said:
    I thought I'd ask here because I expected that people use BT headphones to watch streaming video or play games, neither of which is pleasurable with the latency I'm seeing currently.
    Click to expand...
    I mainly watch streaming video on Apple devices, and there they just forward the pre-compressed audio stream (typically AAC) to the headphones to decode. I don't think I've noticed a latency problem with old SBC, though.
     
    Ardax

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  • #6
    Paladin said:
    The OS (Windows 11) seems to claim support for a number of high quality, low latency codecs like LDAC and aptX etc. but there is no management interface for it that I have seen. Any such functionality would have to come from the driver package just like some of the more advanced features in sound cards and video cards, printers, etc. I think the Alternative A2DP driver thing lets you do a demo at least so you can see if it makes any difference. I would give that a shot first and see how it goes. I haven't seen anything else.
    Click to expand...

    This pretty much does it in one. Windows 11 should support AAC out of the box, but it doesn't support LDAC. AptX is supported, but I think there's a pile of bullshit involved with the driver and licensing. (That might be out of date information -- I'm not 100% sure here.)

    Bluetooth Tweaker is extremely useful for seeing all the parameters of what your device has negotiated.

    RJVB said:
    At least the latter will have its license coupled to the motherboard and that's not something I'll consider accepting.
    Click to expand...

    It's unfortunate, but the licenses are inexpensive. $5.99 for Alternative A2DP Driver (+ $2.99 for the AAC add on if you want it) and $4.99 for Bluetooth Tweaker if you purchase them during your free trial period. License transfers for new PCs are $1.99 for either program.

    And honestly, I don't know of any other software doing what those tools do, at least on Windows.
     
    Paladin

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  • #7
    You could try this:
    View: https://www.amazon.com/FMA120-Bluetooth-Dual-Mode-Supporting-Microsoft/dp/B0CN71FL92

    Kind of a pain to have to buy something separate.
    I think there is a Windows driver/app for it to select and see what codec is in use.
    Found it on here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aptx-adaptive-aptx-lossless-usb-transmitters.961856/page-145
    There seems to be a community there around getting the best bluetooth audio performance possible.

    Personally, I just go with bluetooth to an android source and things work really well. A chromecast with Google TV, or an Nvidia Shield TV, or a TV with android built in that can connect bluetooth earbuds should be fine since most of the media player apps have automatic latency adjustment/sync features.
     
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    mpat

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  • #8
    RJVB said:
    Apple being Apple and having implemented some form of compensation? (In that case it'd be a tad surprising if it works with non-Apple gear ;) )
    Click to expand...
    Yeah, they’d do that, wouldn’t they? A quick google shows that SBC latency runs to about 10 frames in most cases, so they could introduce that much delay to the video, I suppose.
     
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    RJVB

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  • #9
    Paladin said:
    Kind of a pain to have to buy something separate.
    Click to expand...

    Yeah, though that at least is a 1-time investment that will work with multiple devices, without having to re-pair the transceivers. I bought the Sennheiser BTD600 equivalent for my Linux beater: https://amzn.eu/d/fuSmNOc . I drive a Klipsch One MkII speaker with it that only has the basic codec for now (which is probably fine for 90% of the listening situations I use it in). The BTD600 is capable of better (and has a hardware way for toggling codecs IIUC) but I haven't yet tried it with the new receiver.

    The FMA120 didn't show up on my radar when I was shopping for it last year.

    Funny, using BT for headphones really doesn't occur to me (I'm thus quite p'ed at Apple for having suppressed the TRRS connector but then again I only buy refurbised iDevices - and not from them...). I rarely listen to music from my phone and in every other situation getting a wire involved is just no issue. I only got into using BT to have a way to connect those 2 computers to good speakers without having to run a cable across the room.

    (Full disclosure: the Klipsch One also has a venerable iPhone 4s connected via its line-out dock that I found on eBay; that 4s is still capable of streaming internet radios and of course playing the music I put on it. I kept that one under iOS 6, which is really cute to see nowadays.)
     
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