Cheap Bluetooth audio receivers explained: pros, cons, how to use

Time to explore the peculiarities of these cheap Bluetooth receiver modules. They let you easily and cheaply add Bluetooth audio connectivity to sound systems with analog input: old stereos and radios, iPod docks, car hi-fi and more. They offer okay sound at a very low price. For DIY enthusiasts, these Bluetooth modules can be used for making cheap wireless speakers.

But shopping for these can be a gamble. Sometimes the range is great, sometimes - not so much. Noise could be an issue too if the wiring is less than optimal.

🛒 Shopping links*:
🟢 Bluetooth AUDIO RECEIVER:
⚠️ As mentioned in the video, it is hard to tell how these modules behave exactly looking at the shopping page alone.
🟢 Mini Breadboards:
🟢 3.5mm Breakout Board:

*Affiliate links. I may make a small commission, but the price you pay DOES NOT change. Your support helps me make more videos. Thank you!

Stock Photo Credits:

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction
0:19 What do Bluetooth receivers do?
2:03 What they cannot do
3:01 How to power them
5:16 How to connect to speakers?
5:56 Bluetooth range
6:45 Sound quality
7:23 Bluetooth noise issues?
9:01 Chinese lady voice
9:56 Conclusion

#electronics #diy #bluetooth

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[srpatnaik]

Genuine Advice...Greetings from India.

[Loujemouse]

Great video! I was thinking of upgrading my old speakers so they would work with bluetooth

[aromalm.s]

I've used one of these, the stereo quality is good considering the price. But the low frequency is where I felt the difference in terms of audio quality between wired and wireless

[mackyfeolino]

what is the connection diagram to use that isolating transformer.?

[vipulbhardwaj]

I have red one and its connection sound is like black one. But there is one issue, whenever I play audio it transmits a hiss along with audio even when volume is zero. One way to avoid it is a RC filter at output but that reduces the high frequency performance.

[electronics]

Unfortunatly there is no way of turning of the voice. Its included by default in the sdk and usually manufacturers dont change much and just compile in the default template because it saves money and they wont need to hire programming people. Also the sdk is not really fully documented well.

Some boards that dont have usb sound card functionality can still have it implemented in the firmware and board layout (becauss again manufacturers are lazy to desugn their own thing and use premade schematics) but they just dont place a resistor or jumper disconnecting the usb data lines but leaving pads that can be bridged. I had some models like that.

Also if you do plan on tinkering with the firmware, they can be programmed using usb in DFU mode. You have to put a specific signal across the usb pins to put it into dfu mode. The Dfu mode is burned into the bootrom of the ic so you wont erase the functionality. The chips also use UBOOT as their bootloader. They use JieLi's sdk to compile and flash the code onto the flash

[parsipax]

get the m18, it has key pinout for controls 😊

[krtk]

How is the quality for earphones or headphones?

[devicemodder]

I have an aliexpress MP4 player that has composite output. The audio is noisy (i can hear SD card access) this happens regardless of if the player has a seperate supply. I need to eliminate this, as I have stuck it inside a CRT TV.

[shadowhunterxxx]

There is many bluetooth module with amplifier that used common power supply without any noise but when used tow seprated module with LC filter and short wires still there is ground loop noise

[vishnuvardhan]

is there is any way to amplify the sound to 3.5mm because I'm using the kcx bt002 module that provide the sound with no actual base or anything just a mono audio with lowest sound..

[suttle_writeups]

Would it be good for making diy headphone with bluetooth

[threeMetreJim]

I bought a couple of these, with a built in amplifier some time ago. Unfortunately they have a horrible (and embarrassing) Chinese voice that plays at full volume that can't be easily disabled (the dev kit for the chip has viruses). Ones without buttons (the ones I have) have an input on the chip that will work for this using something called AD-KEYS (one pin has a pull down resistor for an apparent non-use). It's one pin used to detect button presses by changing the resistance presented to an A to D port (I guess that's whjy the name has AD)

[myshticaanimo]

Can't find these JL ic data sheet 😭

[Glorious.Return]

If I attach a rechargeable battery to it, can it get charged through the micro USB?3

[velixo]

Hey, weird question ik, but do work as an engineer?

[VandalIO]

You had the Bluetooth transmitter in the floor ! You should have tested the range when the transmitter was atlas 1.5 meters off the floor