topic Re: LDAC on Windows 10 in Portable Audio

LDAC on Windows 10

jhflkjgd — Sun, 07 Jan 2018 11:57:46 GMT

Dear All,

How can I stream in LDAC from my Windows 10 PC?
I have a SRS-XB20 and would like to use LDAC for audio streaming.

Thanks and regards

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

Drewde — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 11:53:26 GMT

Hi,

I'm just having a look into this for you and will come back with some info shortly.

Thanks,

Drew

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

Drewde — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:36:01 GMT

Hi,

This doesn't look possible as the PC does not support LDAC.

Thanks,

Drew

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

jhflkjgd — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 10:24:09 GMT

Thank you Drew,

Why should the PC not support LDAC?
Are there plans to do so? Where to ask?

Regards
Andi

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

pete_ml — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 19:48:24 GMT

Hi I have this question too. I have Sony MDR 1000X headphones and would be nice to use LDAC codec. I've put the suggestion on their uservoice website.

I do not work for Sony.

https://windowscentral.uservoice.com/forums/348765-general/suggestions/33827737-enable-ldac-bluetooth-headphone-support-on-windows

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

SimonP3 — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:42:44 GMT

Are there any updates to this? I recently bought a pair of WH-1000XM4 headphones and they work great with my (Android) 'phone but I want to connect them to my PC using LDAC and cannot find a suitable transmitter. Do you know of one?

Why would Sony remove ATX from these headphones without supplying an adaptor to make LDAC usable with PCs, TVs, etc.? I realise it's to save having to pay for the licence but it seems like a backward step and cheap move when there are plenty of APT transmitters available but none that support LDAC. I believe LDAC is a software codec so it shouldn't be a problem

Also, do you know if LDAC would reduce lip-sync issues? I have a transmitter that isn't bad but it's only using SBC so not taking advantage of the headphones and lip-sync is a problem.

Thanks,

Simon.

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

konorok — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 05:12:32 GMT

Same here, but I got WH-1000XM3 and can't use it with LDAC on Windows 10.

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

Joe_Dohn — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:19:50 GMT

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I believe Windows 10 doesn't have support for LDAC, but you can try and reach out to Microsoft (or possibly the PC/laptop manufacturer in case it's a Bluetooth adapter/hardware thing).

Hope this helps!

- JD

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

mtabbara — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 10:19:34 GMT

Hi, you can buy the Fiio BTA30 bluetooth transceiver/DAC and connect it to your PC. The BTA30 supports LDAC.

Tested and working perfectly!

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

SimonP3 — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 23:55:57 GMT

Thanks for the recommendation for the Fiio BTA30 Bluetooth transceiver/DAC. I did some research online and it looked good so I ordered one (couldn't find it in the UK so ordered from AliExpress and it arrived within the week).

It does indeed work perfectly. It paired with my WH-1000XM4s immediately with a white light to confirm it had connected with LDAC and it sounds a whole lot better than the SBC transmitter I was using.

Thanks again and I'm happy to add my recommendation, I'm very pleased with it.

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

rodovelazquez — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 18:49:19 GMT

Hi Simon, how are you doing? I've read that you are using the Fiio BTA30 bt transceiver with the WH-1000XM4's. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about it, because I am considering buying it, as I also have those headphones.

So I have a desktop windows pc, that does not have bluetooth by default, so I need a bt adapter at least. But reading this thread I found out that you can actually connect the headphones via LDAC with this transceiver. Does it work OK? Have you found any problems with it? I am also concerned about the tap gestures on the right ear, can you still use them? For example, if you pause the music with the gesture, does the music on windows pauses too?

I've read that you can't use LDAC with the transceiver if you connect the audio via usb, so do you use optical fiber audio? Or how do you connect the pc to the transceiver? One last question, do you think this adapter would work with MacOS?

Sorry about all the questions, but they would be really useful for me. Thank you!!

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

SimonP3 — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 21:58:31 GMT

Hi, happy to help.

I'm using it with a PC via the optical output so it should be fine with a Mac or even TV as there are no software or drivers involved. It's the only LDAC transmitter I have found and I must say, it works very well - very clear and fantastic quality audio, long range, easy to use, the volume control is handy, and the app is pretty good. It doesn't come with a power supply so you'll need a decent standard phone charger to use it (I had some noise pickup when plugging it into the PC). The pause/play/etc. gestures don't work as there are no drivers so neither the BTA30 nor the computer know about the headphones but volume does work and tapping the space bar usually pauses whatever is playing. There are no down-sides that I can think of, other than it taking up a little bit of space.

That said, although it has always worked perfectly with my XM4 headphones, I bought some earbuds (XM4, replaced by Sennheiser TW2 for their better sound quality) and had a few problems with connecting, disconnects and earbud resets with both. support@fiio.com replies in Chinese but I have an English language address that responds if you need it. I haven't had time to sort it out yet and suspect that my BTA30 may be faulty but they seemed helpful.

Good luck with it and let us know what you think, more opinions are always helpful.

Just in case anyone from Sony is reading, why don't you make a similar device? It seems odd to have such a good but proprietary codec and excellent headphones then not offer anything (other than Android phones and a few other devices) that supports it. A simple dongle would encourage many more people to buy these fantastic headphones.

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

Ozmica — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 12:01:04 GMT

Another more portable option would be the HiBy R2 portable music player.

I just ordered it, hoping it could solve my issue of streaming from my Mac and PC. It has a lot of features and currently is on sale:

https://store.hiby.com/collections/frontpage/products/hiby-r2

It allows both receiving and transmitting Bluetooth audio (but also wired + Bluetooth) and besides that, has a plethora of other features. I don't know how good this HiBy brand is (I just watched a couple of youtube videos) and how stable the Bluetooth audio is going to be but it looks promising.

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

rodovelazquez — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 15:33:46 GMT

Thanks for the help! With this info I think I'm gonna buy it. I'll have to wait for it for a while tho, as I am from Argentina and the shipping probably takes some time. The only down-side that I see is that you loose some gestures, but at least you have the volume ones, and the "cover you ear to listen outside" one. I think that it's a good decision to save up a little bit and buy this LDAC transceiver, instead of a generic one which would use SBC only.

Besides the Windows desktop pc I mentioned on the other comment, I use a MacBook Pro 2020 for home-office, so it should work with both of them. I'm not an audio expert, but it's 2021 and we are having trouble with bluetooth headphones, which is a little bit frustrating. I feel that these headphones were made for smartphone usage, not for pc/laptop usage. The lack of the aptX codec it's a big mistake for me. I also think Sony is not the only one making mistakes here... If you are in MacOS you can see the codec you are using, but it's pretty useless because you can't manually change it, or at least force the usage of certain codec (AAC for instance). With Windows the thing is worst, because you can't even see the active codec. As I said, I'm not an expert, but it would be awesome a software update for these headphones, an update that makes possible using aptX, for better compatibility with devices that aren't smartphones.

Ohh, and I'll also need a 3.5mm jack to optical converter in order to use the Fiio BTA30, as neither the MacBook nor the Windows pc have optical audio output. I think that with both devices I should have something that works, and a terrible mess on my desk too.

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

SimonP3 — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 22:20:05 GMT

Sorry for the slow reply. I'm certainly happy with mine and it arrived here in the UK in just a few days so hopefully it won't take long to get to you there. The difference between this and a generic SBC transmitter was dramatic so I'm sure you'll be pleased, although using a 3.5mm to optical converter will limit it quite a bit I would think. Good luck!

Re: LDAC on Windows 10

SMTguru — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 17:23:23 GMT

This is in reply to the original post

Alternative A2DP Driver

https://www.bluetoothgoodies.com/a2dp/

This works great and cost <$10

Sounds great! Highly recommended

my headphone are Sony WH-XB910N bluetooth ver 5.2 and computer USB adapter is 5.2

Can not use at same time with bluetooth mouse or bluetooth keyboard