Optical or Aux to bluetooth transmitter?

[Tomahawk1]

I want to go from my on-board audio (Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7) to my nice bluetooth headphones. I have a wired pair of cans that sound great and can be adjusted using the creative software 760 depending on whether I am gaming or just enjoying some tunes. I found that just using a regular bluetooth adapter, I lost this capability (and it sounds pretty bad for my purposes), so I am thinking of buying a separate bluetooth transmitter to plug into my audio ports. I has both 3.5mm and optical connections and I was wondering what the difference is. Will the optical signal be modified like the aux is (virtual surround, etc.) for the different settings in the software? I had read some posts that indicate that the digital signal is not processed by a DAC before leaving the sound card, but I think that might be off in this case. Thanks for any help.

 

[Lutfij]

In all honesty it's kind of pointless when you move from analog connection to a wireless setup since all the audio processing will take place at the base station/wireless headset. I'd advise on picking up a wired headset or wired headphones if you're all about clarity.

Could you please pass on your audio equipment and sound card?

 

[jsmithepa]

In general I agree with ^above.

Not all BT are created equal. I offer if fidelity important, look for BT connection that support the AptX codec, capable of uncompressed audio. Of course both transmitter and your headsets must support.

 

[Tomahawk1]

In all honesty it's kind of pointless when you move from analog connection to a wireless setup since all the audio processing will take place at the base station/wireless headset. I'd advise on picking up a wired headset or wired headphones if you're all about clarity.

Could you please pass on your audio equipment and sound card?

It is just the motherboard audio (I had thought about buying a dedicated sound card, but I tried a friends Asus Xonar DSX setup and and disn't find it any better) . I use it now with a pair of Sennheiser HD 598's and it sounds very good. I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD1's to use wirelessly (for when I cannot, sit at my computer). They sound good, in a different way. When I plug them in using the 3.5mm connection the software will work so I am unsure about how much processing takes place in the headphones themselves (outside of the noise cancellation) They are not open backed but they are more airy and clear than many others that I tried. So, I will still use the 598's when at my desk, but want an alternative for when I move around. Thanks

 

[Tomahawk1]

In general I agree with ^above.

Not all BT are created equal. I offer if fidelity important, look for BT connection that support the AptX codec, capable of uncompressed audio. Of course both transmitter and your headsets must support.

Yes both transmitter and headphones use aptX. But how does optical vs 3.5mm going to the transmitter work?

 

[jsmithepa]

Yes both transmitter and headphones use aptX. But how does optical vs 3.5mm going to the transmitter work?

Ya, if the transmitter takes optical, "theoretically" this should be cleaner. OTOH the DAC inside the transmitter maybe crap compared to DAC in your sound card. A tossup.

U have money to burn. Optical --> DAC/headphone Amp ---> Wired phones. Cost u another usd$200+

 

[americanaudiophile]

If you use the optical output it avoids the additional analog to digital conversion in the transmitter. May not really matter in this case sound quality wise. The processing is in the PC. May not work over the optical output though.