My solution to Bluetooth Audio with Roon

Hi. I bought the BTD 500 and use it plugged in a RPI + ropieee XL. It works great as Roon endpoint.

My question is: are you able to control the volume from Roon?

Did roon bridge just discover the BTD 500 or did you have to create some magic?

No magic, itā€™s a USB sound card.

Is your reception very sensitive too?
I use Linux NUC with bridge installed. I use WH-1000XM3 from Sony. I cant really leave the vicinity for it to start chopping sound.
Not at all like when using BT with a TV for example.

Iā€™m currently using one with an antenna. Greaf reception throughout our apartment and through walls.

Itā€™s the Avantree DG60 Long Range Bluetooth 5.0 Usb Audio Adapter.

Btw. iā€™m using a ā€œ1mii USB Bluetooth Audio Adapterā€ to connect my Sony WH-1000XM3 to my Win 10 Roon PC. Setup was very easy and the aptX-HD codec was selected automatically. Player control (volume up/down, prev/next track, play/pause) works too.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B086KXR1CF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

@jmvdv these cheap ones and especially reiyin cant handle 44100 rate so its not possibility to use these for an airplay streaming ā€¦

other pls be aware of it.

i cant see in btd 500 spec what rates it supportsā€¦

also can anyone confirm that dg60 can handle airplay ie 44k+?
thanks

@jmvdv could you confirm that dg60 can handle streaming via airplay to it? also if its supported under linux? thanks

No Airplay, itā€™s a Bluetooth transmitter so you can attach Bluetooth headphones or a speaker to Roon.

Bluetooth quality isnā€™t great but for an outdoor or bathroom speaker it can be fine.

@jmvdv

you can install airplay on the device where the BT is plugged; then roon can stream to that airplay endpoint (using shairport that forwards stream to roon bridge ā†’ to BT) and BT will stream via bluetooth to the speakerā€¦ Are u willing to test gd60 if device works with airplay?

Roon only supports zones of same protocol ā€¦ so thats why i need all devices airplay ā€¦

thx

Sorry I donā€™t think that will work.

@jmvdv why it should not? i made it work ā€¦ but the sound is chopping and the possible issue is that transmitter doesnt support sampe rate 44100 and its min for aiplay.

Do not provide statements which u havent proved :slight_smile: Million ppl made via airplay (shairport-sync) it work to BT speakers etc so its almost identical scenario.

To add yet another option, this inexpensive (<$30 US) adapter available on Amazon worked for me. Like many of the other options mentioned, to the OS it just looks like a regular sound card.

ā€œ1Mii USB Bluetooth Adapter for PC Bluetooth 5.0 Audio Transmitter, Dual Link USB Audio Adapter with APTX Low Latencyā€

@stubaggs what do u mean by worked for me ā€¦ airplay-> roon-bridge ā†’ BT receiver ā†’ BT speaker?

Worked with no special driver on mac/win/linux, most importantly Ropieee !

I did not have to do anything special, the dongle connected no issues to a bluetooth speaker and headphones (one at a time, not simultaneous).

have u make it work via airplay?

It should work because the bluetooth unit is a soundcard in linux. The one iā€™ve got works this way. In shairport-sync you can specify which alsa soundcard you want to use (if youā€™re using more than one, or got the built in still activated on a rpi for instance).

Do you have a stable wifi connection for airplay? Or are you using a cable?

44.1khz should be a default for Bluetooth audio (donā€™t believe this is the issue). Also in shairport-sync.conf you can specify the sample rate you want/need.

@jmvdv yes, via cable so connection is stable.

no clue why its not working properly, i set in shairport conf rate 44100 and it shows warning that not supported by BT transmitter ;/