Audio quality choice. Line versus BT versus FM ?

[boss1]

While the quality of audio probably degrades down the line in that order, I was wondering by how much. I've never had any experience with audio over BT other than the BT headset for phone calls.

I'm very interested in buying 2 sets of Cerulean XR+TR set for the iPhone. I read that it has been confirmed to work with iPhone for Audio. This option would be great for me. It would mean less wires in the car and at home.

My concern is the sound quality and I haven't seen Cerulean XR+TR anywhere other than online. What's the sound quality like on this thing? or other similar BT audio transmitters? compared to FM and line out?

 

[atszyman]

While the quality of audio probably degrades down the line in that order, I was wondering by how much. I've never had any experience with audio over BT other than the BT headset for phone calls.

I'm very interested in buying 2 sets of Cerulean XR+TR set for the iPhone. I read that it has been confirmed to work with iPhone for Audio. This option would be great for me. It would mean less wires in the car and at home.

My concern is the sound quality and I haven't seen Cerulean XR+TR anywhere other than online. What's the sound quality like on this thing? or other similar BT audio transmitters? compared to FM and line out?

I would imagine that over short distances without any interference BT would actually be superior to line out or FM. FM is definitely the worst, and the line out is an analog signal that will vary with the the length of cable and where it goes. BT if a good link is established is sending digital data to the destination minimizing the analog interference. However if there is any strong interference source or the distance is to great your BT link will become flakey causing the audio to cut out or degrade.

 

[boss1]

Well that's good to hear considering I'm not really concerned with distancing the TX attached to iPhone from the BT reciever. I just want to not have to worry about having all the wires.

The TX on the iPhone would very likely sit on the front of my dash inches away from my car radio. and the RX behind the radio (no wires exposed) less than 1 ft from the iPhone.

Looks like I'll be making the plunge and trying this thing out after all.

 

[atszyman]

I should mention that the BT only maintains superiority when it is integrated into the device and stereo. If you're using an adapter that takes the analog audio from your device or an adapter that connects to the line in of the stereo then a dedicated hardware line is going to be better since you eliminate a secondary conversion to/from digital data.

If BT is built in it can intercept the digital data before it's converted to analog, and in the stereo it can feed this digital data right back into the circuitry that converts it to analog. If you have external adapters hooked to the line in/out you're converting the analog back to digital (loss), sending the converted digital, and converting the digital back to analog (loss) before it gets to the stereo.

 

[b257177]

One should also mention that the iPhone does not currently support A2DP Bluetooth, a.k.a. stereo bluetooth. So, if you go the BT route, make sure sure you get a two piece solution that plugs into the iPhone and the intended receiving device.