Can I Stream Audio From a PC to Wireless Headphones Using Bluetooth?

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Q Do you know of a good solution for streaming audio from a Windows PC to B&W P7 wireless headphones using Bluetooth? Is there some kind of USB adapter? —Robert Prinz

A Unless it’s a really old model, your PC may already be equipped for Bluetooth audio streaming. To test the situation, put your headphones in Bluetooth pairing mode, then call up your computer’s Devices & Printers control panel. Look for an icon representing the headphones and then click Connect to This Device. If it doesn’t show up, click the Add a Device button and wait a minute as your computer scans for new devices. If the pairing is successful, a message will pop up indicating that the device has been added. You should then be able to route your computer’s audio output to the headphones using Bluetooth.

If your PC does lack Bluetooth capability, you can easily find a USB adapter for under $20 on Amazon that will let you stream audio to your headphones. Since the B&W P7s are equipped with aptX Bluetooth, I’d spend extra on an adapter that supports aptX technology.

What’s the benefit to aptX? Regular Bluetooth employs lossy compression when transmitting audio, and it codes data from a variable bit pool. AptX also uses lossy compression, but it has a comparatively mild 4:1 ratio and the bit rate is fixed at 354 kilobits per second. The upside? Improved audio quality according to the increasing number of headphone and speaker manufacturers who support the codec. Audio reviewers appear to like it as well.

COMMENTS
mtymous1's picture

...you spent $350 on the B&W P7's so you can use them for BLUETOOTH?!?!?!?

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