Arcam RBLINK Audiophile Bluetooth Converter, Black

Just purchased this on the strength of the other reviews. I used to use an Arcam AirDac (now discontinued). The sound quality of the AirDac was amazing, but suffered from intermittent drop outs due to our very poor home wi-fi signal. So as soon as I spotted this new device that worked off more reliable bluetooth, and not wanting to pay more for the AirDac's replacement (the irDAC), I jumped at the chance! Now I am a fan of streaming direct from my own, personally remastered (thanks to Platinum Notes software) high quality mp3 library sat on my Mac. Personally I think web streaming lacks the quality and you have no control over the limiting. My 320kb/s mp3 files sound pretty damn fine, so do my 24bit Beatles collection. Now the only other thing I will try is pairing this rBlink to my AirDac via the digital coax port. This 'should' deactivate the DAC in the rBlink turning it into a simple bluetooth receiver and allow the AirDAC's superior DAC to take over, meaning I'll get the best of both worlds. MacBook Pro > rBlink > AirDAC (via coax) > Rega Brio R (amazing amp) > 2 x Dynaudio 2/6s (clean, neutral sound). Happy days! :)

This is a great piece of kit but beware; it will cruelly show up any weaknesses in your 'digital chain'. I received mine very recently. I have been experimenting with BBC iPlayer via a Samsung Galaxy s5 'phone into a fairly high-end stereo set-up. When it's all running sweetly, the sound quality is glorious BUT digital glitches and fluffs are frequent. This is clearly no fault of the Arcam, the 'phone sits about 2 metres from it with no other processes running and in an area of strong reception from the home hub which is also otherwise 'un-exercised'. There are no obvious sources of radio-frequency interference within the house - but who knows what the neighbours are up to?! I am inclined to blame the fibre broadband - which can be exceedingly slow - and consequent buffering failure. But whatever the explanation, the interference does not make for happy listening. Podcasts - pre-downloaded - seem probably to work better but there are still occasional imperfections - which do not recur on rewind / replay so must be put down to Bluetooth transmission / reception glitches. All of these experiments thus far have been with R3 downloads - which are high quality / high bit-rate hence likelier to run into difficulties. It's been said before of course but for reliable digital sound, nothing beats a direct wired connection.

Easy to install and easy to connect to bluetooth sources (PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone). It provides excellent sound quality through my hi-fi system and it is difficult to distinguish the quality of digital music played from my phone from CDs played on my hi-fi CD player. It does everything I want it to do and does it well. It is well worth the admittedly substantial cost.

I bought a new laptop that had awful sound, so decided the way round it was to connect it up to my hi fi via Bluetooth. I initially bought the Logitech Bluetooth adaptor that just wasn't up to the job, so progressed onto the QED UPlay Plus, which was a bit better, but still not good enough for me. So was it to be third time lucky? The answer to that is a massive yes, there is no comparison between this and the other adaptors I have tried, the sound quality is smooth and has enough volume to pump the sound through a hi fi (the others were very quiet indeed and you had to have the volume on full to hear much). The design of this is a little strange with inputs/outputs on the front and the back, but I've got it hidden away from sight, and there are no issues with the signal,it feels beautifully made too, being metal rather than plastic. I can wholeheartedly recommend this item.

Fine when it is prepared to connect, but that is very unpredictable. All other bluetooth devices I have used remain discoverable after pairing. This is often not the case with this. So you have to do get out your pencil and press the small button on the front to repeat the pairing. Not good for this price.

Excellent

Item very good but I did not need it so I have returned and been refunded. Thank you

This is a great bit of kit. My hi if is only a few years old and of very good quality including a current Arcam amp, so this allows me to stream through the system. Early days, but sound quality seems as good (or pretty close) to that from a CD or record. Simple to use. Another good piece of equipment from Arcam.

J’ai acheté ce convertisseur pour raccorder en BT mon iPhone sur un ampli audiophile Cambridge 640. J’ai choisi ce modèle pour éviter les convertisseurs hors de prix. Mais je voulais une stabilité de communication, une alimentation séparée pour pouvoir débrancher et un spectre audio le plus large possible. Je ne suis pas déçu, le son est très riche, (10Hz de début de bande passante !), pour toute sorte de musique. La différence avec un CD est difficile à cerner. Usage tres simple. Raccordement immédiat. Tres bonne facture. J’ai eu quelques coupures tres courtes de son une fois ou deux. Il faut dire que l’environnement wifi/BT en appartement n’est pas favorable. Je ne critiquerai donc pas ce sujet. Je le recommande sans hésiter.

Hi, the product worked fine for 2 weeks since I received it on Dec 21st but does not work anymore. It does not power on. Either the power adapter is faulty or the unit is defective. I am happy with the purchase. Let me know if the unit can be replaced.

Calidad de sonido excelente emparejado con el Sennheiser BTD 500 (PC Windows) o el Xperia Z1 (Android) mediante aptX. Teóricamente también puede usar el códec AAC, pero no puedo comprobarlo. Únicas pegas: la entrada de alimentación debería ser micro USB y su ubicación en la parte posterior junto a las salidas de audio.

Die Musik klingt wunderbar - besser geht es via BT wahrscheinlich nicht. Ich habe mit meinen verschiedenen Apple-Produkten (iPad, iPhones, MBAir) noch nie ein Problem gehabt. Die Reichweitenprobleme, die immer wieder diskutiert werden, haben sehr viel mit der Umgebung zu tun und nicht immer mit dem verwendeten Gerät. Die Reichweite bei diesem Gerät ist immer gigantisch und geht durch mehrere Räume. Das ist auch der Unterschied zu dem kleineren und günstigeren miniBlink von arcam, den ich ebenfalls verwende: Der miniBlink hört sich auch sehr gut an, braucht aber gerne eine Sichtverbindung und im Nachbarraum ist Feierabend - was ja auch nicht verkehrt ist.

condivido i pareri favorevoli,si collega immediatamente con bluetooth al computer dotato anche dello stesso trasmettitore. Semplice da usare senza sofisticati passaggi,apprezzati dai finti esperti che usano parole ultratecniche Lo utilizzo con un insieme mac-dat-mc intosh 7900-altoparlanti di buon livello spendor. Non sembra vero,ma compete con il lettore cd.Ascolto solo musica classica,e non squillante musica Jazz, e mi da ascolti (dalla cosiddetta ridicola fraseMUSICA LIQUIDA..) fedeli e buoni nella gamma delle frequenze ,purtroppo ridotta del formato utilizzato;evitare mp3,ma usare gli altri che pccupanp purtroppo molta memoria