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Bluetooth with Fisher Tubes - Solved for $16

Sam08861

Sam08861

Super Member
Been wanting to listen to my extensive flac/aac/mp3 collection on the 500B because I..

1. can't find all of it on vinyl and I've already paid for it
2. didn't want to run wires from my computer
3. phone doesn't have audio out jack (thanks apple)

Looking around, I found the roverbeats unify bluetooth 4 on sale for $16. Plugged this into the AUX input and I tested with with the iphone 7+ via bluetooth and from my pc where most of my content is.

Simply plugged in the device to power, ran the 3.5mm jack to Audio L/R RCA cables into the back of the fisher and paired via bluetooth. Took maybe 2 minutes total.

This little device came with all the cords and connectors needed and sounds great! Adds all the 'tubey greatness' to my digital collection, without a lot of fuss.

Looks like it has NFC connectivity also, but no sure what that does. Plenty of reviews on amazon.

Hope this helps others who may be wanting to do something similar!

Sam
 
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Sam08861 said:
Been wanting to listen to my extensive flac/aac/mp3 collection on the 500B because I..

1. can't find all of it on vinyl and I've already paid for it
2. didn't want to run wires from my computer
3. phone doesn't have audio out jack (thanks apple)

Looking around, I found the roverbeats unify bluetooth 4 on sale for $16. Plugged this into the AUX input and I tested with with the iphone 7+ via bluetooth and from my pc where most of my content is.

Simply plugged in the device to power, ran the 3.5mm jack to Audio L/R RCA cables into the back of the fisher and paired via bluetooth. Took maybe 2 minutes total.

This little device came with all the cords and connectors needed and sounds great! Adds all the 'tubey greatness' to my digital collection, without a lot of fuss.

Looks like it has NFC connectivity also, but no sure what that does. Plenty of reviews on amazon.

Hope this helps others who may be wanting to do something similar!

Sam
Click to expand...
NFC = Near Field Communication
 
Reading the instructions, it looks like it uses NFC to trigger wake/pairing but to not transmit audio. (i.e. touching phone on top of device will wake up the device and 'fast pair')

Since apple has crippled that too, I can't test with my phone but will try with an android device next time there's one in the house.
 
I'm cheap and like cables better. 1/8" stereo jack to L&R RCA's. Plug in the Laptop and play it all. No worrying about cluttered frequencies, cellphones squawking in my music, or listening to the kid next door try to butter up his girlfriend (he's a total jerk!). It might be antiquated, but it works EVERYTIME, without tapping on the case, pairing, worrying about Apple(GAWD, I HATE APPLE!)crippling something so I have to put out another mortgage payment for a "smart phone" which ain't, etc. And the shielding on the cables is plenty enough to negate all the above.
 
Squeezebox Touch for me. My WiFi is strong, I can stream my files no problem. No long cables. The Touch plugs into the Fisher 500C's aux and I'm off to the races. Nearly 17000 FLAC files at last count.
 
Lmao about the kid next door!

Yeah, I really resisted introducing ANYTHING digital into the system and even went as far as getting a 15ips 2 track reel to reel (ok, so there's an IC or two in the unit and circuit boards instead of point to point, but still analog medium and processing), but tapes are so darn expensive and good luck finding stuff you actually like at that speed. (what I have found though, sounds awesome!)

I guess for me just allowing digital to pass through my system was enough of a 'falling off the wagon' and was more like a 3 day total blackout style bender. The thought of flacs and mp3s (ugh!) sprinkling pi$$ all the insides of my receivers, getting all over my lovely tubes, and clogging up the tweeters was so bad I must've thought 'fark it!, let's have some cach-caine (bluetooth receiver) to go with the liquor and why not some herr-on as well (playing from an iphone)!' I can't remember anything that happened though, other than waking up nearly naked in the back yard wearing tighty whiteys and checkered vans, holding an Ace of Base CD cover with razor blade scratches all over it to my tongue and a pair of red and white beats headphones that matched the Vans.

Now where's that box of 5 1/4 floppies with all my RealAudio files....
 
That I do, but I feel like that's cheating. Been making 'needle drop' mix tapes and have copied some FLAC files. Does give it a 'tapey' sound, but not the same as the originial pre-recorded stuff. Really fat bass and rich sound at 15ips. Got hold of some studio masters and and nothing else compares to my ears. Wish I could buy the whole 'tape project' collection and the likes.
 
I prefer Google's ChromeCast Audio at $35 (or on sale for $25 the week of Black Friday) to easily & cheaply add wireless streaming to anything with an Aux input.

It uses WiFi rather than Bluetooth. WiFi has a better range and tends to just be more reliable. The musical data is streamed straight from your WiFi router to the CCA and your phone or tablet serves only as the controller for whatever your favorite streaming app is.
The CCA's onboard DAC is decent but not great..BUT you can even set the CCA up to feed an external DAC via the CCA's mini optical output, which I have done with the excellent-sounding, modestly priced JDS Labs OL DAC.

I use it with Spotify Premium and I absolutely love it. If that's not "audiophile" enough for you, it works with Tidal too (among many others). Note though that there's no (easy) way to play Apple Music/iTunes content on the CCA, and probably never will be since Google and Apple are obviously direct competitors.

Side note: in my experience, the CCA seems to work more reliably with Larry's beloved iPhones than with Androids. Counter-intuitive for sure since the CCA is a Google product and Google is behind the whole Android platform. I used to have a Galaxy 5 and occasionally would loose the connection and have to disconnect/reconnect to get it back. Now since I've switched to the iPhone 6s, I never have any issues.
 
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Pink. As I don't have a "smart phone" nor have I ever owned a "smart phone", Apple is not nor has it ever been a "beloved" brand. I'm a Techno-Neanderthal. My cell phone is a 10 year old Trac-fone flip phone. The only reason I have 1 flat screen in my house is because of my late wife, and it's now collecting dust. My 27" Panasonic CRT TV is 20+ years old, has a very good picture, and works fine for what I need/want. My computer is a 17 year old Dell running XP. As for Audio, I listen to FM Radio, some cassette, R2R, and when I'm in the car CD's. I'm comfortable with those formats, they are inexpensive, and I don't have to worry about compatability with this, that, or the other. She bought me a new Lenovo laptop in 2016 with Win-blows 10 and it sits collecting dust as I can't figure out Win-Blows 10. I can't see why people pay $600+ for a "smart phone"(which ain't as it does what it's told by the programming by some 17 year old who has terminal acne and can't write a coherent sentence) when by all standards it will be obsolete in 6 months! Then there is the "weld it to my ear" or the "welded to my hand" effect where the phone captures and holds their attention so hard they don't see the BUS or 18 Wheeler about to crush them into GOO, when they cross the street, or while they are "DRIVING"(which is a misnomer as you can't effectively drive with something in your hand that takes all of your attention.)

Nope! Apple is NOT a beloved brand in my house.
 
Dang Larry, tell us how you really feel! Even my 85 year old dad operates every new-fangled piece of equipment you just listed with no issues whatsoever, LOL!
Well, almost everything. He doesn't own anything Apple-related.
 
Also a fan of Chromecast with use of toslink to DAC to aux input of my Fishers. The only problem is that I like JRiver for my audio collection which doesn’t really support Chromecast when streaming from IOS devices. The other issue is that Chromecast Audio does not support gapless streaming which is a bummer for most live albums.
 
ncwalz said:
The other issue is that Chromecast Audio does not support gapless streaming which is a bummer for most live albums.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is its one major flaw for me. Also annoying when listening to The Wall or DSOTM, although now that I have those both on vinyl it's slightly less irritating.
 
And I thought the Military was bad with regard to Acronyms. I understand what DSOTM is but IOS, DAC, Toslink, FLAC, are giving me a migraine.
 
Sorry Larry—>(IOS) Apple iPhone Operating System. (DAC) Digital Audio Convertor
(Toslink) optical cable that carries digital audio
(FLAC) computer file format that contains losslessly compressed audio
 
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