Customer Ratings & Reviews

Does its job. Had to purchase to work with blue tooth headphones.

PRO -Does what it says on the tin. You connect this to your home A/V system and you can then listen on any two Bluetooth devices. It's great for watching movies, TV, or playing games at night when you don't want to disturb others. -Bluetooth receiver as well. Instead of just transmitting your TV audio to headphones, you can also use it to transmit music or audio from your phone to your theater system. Perhaps you want to add Bluetooth capability to your old, but still great-sounding, bookshelf system. The Aluratek can do that. -Supports two devices simultaneously. Many TVs and receivers have Bluetooth connectivity, but many of those are limited to one device at a time. Supporting two simultaneous connections means mom and dad can watch a movie together while the kids are asleep, or you and a buddy can play midnight games. -Apt-X support. Aluratek wisely included apt-X support ( regular apt-X, HD, and low latency codecs ) for better audio quality. This also works in both transmit and receive. However, when transmitting to two devices, it will fall back to the lowest common codec supported by both of them. If one headphone supports apt-X HD and the other is only regular apt-X, then HD won't be used. If one device doesn't support apt-X at all then it won't be used for the other. -Analog and fiber optic digital ports. Having both gives a some extra flexibility for whatever A/V system you may have. -Bypass feature. You can give the Aluratek its own input/output port/source in your theater system, but it can also "splice" into your existing fiber or analog cable connections. Keep it on "bypass" setting to run your A/V stack normally, and then turn it the Tx or Rx when you want to use it without needing to change your receiver source. CON -No HDMI. Admittedly, adding HDMI functionality would likely increase the device cost, so maybe this is to be expected. However, when the vast majority of home A/V devices are connected through HDMI, needing to run a fiber optic cable might be viewed as a hassle. -No Dolby or DTS support. The two most common, and best quality, movie audio formats over fiber optic are Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, but the Aluratek doesn't support either of them. It can't decode a DD or DTS stream and send it to your headphones. Depending on your home theater setup, this might be a big problem. If your TV can output multiple audio formats at once ( send a basic PCM signal over fiber to the Aluratek while passing the 5.1/7.1 signal to your receiver and speakers ), or if your receiver can real-time decode Dolby and DTS and output stereo audio to the Aluratek, then you're golden. Otherwise, you need to make some compromises. Either you need change your device settings every time you want to use the Aluratek, which is annoying, or you never try to use Dolby or DTS. If you're already only using your TV speakers or a basic soundbar, you probably won't notice the difference. But if you have a multi-speaker setup for Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA, you're going to miss those extra channels and/or fidelity. -Mode switch doesn't line up with the onboard lights. The left side of the box shows Tx, Rx, and Bypass, in that order top to bottom, to show which mode it's in. The switch on edge of the box however is not in that same order. From top to bottom it goes Rx, Bypass, Tx. It would be a little more intuitive if the switch positions matched the order of the status lights. -Bypass won't convert between the connections. Like the HDMI, this isn't surprising, but it should be mentioned the Aluratek can't take a fiber input signal and output it over fiber optic, or vice versa. -Confusing controls. Like many Bluetooth speakers with limited buttons, the Aluratek controls aren't terribly intuitive. Some are obvious, like the "Opt/Aux" button for changing between fiber and 3.5mm analog or double clicking the Bluetooth button to pair a device. Others are a bit weird, like holding the Bluetooth button 7 seconds to switch into apt-X mode or using the volume buttons for next/prev track. But I wonder why they even included volume buttons on the box instead of letting you control that on your headphones or the A/V speakers themselves. And also when in Bluetooth Rx, why would you want to change music tracks on the box itself rather than on your source device? It's no easier to walk to your TV stand and change tracks than it is to walk your wherever your phone is ( assuming it's not in your pocket in the first place ). -No included power adapter. The Aluratek runs off a normal micro USB power source ( 5V 1A ) but though you get a long cable in the box, you don't get a power adapter for it. It's likely not a big deal since many people have a few spares lying around ( if your TV has a USB port, you can power the Aluratek off that ), but it should be mentioned. TL/DR The Aluratek is a pricey Bluetooth adapter, considering you can get similar BT adapters for nearly half the price. However, the apt-X support and simultaneous two device connectivity gives it a big edge and warrants some of that extra cost. The big downside is the lack of Dolby and DTS support, not because that impacts the audio quality in your Bluetooth headset, but of how it impacts the way the Aluratek interfaces with the rest of your home theater. It's a niche product, but it fills its gap well. A solid 3.5 - 4 out of 5.

My wife loves wearing earphones to watch TV. This was our first attempt at Bluetooth "wireless" and this Aluratek rocks! Super strong signal - she can roam all over the house. She loves it!

Finally a device that can both transmit and receive Bluetooth signals. It has a range of about 100 feet which is so much greater than my regular Bluetooth devices. I also love that you can connect two devices (headphones in my case) so my wife and I can both listen to the tv while the kids are sleeping. How great that I can use it to transmit the signal to headphones but also use it to receive the signal from my phone so I can send music from my phone to my home A/V system. SET UP is a snap. EASY as PIE! It comes with the receiver, a USB cord for power (must always be plugged in it is not rechargeable). and three cords for connecting. You can use a 3.5 mm cable, an RCA-Y cable or even optical (LOVE THAT). I use optical out of my TV so I can send the signal to this device. The sound is crisp and clear and no apparent delays.

good for what it is i think its actually great if you need it get it when is on discount

This is my third Aluratek device used to connect my older equipment to the Bluetooth feature of my computer. They perform as expected and make me and my senior components happy.

Worth a look, works well in my set up. The only feature I see missing is an on off switch, but unplugging works. It could weigh a little more as it moves easily with a cable connection movement.

excellent item of very good quality and construction

Works as described . Set up was a pain because the directions were vague

Connects immediately every time. Sounds great. This was the third Bluetooth device I had bought ( the two others were not from Best Buy ) but the only one that worked. Never a lag.

Love it. Works perfect. Able to listen to TV and "HEAR" it and not disturb anyone else. also others can adjust the TV volume to their desired level and not effect my volume. Excellent.

It seems to work well although it was a little difficult to set up the bluetooth receiving speaker. My question is whether bluetooth always delays the sound so that it does not synchronise with the lips on the television.

Very friendly helpful good product and also good price.

it's ok just a little hard to get set up, directions are not real clear

could not reproduce bass guitar frequency , qas not good for me

FYI: Does not come with a power supply, but otherwise works as expected

Took me forever to pair with my Sony headphones, you have to press and hold the Bluetooth feature for a few seconds before you pair but the directions are kinda vague on exactly what to press when or what settings to use on the side for what.

Easy to set up and great technical support. I had it set up, something went wrong but I was able to quickly get it fixed with the help of the chat support.

The Aluratek ABCD54F comes equipped with a short optical cable, a *long* USB power cable. and a mini stereo cable with an RCA adapter. The base itself is so lightweight that the weight and tension of the cables once connected that it's hard to keep the base facing you. It looks like a mini wifi router, complete with two little antennas. There are certain kinds of headphones that won't pair with it in transmitter mode. That mode allows you to connect audio output of something like a pre-Bluetooth TV so that you can transmit the audio to your Bluetooth heaphones or speakers. Pairing went well on the two suitable headphones. The headphones must support "A2DP" profiles. Audio quality was fine (probably more due to your listening device.) The volume controls on the Aluratek base seemed useless, with the main up and down on the headphones themselves doing the trick. Now, for the receiver function-- It connected easily to my PCs and served well to be able to broadcast the audio from PC to stereo. I found the volume control to be just about useless in receiver mode also. The plus and minus buttons do serve to advance the track if the transmitting device is playing a list of MP3s or other files. If the base was a little heavier it would be a better product. Still a great solution for using wireless headphones with an older TV or home theater receiver.

A little on the pricey side. Also, I wish the transmitter and the receiver could work simultaneously. I'm just happy to be able to use my Bose speakers without an Aux cord.