Belkin F8Z492TTP Bluetooth Music Receiver

This is a great little streamer if your main goal is to get audio sources such as Pandora or Spotify to your home system, an older (pre-smart) flat screen or powered speaker. I've been using it for about a year now, and it's still going strong. It's attractive, so small you hardly notice it. It's plugged into its own input on my Denon. I read many reviews here before I bought it, and I would agree with many (except the range). It does suffer from "tight" audio sound using 192 .ACC from iTunes, for example. That said, I use Pandora, transmitting on 64kbit and 192kbit .ACC, and it sounds fine. Those who are primarily iTunes listeners might be disappointed with this device, but don't blame the format or bluetooth. (Why does .ACC sound so good as long as it doesn't come from iTunes? Did Apple cripple iTunes over bluetooth?) Range is entirely device dependent. My range is fantastic with an iPhone 4. I can be upstairs in a large home, thru walls, floor, doors, not even close to line-of-sight, and not have *any* drops. I can forget the phone is in my pocket and the music never stops, doesn't even stutter (range 50 feet at least). However, an iPhone 4S suffers from a poor radio and has to be in the same room (range 20-25 feet). Your mileage may vary, but for those who complain about range: it is a RECEIVER, not a transmitter. Absent a high gain antenna, its range depends on the strength of the radio in your device. This isn't for everyone, but given the cost, size, and the simplicity with which it can be moved around, re-purposed with anything with an RCA input, it has a lot of flexibility. Pairing is incredibly simple and fast. I just turn off bluetooth to un-pair. Good receiver with the right purposes in mind--and the understanding that mobile radios vary highly.

[Edited 2/16/2013: The problems described below proved to be due to Windows XP, software settings related to sound, and the software that runs the Kinivo Bluetooth adapter, not the Belkin receiver. Now that these problems are fixed on a Windows 7 machine, the Belkin receiver works well, so I have increased its star rating. The sound it produces from the stereo it is connected to is very difficult to distinguish from the speaker system connected directly to the sound outputs of my new desktop PC; I can't hear any degradation due to the Bluetooth link. (I am not a sound system fanatic, though.) One minor gripe: unlike what you see in the photo or on the front of the packaging, the tiny receiver actually has two cables: one to a small power brick, and another to the line-in jack on your stereo or other music device.] [Original harsh review follows:] This Belkin Bluetooth music receiver is a great idea in theory. For me, it was a complete waste of a full day. It never worked. I am an experienced computer user who has installed and used a lot of devices and software on many different machines. I wanted to stream Pandora music from my Windows XP desktop PC with a Kinivo BTD-400 Bluetooth USB adapter to this Belkin Bluetooth music receiver plugged into a stereo in the next room. So I was setting up two new devices at once, always a bad idea - but unavoidable, since communication requires both sending and receiving. With the Kinivo Bluetooth adapter installed on the desktop PC, the PC would "discover" the Belkin receiver (showing it as a hands-free headset), but when I tried to connect to it, I got "An error occurred during the pairing process". Searching for this illuminating message online turned up nothing useful. So I tried pairing the Belkin receiver to a Windows 7 Lenovo T410 laptop with Bluetooth turned on. Using the laptop, I could pair to the receiver, which showed as being connected on the Bluetooth devices window, and which lit its blue LED continuously, indicating that it was connected. I could set it as the default audio device and send Pandora music or the provided test tones to it; the signal bars next to it would move as if music was being sent to the receiver, but it would not output anything to its 3.5mm audio-out jack. I tried an MP3 player on the same cable, and the MP3 player powered the stereo nicely. Fair warning: I never got the USB adapter on the desktop PC to work, either. It always gives the same error message when trying to connect to the Belkin receiver or the Lenovo laptop. I started with the music receiver about 12 feet away from the USB dongle, but once I started serious testing, I put all of these devices within three feet of each other, and other wireless devices (a Logitech wireless mouse and its USB dongle, and my WiFi router) further away. Online help and countless forums provided no answer that worked. I may have two or even three defective or mis-configured devices here, or some weird compatibility issue(s), but after literally a full day of reading FAQs, help information, version notes, forum discussions, installing, uninstalling, and rebooting different combinations of three pieces of hardware, several combinations of Bluetooth drivers and device management software (Microsoft, Broadcom, and Lenovo in multiple versions) on a desktop PC and a laptop, I have decided that I really do not need to stream music by Bluetooth after all. Both this music receiver and the USB adapter are going back to Amazon for a refund. What a f***ing waste of time. Maybe you will have better luck. [Edited 2/16/2013: I did return the Belkin receiver for a replacement, apparently unnecessarily. Amazon's return policies make that easy.]

Good value and it does what it says. It is bluetooth as opposed to wireless so there is a limit to the distance, easy to set up an connect, works very good. Nice design, well built. fits any where, sound quality is as expected.

easy to set up an connect, works very good. nice design, well built. fits any where, sound quality is as expected.

I'm using this to broadcast music from an iPhone located on the main floor of my house to my stereo receiver located one floor below. Initially the only way I could get this configuration to work was by mounting the Bluetooth Receiver up at the ceiling level with the audio and power cables dangling down from the ceiling - obviously not an ideal configuration! When I applied the modifications (removing the metal plate) suggested by reviewer K. Barry (Aug 31, 2012) the difference was very noticeable. I'm now able to mount the Bluetooth Receiver beside my audio system and better than that I am no longer restricted to a narrow area on the main floor. I can wander around with the iPhone and still maintain a good Bluetooth connection. Pairing the device is very easy. I would have given this 5 stars if not for the issue requiring modificaiton of the unit. Overall I am now quite satisfied.

I got this unit and was disappointed with the range. In short...It sucked. Unless the unit was right beside the transmitting device it was unreliable. I went on the internet and found a simple fix. To start, you have to carefully and gently slip a knife in the seam and separate the"lid" (mine popped off easily) exposing a circuit board which lifts off (not glued or fastened) a small peg. Below the circuit board and fastened to the bottom, you'll find a metal plate which serves no purpose except to add weight for perceived substance. This piece of metal also creates a lot of interference which severely limits the range of the signal. The metal plate is mounted with double-sided tape. Pull it off and discard, you don't need it. Replace the circuit board in the original position and glue the "lid back on. Airplane/model glue seemed to work or hot glue would work. Don't be shy, it's not rocket science, heck it's not even electronics and barely arts and crafts. Once the modification is complete, you'll be amazed at the difference a little "Do It Yourself" will make. This little beauty will exceed your expectations. In a straight line with no obstacles I got a range of up to 50+ft and previous interference from obstacles like people and walls is greatly reduced if not eliminated. This fix took about 3 1/2 minutes once I got frustrated enough and built up enough confidence to attempt the fix. If you bought this unit and were disappointed, don't fret and attempt the fix. You won't be sorry. Hopefully Belkin will fix this silly little flaw. It is otherwise a great little receiver. Also, it would be nice if the unit had a rechargeable power source for portability.

Très satisfait. tel que décrit Fonctionne bien. désolé que ça fonctionne seulement sur ipod touch ihone ipad mais pas sur un PC, il n`y a pas de driver ,