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Bluetooth for surround sound?

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Blaylock

"That Backfired" Senior Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2013
Location
Go Blue!
I'm planning out the Home Theater for my Man Cave Project and I've noticed a lot of surround sound systems are available with Bluetooth technology. Will the sound quality be as good as traditional methods? I'm a little dated on technology right now as the last HT I build used an A/V Receiver with wired speakers. I know there are better options like optical and so forth but have never had the need to use them.

What's a good platform for sound quality. Plain old wires, RCA, HDMI, SPDIF, Bluetooth? Price will be a factor for this and I don't require audiophile type reproduction, just good quality sound. Also, feel free to recommend some 5.1 systems.

TIA
 
From my understanding, audio over Bluetooth is compressed for transmission. If you're a stickler for getting the best audio you can from your system, you'll want to avoid BT speakers. Currently, the easiest method for transporting audio, that supports the most formats, and is purely digital, is HDMI. So long as the hardware (HT amp, TV, computer, etc, etc) supports the latest version of HDMI (1.4something I think), you'll have the best multi-channel audio you can get.
 
Just beware that routing HDMI through a receiver may add lag. (Ironically, that's more likely to be a problem with expensive receivers!) In that case, a HDMI splitter would be a good fix.
 
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