BTA 10 Bluetooth adapter

[DizRotus]

It started with Scott, my 30 y.o. son, asking about playing music from his phone through the h/k 430 - Heresy system I put together for him. I purchased a Logitech Bluetooth adapter (seen in post below) from Amazon for $39.95 w/free shipping. It worked well, I recommended it to Scott. He bought one and loves it. Now he can select music and change the volume from the couch. Something about millennials; they don't like to touch physical media.

The Logitech worked so well I bought another; one to use with a Klipsch iGroove and one to incorporate into a DIY boombox (see thread "Bluetooth 'ipod' dock on steroids"). Now I need one for the system I listen to while toiling at the computer. This seemed like a great opportunity to try a Harman/Kardon BTA 10, $59.95 w/free shipping from Amazon.

It arrived and is it ever tiny! The Logitech BT adapter is much larger. If space is at a premium, this is the way to go. The small size could be useful, but if it were any smaller it would be too small. The h/k logo is sexier than Logitech, but I need reading glasses to see it. As it is, the cables lift it. Double-face tape it to your receiver, amp, etc. and you're good to go.

So far, the performance is excellent. The sound quality is as good as, if not better than, the Logitech. The most noticeable difference is increased range. Where the signal from the Logitech starts to break up beyond 20', the h/k BTA 10 has a strong connection at twice that distance. With the unit in the basement, I'm able to go to the floor above and maintain a strong connection. But remember, if you have a connection for more than 4 hours, consult a physician . . . or I am thinking of something else?

It was plug and play. There are no controls, only the blue light showing connection.

In the photo, it's sitting on a Dynaco FM-5 and plugged into the AUX inputs. With the FM-5 connected to the Lepai TA2020, it's a simple system that allows FM or BT streamed music.

[DizRotus]

The Logitech, to the right and in front of the Lepai is larger than the h/k in every dimension. The Logitech is small enough to be discreetly tucked away out of sight, so I'm not sure how much of an advantage the h/k's tiny size is. The most practical difference is range. If approximately double the range is worth an extra $20, the the h/k is the ticket.

One other difference is connection flexibility. The Logitech has a stereo mini-plug and RCA outputs, whereas the h/k has only a stereo mini-plug output.