HOWTO/Review: Connecting an iPhone to the M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver

The folks over at technology musings wrote an interesting HOWTO/Review on our M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver. The tutorial, replete with screen shots, explains the process for connecting iOS devices to the M-510. They also discuss some technical details of A2DP and sound quality. We've been given permission to reproduce the post here.

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Connecting an iPhone to the M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver

Got a loaner M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver to test out over the weekend. We plugged it into a Bose Wave II Radio using the included double male 3.5mm stereo audio cable. Our test devices were an iPhone 3GS and an iPad with Retina display (4th generation). Both devices were running iOS 6.1.3. Getting the M-510 to work with iOS devices was a snap, and the sound quality was surprisingly good for typical mobile device playback.
The M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver supports the Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) utilizing Low Complexity Subband Coding (SBC). SBC is applied to existing audio CODECs, in other words transcoding on the fly. This is fine for typical medium to higher quality AAC and MP3 stored on portable devices like iPods, iPhones, and iPads. However, if you're expecting lossless formats like FLAC, ALAC, or even high quality lossy formats like lame --preset insane encoded files to sound the same, they won't. Highest quality audio is better served over WiFi with AirTunes/AirPlay enabled audio equipment. That said, the M-510's quality is acceptable for 256 kbps or lower quality iTunes AACs or MP3 files, which is what most people have on iDevices and other portable players. Overall the M-510 is an inexpensive way to add wireless playback ability to devices without that capability. If you're looking for really high fidelity, you're not shopping the under $40 devices market to begin with.
The M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver's other big plus is that it provides the choice between an AC adapter and running off a single AAA battery. That last option provides a lot of flexibility when you think of portable scenarios. Don't want to lug your expensive audio equipment outside, but have an old boombox with a 3.5mm line in? Add the M-510 and now that boombox becomes remote speakers for your iPhone 5.

Pairing the M-510 with the iOS devices is a simple as visiting Settings > Bluetooth" and then finding Music Receiver in the list of devices

Tap on Music Receiver and it will then read as Connected.

Later if you choose to remove the saved connection by clicking arrow to the right of the word Music Receiver and then tapping Forget this Device.

During playback, clicking the AirPlay icon on the bottom right of the screen (in orange next to the volume control) allows choice of where the audio signal is to be sent.

Here the M-510 is selected. We can easily switch to the iPhone's internal speakers by clicking the iPhone button.

Synchrotech one of only two vendors to debut Delock's 61971 Thunderbolt to SATA 6Gbps HDD/SSD Drive Adaptor

Because of our excellent relationship with Delock, we were selected to be one of their first vendors for their exciting new product release. The 61971 has been approved by Intel and is listed on their official Thunderbolt® site.
We are now taking pre-orders for the versatile Thunderbolt SATA device. Our tentative shipment schedule is as follows: "we will be able to ship 10 pieces to you on August 6, 2013 so you can test the product first; and other 10 pieces to ship by the end of August. After that time, we will have enough stock for this item."
The Delock 61971 Thunderbolt to SATA 6Gbps HDD/SSD Drive Adaptor represents the second generation of high-performance Thunderbolt to SATA devices. Portable, but still featuring a full 22-pin SATA connector, the 61971 Thunderbolt to SATA 6Gbps Adapter connects to both 2.5in and 3.5in SATA devices. Deploy with screaming fast Solid State Drives (SSD), or spacious Hard Disk Drives (HDD), Delock's 61971 Thunderbolt to SATA 6Gbps HDD/SSD Drive Adaptor versatility makes it a great addition to any Thunderbolt based work flow. While best performance is achieved with SATA 6 Gb/s devices, the Delock 61971 Thunderbolt Adapter is backward compatible with SATA 1.5 Gb/s, SATA 3 Gb/s devices as well.
The 61971's 12 Volt at 2.5 Ampere power supply is used to power the adapter itself as well as connected 5.25-inch optical drives, 3.5-inch HDDs, or 2.5-inch HDDs and SSDs. The 61971 features a single Thunderbolt port and is compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows systems with Thunderbolt support. The included Windows drivers allow use with SATA based Optical Drives under Windows.
Delock 61971 Thunderbolt to SATA 6Gbps HDD/SSD Drive Adaptor + AC Adapter

Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver M-510

The Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver M-510 allows playback of streaming music on non-Bluetooth equipped devices like speakers, HiFi Systems, and headphones from a A2DP Bluetooth compatible music source. The M-510 Bluetooth Music Receiver is a great way to provide existing equipment with wire-free capabilities. Play songs from an iPad, Android or other Smart Phone, iPhone, notebook computer or any other device with A2DP Bluetooth transmitting capability to remote speakers up to 10 meters away. The Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver M-510 provides three power options, AC adapter, USB bus power, or a single AAA battery for maximum portability. Use the included cable to plug into the 3.5mm audio inputs on an output device, pair the Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver M-510 to source device, and enjoy music streamed wirelessly.

Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver M-510