Creative BT-W3 Bluetooth 5.0 USB-C Audio Transmitter, aptX LL and aptX HD, 3.5 mm Analog Mic for Voice Chat Support, Codec Indicator and Selection, Plug-and-Play for PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Mac

Man, this thing is a life saver. Use case 1: I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3 that I like very much; comfortable, great noise cancelling, great audio quality. However, my work laptop running Linux doesn't have good compatibility with Bluetooth audio devices, plus audio quality is very iffy (I suspect low SBC bitpool, but work laptop so fixing involves quite a bit of hacks...). This USB dongle is a simple USB audio interface, and has no trouble with the laptop at all, delivering AptX HD audio to my headphones with zero fuss. A quick double-tap on the button and I have quick HFP for teleconference. Use case 2: the Nintendo Switch doesn't have BT audio, so I have to mess around with a wire, which is inconvenient. This solved that. (To get around the fact that the 1000XM3 doesn't have AptX LL, I got the tiny FiiO BTR1K and a short 3.5mm cord and just attach it with gecko tape to the left side of the Sony. Janky looking, but works extremely well, and no more audio delays in games.) Now is this thing perfect? Not really. Sometimes the dongle would mis-recognize available codecs of a device, but a quick reconnect fixes that. There are some features that I would really appreciate, like pairing with multiple devices at once and switching between them, or making the mic have audio output passthrough so that I can plug some other things into it. But all in all, this is a very neat little decide that works well.

I wanted to use Bluetooth headphones on my Switch, but for some reason I can't imagine, the Switch doesn't support Bluetooth audio. This device does what it says extremely well. You plug the headphone-style dongle into the headphone jack at the top of the Switch, and the bluetooth receiver into the USB port at the bottom. It works great, pairs in seconds and the sound quality is amazing. Only gripe, and I guess you can't fault Creative for this, is that the receiver sticks out of the bottom of the switch, so depending on how you hold it, you may push on it or knock it out of the port. Perhaps a small male-female USB-C cable would fix this, if you cared. Otherwise, does exactly what I wanted.

TM:DR- It's a great adapter that's plug n' play. Dedicated mic doesn't work on pc(doesn't see it) but the BT adapter handles music/voice fine by itself. This BT adapter has a built-in BT controller so once u pair it to a headset, u can unplug the adapter and plug it into another device and it'll reconnect to that headset, very seamlessly. I give this a 4/5 mostly due to my experience with it. If your BT supports the 4 codecs I bet it sounds great but my headset(Bose700) only supports SBC and AAC. AAC isn't supported on this adapter so I can only use the default SBC(blue mode) that every BT device has. The sound cuts out quite a bit and the range isn't as good as a cheaper BT adapter I already had. I honestly don't know what's causing the audio to cut out for a split second. I've tried restarting pc/adapter/headset/etc and it's still doing it. Could my other bt adapter be messing with it since they're beside each other?(no clue but I need both. One for headset, other for controllers) Where this "shines" is that it's purely audio focused so it tends to have more functionality in that dept for headphones/headsets. So I can use my Bose700 headphones AND mic at the same time. Windows by default won't allow this(which is really f'n dumb imho). But this adapter allows the use of both but at a lower sound quality(sounds pretty bad but better than nothing). If you're not trying to use the mic on a BT headset then the audio sounds just as good as any other SBC headphone. The point is: have wireless headphones that don't have a built-in mic(aka non-headsets) and have a dedicated mic if you use calls a lot(or discord). Where this product also shines is being compatible with Playstation/Nintendo consoles which is what it's marketed for. Problem is, there are already BT solutions out there for both but this works for both of them so that's a plus and also it has a dedicated mic to use with them. (Couldn't get the dedicated mic to work with pc but the BT adapter handles audio and mic so no big deal. I just wish I could use the mic and keep the good audio quality) I can confirm that the adapter plug n' plays with the pc and switch(I don't own a Playstation but I don't see why it wouldn't work). It doesn't need the mic attachment and the only game on switch I know that could make use of it is Fortnite I think since Nintendo wants u to use their phone app for communication than the actual switch. If you directly connect the BT adapter to the usb-c port on the switch, it sticks out a bit but it'll sit flat on a table(with joycons on) and barely miss the table by 1mm. Just be careful if it's attached. If your pc doesn't have a usb-c this comes with a usb-c to usb-a adapter. But if you're like me and want to use this with pc and switch(in docked mode) then I recommend buying an extra usb-c-to usb-a adapter and just leave both adapters in the ports.

I've been waiting my whole life for a product like this and finally it has arrived. I can finally use my bluetooth headsets the way they're meant to be used. Want to watch a video or movie on you computer without any lip-sync delay - aptX LL has you covered. Want to listen to music in high fidelity - aptX HD, check. Headset doesn't support aptX LL or aptX HD, only standard aptX, check. Headset doesn't support aptX at all, got that covered too with SBC. Need to use your headset to voice chat with your teammates on slack, teams, etc.? No, problem. Just click the button twice and you're in HFP (Hands-Free Profile) mode. Press the button once and you're back to you're previous codec. I tested it with my Beyerdynamic Amiron, FiiO BTR5 & LC-BT2 (all three support all 4 codecs that the BT-W3 supports) and it works perfectly with all three. You can switch codecs quickly and seamlessly between all 4 codecs with the touch of the button on the Creative BT-W3. Beautiful. If you're into bluetooth like I am, don't hesitate. Buy this now, you won't regret it.

I use this adapter with Creatives own SoundBlaster Jam V2 over the ear headphones. This is very important because that particular set of headphones can utilize all of the AptX codecs that the adapter uses making the two items a great combo. I mostly use the adapter to stream audio from movies and games as well as music and it has worked well for me. I downloaded the drivers from Creative's website then plugged in the adapter and paired it up with my headphones. Now all I have to do is turn on my pc, put on my headphones and power them up and it connects automatically. There is a small button and small led light on the adapter. To change to a different codec, you press the button. Each press changes the color of the light. There are several different colors, and each represents a corresponding codec. The color key is included with the instructions. If you have the SoundBlaster Jam V2 headphones, they will automatically recognize each codec and adjust accordingly. Super convenient. I have not tested out the included microphone that comes with the adapter so I can't really comment on its functionality. Overall, I have been very pleased with this adapter and my particular setup. I forgot to mention that the adapter comes with a usbC to usbA adapter so you can use this adapter even if you don't have an available usbC port!

I bought this item to stream aptx HD music from my iphone X to an audioengine B1. Running NORMAL bluetooth from my iphone to the B1 always worked fine but the resolution was not great. I therefore bought the BTW3 to increase the resolution. I also had to buy the apple lightning to usb cable to be able to plug this in. Things worked great. I got CD quality sound. The unit works great as advertised, as far as resolution is concerned. However, when I turned up the volume of my amplifier (NOT the iphone), some dangerous crackling sounds started occuring (almost like clipping). This issue points to the amplifier having a problem but if that was indeed the case, why did the amp not present the same problem when running without the BTW3 ? Logically it does not compute that BTW3 has an issue but in practice, I only experienced the problem with BTW3. I cannot logically explain the problem. I do not know if BTW3 is causing the Aidioengine B1 to behave erratically. I am therefore giving this only 3 stars but I still do not know if this is the BTW3 issue or the AudioEngine B1 issue. Anyone who has experienced a similar symptom, please add to the reviews.

Excellent. And the one of the only genuine aptx-hd Bluetooth dongles I was able to find on Amazon, I tried 4 others advertised as having aptx-hd that only had aptx or aptx- LL. This device is plug and play and once paired it will connect almost immediately upon future connections. It is easy to switch codecs via a button on top and has a strong stable connect, although the range seems to be a little disappointing, not to bad but not as strong as the standalone Tao-Tronics long range trasmitter/ receiver I also have (really excellent). Another rather disappointing aspect was its inability to pair to two devices at once as most other 5.0 Bt transmitters do. But it makes up for what it lacks with its simplicity of use, hassle free connection and superb sound quality. It is a however a very delicate device, something you are going to want to protect when not in use, unfortunately no case is included as is with what I found to be one of the only other 5.0 bt dongles with genuine aptx-hd (5Mei I think it was), that one was also sweet, till the button broke literally a day later. I am careful with this one, and it seems to be holding up. It is seen by your computer as a standalone device and headphones connect to it as such, finally a small led shows what bluetooth codec it is currently connected in, which is nice. Hope this helps, be careful, for this type of device there seems to be an inordinately large amount of misrepresented junk on Amazon claiming aptx-hd capability, this I can verify is the real deal, a bit expensive but still pretty sweet. There is no volume control or UI (on computer) for the device, and it is really not needed as it handles connections externally from your computers Bluetooth via the one button it does have. It is a excellent little device made by a reputable company, it is deficient in a few areas but if you are specifically looking for what it offers its worth it.

The BT-W3 I purchased worked amazingly well until one day, it just went into HFP mode and nothing took out of it. I reinstalled the firmware, changed the firmware, and nothing. This happened about 4 months into me owning the product so of course I contacted Creative as the product was under warranty. They informed me that because I live in Canada, they will not honor the warranty. To be clear, I purchased the product from Creative on Amazon. Even though they took my money and then they shipped it to Canada, Honoring their own warranty was not something they were willing to do. Of course then I contacted Amazon and they were nice enough send me a replacement based on the fact that Creative is completely in the wrong. Once I received the replacement, everything worked great, for a couple of months and then the exact same issue happened! At this time, I contacted their technical team since this is obviously a firmware issue rather than a hardware issue. I spent time diagnosing the issue with them including running their diagnostic tool. They were unable to find and fix the issue. They offered me a replacement until, you guessed it, they realized that I am in Canada. Creative once again did nothing for me. In summary, enjoy the product until it stops working. Has potential to be great but ultimately it garbage created by even a bigger garbage of a company.