Bluetooth Adapter and Amplifier BAL-M50X

I bought this a little over a week ago, and was very skeptical and hesitant to hit that "confirm order" button in my cart. If this is you right now with this product, then I'll just give you a quick summary: IT'S WORTH IT. I wasn't able to get a solid review on this Bluetooth adapter except video demos on YouTube. Also, for it to ship on time with my schedule, I had to pay for 1 day shipping which made the product even more expensive, which caused me to be reluctant in ordering this for such a high price. At first, it was not a great experience. There was a lot of skipping on my Galaxy S8 and I wasn't sure why. I tried to troubleshoot and eventually found out that if you have the "personalized audio" feature on, it causes the skipping. Just incase anyone has this issue. As far as the device, it's small, light weight and even though it's plastic, it's way better quality than what most people describe. Sure it's not the nicest moulded plastic and has some rough cut edges, but it's not noticable when using it. The buttons are solid and the controls work really well. The audio quality is what I'm surprised with the most. With my phone EQ set to a slight bass-punch setup, I am very pleased with how well this sounds for a Bluetooth 4.1 device. It's clear, has no skipping, and the best part, no wires! Is it the same as wired connections? No, but unless you try to do a comparison you won't know the difference. For headphones that I hated bringing around town for fear of dropping them or getting the wire tugged on some object resulting in the m50x's flying off my head, I now carry them all the time when I'm going from class to class, and get many compliments too! Even from fellow M50x owners, they never even knew this device was an option. TL;DR: This bluetooth adapter is worth it. The positives outweigh the very few negatives. Must have for M50X owners! Pros: -Battery is on par with 6 hours -charges super fast -Light, functional design, quality acceptable -easy pairing -above average sound quality -includes a microphone, it's not the best, but it's there, so that's cool if you need it Cons: - results may vary based on Bluetooth capabilities of your device (if skipping, disable anything that may not be compatible with BT 4.1!) - kinda expensive - (being picky here) no blue option for my blue M50xs

7/10/18 UPDATE! I should have updated this review sooner- I returned this device because it stopped holding its charge within the return time window. Great idea bad execution. Will try the dedicated wireless ones next time. [BAL-M50X] I was browsing amazon and randomly came upon this Bluetooth adapter for my favorite pair wired headphones - ATH-M50X. Out of impulse and ignoring my skepticism about its sound quality (wired vs Bluetooth), I bought it. I received my adapter yesterday and charged it for about an hour then detached the cable from my headphone and connected the adapter to it. The adapter blended with the headphone really well but the construction of the adapter itself felt cheap, but i wrote it off as it needed to be lightweight for balance. I turned it on and a blue light came out and i searched for devices from my phone and instantly paired with no issues. The default settings on the adapter is that it'll start in pairing mode when it turns on if it was never paired, so pairing was easy. I turned it on and off a few times to make sure it stayed connected to my phone and it did. I usually use my ATH-M50X with a FiiO A3 amp on my LG v20 with flac audio files or Spotify on Extreme quality. But sometimes its hard to use the set up unless i am just relaxing on the couch, at my desk to just enjoy the music. With that said, the sound quality from the Bluetooth is really good, better than what i expected from a add-on. Making it wireless will get more uses out of my ath-m50x. But one of the down side is, when you are spoiled with SQ from a wired connected and a physical amp - there's a noticeable difference. You lose a bit of SQ to get the portability aspect. Will update on battery life when i test that as well. Conclusion: You'll sacrifice a bit of sound quality for portability, not much but enough to notice. Max volume will be an issue if you like to turns things up. The sounds quality itself its actually really good if you aren't comparing it directly to itself wired. But for me, I have plenty of situation where i can use a wireless set up. Still a great little accessory i would recommend.

UPDATE: This unit basically uses a friction hold and the small force from the plug prongs to keep it in place. After a year and a half of use, The connection from the jack is getting worse. I've tested the tolerances between the connection in this vs the standard cable. Now the right driver only has about half volume unless i push the BT adapter up constantly to position it just right. The force from walking around is enough to jiggle it back down so i get a reduced signal in the right ear. It's all down to the connection in the jack interface and how much signal/voltage/amps it can pass through the weening connection. Might be time to get a new one. PROS: - custom solution - good enough SQ for a BT receiver - descent amp'ing - easy to use - good battery life - unit feels solid CONS: - physical jack connection gets wobbly after heavy use I've owned the ATH-M50x's for about 4 years now, and it has always been my on-the-move can and for my 3.5 hours/day commute. I've gone through the stages of portable audiophile-ness which included carrying a a ipod/LOD/amp to a source/usb-dac/amp to a DAP (ibasso dx90). The hardware was overkill for the cans, but regardless at some point I just got sick of carrying stuff and started looking into BT solutions. I was super turned off after experiencing dedicated BT headphones and IEMs like jaybird/bose/etc. The SQ just wasn't there and they made you pay an arm and a leg. That's when I found this little baby. I'm a huge fan of non-generic fitting solutions as they never match well with aesthetics or fitment. This might still look bulky and slightly off, but it was custom designed for the ATH-M50x's and looks better than a bluetooth chip with a short cable velcro'd to the side of the cup. The SQ is good enough for a BT receiver with just enough power. With stock pads, you can get loud, but not ear drum hurting loud. With larger cups like the brainwaves, at max volume, it's equivalent to "you just cranked up your volume cause your song just came on the radio", but you'll never hit that cringe territory. MY ISSUES WITH THE UNIT For reference, I use a heavily modded android phone with a custom kernel. I tend to turn on the unit leaving the volume at full volume and just use my phone volume rocker to adjust volume (I know this isn't ideal in terms of SQ). The biggest reason I do this is because of how the BT unit actually interfaces with the headphones. It just slides directly up into the jack. The only thing really holding the unit in there is the pressure from the female 2.5mm jack prongs and the tight tolerances of the unit's male jack base. The BT receiver jack base also has indents for the standard cable lock pin. When you press on the volume buttons, you end up applying torque on the 2.5mm male jack as well as rotating the unit ever so slightly around the Z-axis until the ends of the unit hit the cups. This rotation is only 1-2 mm but over time, the connection between the receiver and the headphone starts to have some play. Now every now and then while listening wether working or sitting on the computer, i have to push the unit up into the headphone. The play causes the connection to be less than ideal causing losses which ultimately result in unbalanced L/R levels and dimished sound. I'd love to see a design update with one of the following: 1. recessed O-ring around the metal cylinder of the plug. Lower would be better for less torque around the actual jack, but it'd be harder for us to change. -or- 2. jack base extends through the bottom of the receiver with a thumb screw type deal which rotates the jack base to effectively use the headhphone female jack lock pin.

The BAL-M50X is a must have for anyone that has M50x's. There is a perceivable drop in sound quality when using Bluetooth. This adapter is not meant to be a replacement for wired use. That being said, this adapter pairs to make an amazing sounding pair of Bluetooth headphones. While battery life is much less than most other over the ear headphones on the market, the reduction battery life is more than worth the extreme boost in sound quality over other models available. Depending on volume, I get a solid six to eight hours of use between charges. This is perfectly adequate to get me through a flight or cleaning the house.

This is a product I want to love because I love my ATH M50X headphones so much. When this adapter works, everything is pretty good, but connection can be a real bugger sometimes. I've found that there are times that it simply won't go into pairing mode, and after a lot of Internet searching, it seems that the only viable solution is to plug it into a micro-USB charger to reset the Bluetooth "memory," thereby allowing it to go into pairing mode when you disconnect. While that's an easy fix, it's not too convenient when you're away from your home. Assuming you aren't having a connection issue, the other obvious shortcoming is build quality. The product has significant open seams and a separation between the two molded halves that make up the main body. While I'd love to overlook that point, the main reason I love the ATH M50X headphones is their incredible sound quality. That sound quality is compromised by the squeaking and movement noises this product makes while plugged into your headphones, and being pinned right up against your left ear, trust me, these (I'm sure) very quiet noises are very noticeable. Going to a walk with these can get a little frustrating. Sitting on the couch to listen to Spotify is fine, however.

Just got this in. Gonna update as I own it. GOOD: Fits like a gloves. Came at 80% charge. Separate headphone volume to phone, helps reduce drain. Super lightweight, not any added weight. Worked comfortably through my house, even through walls. BAD: Looks a bit odd since it's blocky compared the at curvy design of the headphones. Not a big deal. The buttons seem a bit plasticy and cheap. Microphone and call quality is a 6 out of 10. Sounds fuzzy. Currently testing to see how long they last. I'll update this as I own the product. UPDATE 1/31/2017 I ended up not using this anymore for a couple of reason. It makes me sad because I really wanted these to be my daily drivers. 1. Battery life began to get really weird. They only report in increments of 10%. Sometimes you'd turn it on and it would go from 80% to 60% really fast. 2. Only charged up to 80%. I didn't have this issue at first but after a few charges it showed up. 3. ATH-M50x are a big too big for me to run around with all the time. But that's a user error, not the product. Just some insight. I'll continue to use them around the house, not going outside. 4. The mechanism that fits right in sometimes gets detached. It doesn't lock in like the OEM cable so occasionally it would just drop out. 5. The charging port didn't have a cover on it. It was a small luxury my LG Tone Infinim had that I missed. 6. I could't get over how cheap the housing felt. The buttons weren't placed strategically and had a bad click to them. It didn't feel like a premium product. 7. The bluetooth connection began to get worse. If they were cheaper then I would recommend them all the time. But for $50 I feel like it's a no from me.

Been Using these for a little over half a year. They do what they advertise, and do it quite decently. Bluetooth adds a bit noise, especially when pairing. But once audio is playing it is not noticeable. Sound quality is about just as good as when using cords. for me, battery life is surprisingly good, and I'm usually using the headphones for an entire workday without recharging. Fits on the earphones perfectly, and is barely noticeable for the wearer. Downsides are: * Cannot charge while listening * Finish feels cheap and plastic-y. But still works. * Max volume can be a little low (but not so bad) * A bit expensive. Overall, certainly recommended for owners of ATH-M50X who wants a cordless experience.

Keep on shopping on Amazon but do not buy this item: Has a high noise floor in its functional state. Takes a while to Bluetooth connect. Stopped working a little more than a month after reception. No support from East Brooklyn Labs while Amazon refunded me even though I was passed the 30 day refund period. Upon connection white noise will be heard, i.e. this is OK for listening low dynamics music or while commuting in noisy environments, but don’t expect having a good experience listening to classical music in your living room with this. It will do the job while listening to death metal on the subway though. Compared to my Jabra Move Wireless Headphones, this Bluetooth connector takes a while to connect to its paired source device. This thing is not reliable at all, it literally stopped working about a day or 2 after the Amazon 30 day guarantee (exchange/reimbursement) period: When turning on, the blue light opens, no connection ever occurs and the unit can’t be turned off and will stay on until batteries are depleted. I communicated the issue to the manufacturer (East Brooklyn Labs) by filling a form on their website without any answers. I hit up the chat support on Amazon.com and although the 30 day period was passed, they told me to resend the unit for a full refund: thank you Amazon! I guess that if Audio Technica could build a sound wise equivalent and reliable wireless version of the ATH-M50x, they would have done it by now. I bought a pair Jabra Move Wireless Headphones for less that this Bluetooth connector, it never sounds as good as the wired ATH-M50x, but it does the job while commuting or weight lifting in the gym.

Perfect wireless

very good

L'adaptateur fonctionne à moitié, on a du son que dans l'oreille droite du casque. La qualité du produit laisse à désirer pour le prix qu'il a coûté. J'ai essayé de le renvoyer mais l'envoi était à mes frais de la France jusqu'aux USA donc 28€ pour le renvoyer Bref une grosse arnaque, passez votre chemin

Funciona muy bien, enlazada al celular tiene buena calidad y un rango de alrededor de unos 4 metros. La pila le dura 5 horas, lo único molesto es que cuando tiene poca pila emite una señal de alerta cada 10 segundos. En general estoy muy contento con el producto. Con la laptop el rango es más limitado y suena un poco de estatica cuando hay silencio pero debe ser el radio bt de la computadora. Tiene micrófono pero no es de buena calidad, no recomendado para llamadas.

Love the product wish the had it in white, the soundndoes cut out from time to time if my phone is in my pocket but other. Then that my favorite thing or no more wires