Creative BT-W3X Smart Bluetooth 5.3 Audio Transmitter with aptX HD, High-Definition 24-bit / 48 kHz Audio, Device-Switching Function, Works with PC/Mac/Gaming Consoles

I bought this to enable use of my bluetooth headphones for my Zoom or Team calls for my Corporate job. This product has equalizer and mixer settings that will enhance your microphone voice to sound rich and strong. This product will pair 4 devices, and the companion app (i installed this on my personal computer) is how you would configure the dongle. I was able to configure HFP mode to automaticaly turn on when I join calls. So be aware you DO NOT have to always press the button twice to manually enable it.I don't have aptX earbuds, so cannot comment. What I can say is I tried also two other popular brands (I don't think Amazon will let me directly call them out) that are top results when searching for a solution to my problem. These others performed unacceptably or had technical problems with maintaining a connection.I was considering waiting for the Creative BT-W6, but my research shows there are some growing pains here, and I am not an early adopter. There are two competing manufacturers (Qualcomm and Mediatek) that seem to be building different implementations of LE audio in their chipsets used by these consumer product companies, so it will be a long time before I will have confidence in buying any dongle and LE device and expecting them to work together. So the Creative BT-W3x will have utility for me in the years to come.With information security lockdowns on corporate equipment likely to increase, the need for a solution to pair your personal headphone to the corporate equipment is going to increase.Good job, @Creative!

Works great with OpenBSD. Recommend for value at 40 dollars. Don't waste you time with those cheap ones on Aliexpress. They drop to HFP profile and the audio quality sucks!

I use Debian 12.10 Linux worked like a charm.

There's no easier way to listen to your music than just to open up a folder and press Enter on whatever file you want to listen to. Yet for years it was impossible to do something this basic without compromising on fidelity. If you wanted HD audio you were mostly stuck having to buy something like a Bluesound and navigate your music collection through its horrible app interface. Finally there's a better option in AptX HD. If you have an AptX HD-compatible receiver or amp, you can play wireless music not technically lossless but still at 24bit better-than-CD quality - *almost* realizing the dream of pressing Enter in your Windows folders and having the file play through a real stereo system.The "almost" is because Windows itself has no AptX HD compatibility so you need a solution like this to take over. I bought it to pair with Emotiva's TA1 amp, which has a built-in AptX HD Bluetooth receiver so requires no extra hardware beyond this little dongle: the complete system is 1) laptop, 2) dongle, 3) TA1, 4) speakers. I did experience some frustration at first with Windows trying to output through its regular Bluetooth instead of this dongle, which seemed stuck in an interminable pairing mode. The solution, which the help line at Emotiva helped me figure out after web searching proved fruitless, is to turn OFF Bluetooth on Windows. Then you plug this thing in, it automatically takes over as the audio output source, the amp automatically finds its signal - press enter on a FLAC and a little orange light pops up confirming your 24-bit signal as your room fills with music. It's been working flawlessly and as an essential component in an HD audio system for twenty-five bucks, it's hard to beat the value.It also felt pretty good buying another Creative Labs product after my first SoundBlaster circa 1991.

Read this first! Don't be like me and just try to figure out blindly how to use this thing. I wasted 30-minutes before I broke down and looked for the manual online. In addition, I finally realized that I had to use the Creative desktop app to "repair" the firmware, not just update it, but repair it. Now that I went through these annoyances, I'm able to listen to my B&W Px8's at AptX-HD finally. Works great! (The Creative desktop app will also tell you what codex you're streaming with, which is a nice feature.)