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Does portable bluetooth speaker with USB input exist?

I’d like something like JBL Charge, but with USB port that I can connect to PC and speaker would act like external audio device. I’ve only found ones with USB-A to insert pen-drive, which is not the same.

I use headphones exclusively at my PC, but there are times when I’d like to show something to my wife and since I have only one pair of headphones it’s no sound for either me or her. Audio quality is not crucial, so I thought I’d buy bluetooth speaker (which I can use everywhere with my phone) and connect it with one USB cable and it’s done. It would charge when I’m out and I could use it whenever I needed. Well, it seems this idea was wrong since every single one I’ve checked has USB port only for charging. Are there any of these that act as USB audio device?

Does thing like this even exist? If so I’m probably too stupid to pick right keywords to search engine. Thank you everyone!

indomara ,

This is the one I have:

www.amazon.com/…/B0CHF8YMNX

Its nice, does usb or bluetooth.

kurcatovium OP ,

Nice, this looks like a winner! How does it play?

indomara ,

I won’t claim to be an audiophile by any means, but it sounds ok to me!

kurcatovium OP ,

I’m sorry to bother again, but would you know whether it can be powered and fed audio from regular USB-A port (with A to C cable)? Does it get enough juice that way? Because regular USB specs is 5V/500mA, which is lower than USB-Cs standards (5V and basically anything from 900mA to 3A). I don’t need it to shake walls, just want to listen sitting by the table it is placed on.

indomara ,

Hey there, I’m not sure since my laptop only has usb c free, but one of the reviewers on Amazon said that it works fine over usb a.

froh42 ,

My over 10 year old chinese bluetooth speaker connects as an audio device when plugged in with the USB cable to a PC.

This seems to be a feature that’s hard to search for, as it wasn’t even announced in the marketing material.

altima_neo ,
@altima_neo@lemmy.zip avatar

You know Bluetooth also works with PC too? Don’t necessarily need USB.

kurcatovium OP ,

I know, but my PC doesn’t have Bluetooth. Yet. USB dongles are pretty cheap as I see…

Mr_Blott ,

Yeah that’s what I did. A Bluetooth dongle is twenty quid for a decent one, works perfectly with my JBL

ABCDE ,

There are plenty with 3.5mm also, like the JBL Go, or keep it plugged in for charging and use Bluetooth.

bionicjoey ,

Why not just connect the speaker via Bluetooth while it’s plugged in?

kurcatovium OP ,

As stated couple times in my replies. My PC doesn’t have Bluetooth capability. Need to buy dongle first.

confusedwiseman ,

Are you looking for something like the jabra speak 510?

a.co/d/4fhFWxm

It has a cord that wraps around the base for charging and it works as a speaker off the computer.

QuarterSwede ,
@QuarterSwede@lemmy.world avatar

Great find. Didn’t know these existed.

kurcatovium OP ,

This is interesting! Thanks for the find.

jordanlund ,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

Not a USB input, but I have one of these with a 1/8" mini-jack input:

Marshall Stockwell Portable Bluetooth Speaker, Black (4091390) a.co/d/8GiMgOE

So if you convert from USB to 1/8" mini… maybe?

ANDTOBO USB to Aux Audio Adapter, 3.5mm Male to USB Female for Playing Music with USB Drive in Your Car a.co/d/d7KGLpv

No idea if that would work.

Thorry84 ,

This doesn’t exist because there are only a few Bluetooth speaker chips in mass production. Every Bluetooth speaker is made with one of these chips, so the functionality offered is mostly the same across all devices. Sometimes a speaker doesn’t offer some of the functions the chip is capable of (like not exposing an SD card slot for better water proofing), but adding additional functions is hard.

Because none of the common chips offer the function you describe, it simply isn’t available. You would need to check out high end speakers from big brands, they might have the volume to roll their own chips. But even if they special order the chips, they will probably go with an existing design. So it would need to be something special.

A workaround would be to equip your computer with a 10$ Bluetooth stick, you can plug the speaker in an USB port for charging and use the Bluetooth to play music.

kurcatovium OP ,

Thanks for the insightful reply. Since I couldn’t find one such device myself, I concluded using bluetooth dongle was next-best step.

Luccajan ,

It’s odd that there are no speakers with this functionality since lots Bluetooth headphones do. You would think that there is some overlap in chip use in headphones and speakers.

kurcatovium OP ,

Interesting, this is also a good point.

aleph ,
@aleph@lemm.ee avatar

Why does it have to act like an external USB audio device? Can’t you just use a standard AUX cable > headphone jack instead?

kurcatovium OP ,

Main reason is I have small desk and my OCD is really picky about cable mess. So the lowest possible amount of cables is a must. Two cables for such a single-purpose device is too luxurious.

The other one is I have audio interface/headphone amp which has only balanced outputs, thus requiring bulky Y cable from this one to speaker. Or bypassing the interface with AUX cable from lowend motherboard audio.

Well, thinking about it if nothing comes up, I might buy bluetooth dongle and use the speaker wireless. And charge it with regular phone charger every once in a while… (Then I’d have to find one reliable linux friendly dongle.)

aleph ,
@aleph@lemm.ee avatar

Ah fair enough.

I don’t actually know of any portable wireless speakers that also act as an external USB DAC/Speaker. Going wireless is probably going to be the easiest solution.

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble ,

Zip tie an aux and USB cable together.

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