I have a hi-fi system that I’ve owned for about fifteen years. It’s a proper separates setup — amplifier, CD player, tuner, a pair of floor-standing speakers that I bought second-hand and have never wanted to replace. It sounds genuinely excellent. It also has absolutely no Bluetooth capability, because it was built before Bluetooth audio was a thing people expected from home audio equipment.
For years this wasn’t a problem. I played CDs, I listened to the radio, I occasionally connected a phone via a 3.5mm cable when I wanted to stream something. The cable was fine but inconvenient — it meant sitting near the amplifier, it meant the cable getting in the way, and it meant that anyone else in the room who wanted to change what was playing had to physically come to the amplifier to do it.
The Golvery Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter Receiver solved all of that for less than the cost of a round of drinks.
The Problem With Non-Bluetooth Audio Equipment
The challenge with older hi-fi equipment is that it’s often genuinely better than modern Bluetooth speakers — the amplifiers are more powerful, the speakers are better built, and the overall sound quality is higher. But it lacks the convenience of wireless connectivity that’s become standard in modern audio equipment.
The options for dealing with this are either to replace the equipment — expensive, and you often end up with worse sound quality — or to add Bluetooth capability to the existing system. A Bluetooth receiver adapter is the obvious solution, and the Golvery 2-in-1 transmitter/receiver is the one I chose.
Why I Chose the Golvery 2-in-1
The Golvery Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter Receiver offered something that most simpler adapters don’t: it works in both directions. As a receiver, it takes a Bluetooth signal from a phone or tablet and outputs it to the hi-fi via RCA or 3.5mm. As a transmitter, it takes an audio signal from a non-Bluetooth source and sends it wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones or speakers. That dual functionality meant I could use it for multiple purposes rather than just one.
The Bluetooth 5.0 specification was also important. Older Bluetooth versions have higher latency and lower audio quality. Bluetooth 5.0 has significantly lower latency — important for watching video without lip-sync issues — and better audio quality. The 25-hour battery life meant I wouldn’t need to charge it constantly, and the ability to pair two devices simultaneously meant my partner and I could both connect without having to unpair and re-pair every time.
Setup — Genuinely Simple
I connected the Golvery to my amplifier’s auxiliary input via the RCA cables, switched it to receiver mode, and paired my phone. The whole process took about three minutes. The connection was stable and the audio quality through my speakers was excellent — indistinguishable from a wired connection at normal listening volumes.
The range is good — I can walk to the kitchen, which is about eight metres from the amplifier through a wall, and the connection stays solid. I can control playback from my phone without being in the same room as the hi-fi, which is the convenience I’d been missing.
The Transmitter Mode — An Unexpected Bonus
I’d bought the Golvery primarily for the receiver function, but the transmitter mode has turned out to be equally useful. My television is an older model with no Bluetooth audio output — it has optical and RCA outputs but nothing wireless. By connecting the Golvery to the TV’s optical output in transmitter mode, I can now send the TV audio wirelessly to my Bluetooth headphones for late-night watching without disturbing anyone else in the flat.
That’s a use case I hadn’t anticipated when I bought it, and it’s made a genuine difference to how I use the television in the evenings.
Audio Quality — Better Than Expected
I was prepared for some compromise in audio quality compared to a wired connection. In practice, the difference is inaudible at normal listening volumes. The Bluetooth 5.0 codec handles the audio well, and through my floor-standing speakers the music sounds as good as it does via CD. I’ve done direct comparisons — the same track via CD and via Bluetooth streaming from the same source — and I genuinely cannot tell the difference.
At higher volumes there may be a very slight difference that a trained ear could detect, but for everyday listening it’s not a factor. The convenience of wireless far outweighs any theoretical quality difference.
Where to Find It
The Golvery Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter Receiver is available in the Bluetooth Adapters and Bluetooth Audio Receivers & Adapters collections, within the broader Audio Accessories and Electronics ranges.
If you have older audio equipment that you love but that lacks Bluetooth, this adapter is the most cost-effective upgrade you can make. It takes three minutes to set up, it works reliably, and the audio quality is genuinely good. I’ve recommended it to three people since I bought it, and all three have thanked me. That’s about as good an endorsement as I can give.
— Patrick Nolan, fifteen-year hi-fi owner, reluctant cable user, and now a very satisfied wireless convert
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