Best USB Bluetooth Adapter [Complete Guide]

Are you looking to buy a Bluetooth adapter that suits you the best for your purpose? But you are confused about which one to choose based on your usage.

Bluetooth USB adapter or dongle is an external device that comes as handy and portable when any of your device’s Bluetooth is not working or it isn’t available.

I have compiled a complete guide on the best Bluetooth adapter which you can buy right now and can be used in various devices such as PC, Home Stereo, Laptop, and tablets.

As per my review, Avantree DG80 Bluetooth 5.0 tops our chart. As it comes at very reasonable pricing with the latest Bluetooth 5.0. It works with Laptops, Headphones, Windows, Linux, keyboard, mouse.

Best Bluetooth adapter or dongle of 2022 for PC

• TechKey USB Mini Bluetooth 5.0 EDR Dongle – Best Overall
• Avantree DG80 Bluetooth 5.0 – Best for Gaming and Sound Quality
• Avantree DG45 Bluetooth 5.0 – Best in Pairing Multiple Devices
• Maxuni Bluetooth Dongle 5.0 – Best in Bluetooth Connectivity
• TP-Link USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter – Best cheapest alternative

TechKey USB Mini Bluetooth 5.0 EDR Dongle – Best Overall for PC

If you are looking for the best overall Windows-related portable Bluetooth adapter or dongle, this is the best Dongle you can get right now in the market.

It provides great connectivity and a wide range, even though it is very small in size popularly called nano-dongle. It’s basically a rebranded ASUS USB-BT500 dongle.

It has a very reliable and stable connection with very few connection drops. The range is not very great in this device but it provides you a decent range of 30 ft as per our testing.

If you are going to use it on Windows 10 operating system, you must not have installed drivers for it. Windows 10 automatically installs the drivers for most Bluetooth devices.

Let’s discuss the basic pros and cons of this device to help you better to make the buying decision for it.

Review

This adapter from Techkey does the job well done if you are going to use it on a PC. Note that it does not support Mac or Linux operating systems officially.

So, as per our testing done, it was somehow working on Linux operating system but it didn’t work for macOS.

It’s small size product that lets you forget once you plug it into your PC. It works with all other Bluetooth devices such as headphones, printers, Bluetooth speakers, smartphones, tablets, mouse, and keyboards.

It allows you to pair with 7 different devices at once and it switches between the devices fairly, muting other devices when not required.

Techkey also has a very good supportive technical support team. If you run into any problem you can contact them and get the resolution within 24hr. If your product is not working then you can get a refund as well.

This product also provides a decent range of 30ft and a great data transfer speed of 3Mbps. On paper, 3Mbps looks low and is low, but compared to all the Bluetooth devices available in the market is the best you can get at this price.

Avantree DG80 Bluetooth 5.0 – Best for Gaming and Sound Quality

Avantree is a well-known brand and if you are someone who likes to buy a branded product then you must go with Avantree.

Avantree DG80 comes with Bluetooth 5.0 in small size. This dongle only supports audio devices. It has no lip-sync delay as it supports aptX low latency and fast stream codecs.

DG80 also supports gaming on PS4, PS5. You can plug and play it on gaming devices for audio while playing games. It does not require any device driver to be installed as Techkey above mentioned.

It has a higher range of about 60-100ft in open line-of-sight. But it is the standard range provided by the company, I will find out what’s the exact range in my testing later in this post.

It also has multi-operating system supports such as Windows, macOS, Linux. Since there are very few Bluetooth devices that support all the platforms.

Review

In my testing of Avantree DG80, I found that this dongle is an overall package and satisfies the most important need of the dongle if you are interested in using it for audio purposes.

Yes, one of the major drawbacks is that it does not support data transfer. Hence if you are looking to use this for a keyboard, or mouse or transferring files from your Bluetooth device to another device it will not work.

But when it comes to streaming audio and if you just want the Bluetooth dongle for audio streaming using gaming consoles or windows or apple devices, this is for you.

The best thing is that it comes with an aptX codec that provides you high quality lossless audio streaming on your Bluetooth devices such as headphones or PS4 or PS5.

In our testing, I found that it has a great range of around 45ft. And I was able to get no connection issues within that range. But when I moved more than 45ft I started hearing some breaking sound.

So, yes they are not having the same range that they claim. But still, it has the best range than the previous ones. These ranges are limited because of their small size because they have very small antennas as well.

It’s my top recommendation if you are looking to buy a dongle for PlayStation i.e. for gaming. Also, if you want to stream audio on a different platform specifically on Linux or macOS. Note that this dongle does not support connection with Playstation controllers.

Avantree DG45 Bluetooth 5.0 – Best in Pairing Multiple Devices

Next on the list is Avantree DG45. It is a small brother of DG80. Similar to DG80 it supports Bluetooth 5.0, comes in a small size.

But it does not support lossless audio streaming as its successor. Also, it does not support audio streaming on gaming consoles.

You get the features such as the ability to connect the gaming controllers of Playstation 5 and PS4. It can be used with PC as well with Windows operating system of Windows 7 and higher.

It has a lesser range of around 30ft as stated by Avantree. I will later tell you the exact range as a result of my testing of this device.

You can connect devices such as Bluetooth headphones, speakers, keyboards, mice, Printers, and Gaming controllers once connected to a PC or PS5, PS4.

Review

After testing Avantree DG45, it came out as this is the most basic dongle which gets the job done with few features standing out if compared with others.

Majorly if compared to DG80, it supports connection to PS4 and PS5 controller and it can pair up to 7 devices. I tried to pair 7 devices on this Bluetooth dongle and was successful.

But switching between the 7 devices was a little tricky and sometimes it missed the connection switching to other devices. But that can be ignored if you are someone not going to pair 7 devices at once.

As pairing 7 device is the extreme thing you can get out of it. I also found that upon pairing it with 7 devices it got heated up very quickly.

It is very cost-effective and at this price, it’s a steal deal. But if you are someone who is going to use it on macOS and Linux then it may not work since it is not officially supported.

For me, it worked for one of my Linux devices but I do not recommend buying it for Linux as it can be risky it worked for me but may not work for you.

Also, pairing multiple devices on this dongle was one of the best experiences I had. It was a breeze, all you were required is plug it into your computer and start pairing.

No device driver is required to be downloaded and installed. It worked really well with Windows 10. And there was no issue in pairing it with any devices.

Maxuni Bluetooth Dongle 5.0 – Best in Bluetooth Connectivity

Fourth on our list is the Maxuni Bluetooth adapter. This one is the cheapest Bluetooth 5.0 device you can find right now in the market.

It comes with the latest Bluetooth technology with EDR (enhanced data rate) support. With data rate speed supported up to 3Mbps. It also has backward compatibility with Bluetooth 4.2/4.0/3.0/2.1.

This adapter also supports a 2.4GHz band for improved transmission efficiency, stability of the connection, and to prevent signal interruptions.

You can use this dongle on Windows 10, 8, and 7. You can connect as many as 7 devices with this dongle. Note that this dongle does not work with macOS, Linux, or Car Stereo.

With an extremely compact design and size, it is great in portability. You can leave it connected to your Laptop or PC and it will go unnoticed.

This comes with a mini-CD which has device driver software on it. You can even download the device driver from their website if required.

So, as per their guide, you need to install the software before you start using it. I will discuss later in this post how this was performed in our testing. Let’s see some pros and cons first for this device.

Review

Maxuni Bluetooth 5.0 dongle performed fairly averaged in our testing. If you compared to all other devices which we reviewed in this article then this one can be considered as a most average device in terms of performance.

I tried connecting around 7 devices on this Bluetooth dongle but after it was successfully connected I was hardly able to see the switching of devices to be any effective.

The only positive side of this dongle was that Bluetooth connectivity was great after installing the device drivers provided. It took only a few seconds to connect any supported device I wanted to connect.

Data transfer on this dongle was fine we were able to send 1MB file in 10 seconds. Which is a good speed transfer between Bluetooth devices.

But with no macOS and Linux support and with lackluster customer support I do not recommend this dongle unless you are looking for something under $10.

Given the price it comes at, it does the job. Provides you decent data transfer speed, good Bluetooth connectivity, and support to windows from version 7.

For me the major drawback was mini-CD for a device driver, as since many laptops do not come with a CD driver installed, I had a really hard time installing it on my laptop and using it.

TP-Link USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter – Best cheapest alternative

Last on our list is TP-Link USB Bluetooth 4.0 adapter. The reason we chose this one is to provide you with the most branded and cheapest version of the dongle which you can go for if you are in a budget crisis.

It is plug and plays device and this does not require a device driver as claimed by the company. Since TP-Link is a well-established company you can trust this device.

It comes at the price of around $9.99. It supports Windows 10, 8, 7, and XP. This is the only dongle listed on this post that supports Windows XP operating system.

It is ultra-sleek, the small design allows you to insert and forget in your laptop or PC. It provides a range of 65ft. I will put an actual number later in this post telling what range it actually provided.

You can connect a mouse, keyboard, headphones, speakers, PS4, Bluetooth Printer, and Xbox controller. Note that in our list this is the only dongle that supports Xbox controller as well.

This also supports long-range lossless audio transmission to headsets and audio devices such as speakers. Hence you may not need to hover around your PC or Laptop all the time.

It also supports EDR (enhanced data range) with speed up to 3Mbps for better data transfer and high-quality audio streaming.

Conclusion

This one was the last device in our bucket which we tested thoroughly. Overall if you want to buy a device that only supports Bluetooth 4.0 then it is a great device considering its price point.

In my testing of the audio range, I got the lossless audio listening range of around 55ft. And that is a great range. Also, it was able to withstand the audio quality within that range.

This one also does not require any device driver to be installed. Hence it works great as a plug-in-play device.

The major drawback for me was that I went through some problems after some time and I wasn’t able to fix them myself. I tried contacting customer support but I did not get any proper solution.

Later I had to replace it with another one. Which was a long wait time for me, so to summarize customer service is bad as of now.

But do I recommend this product for such a low price? Yes. It is the best one you can get in this price range. You will surely not regret it.

Your Guide to Best USB Bluetooth Adapter

Before making any decision related to your buying of a USB Bluetooth adapter. You should be aware of a few common questions and suggestions by recent buyers. This will help you in deciding the best device you should get.

Features

The major feature which I would want you to look at is the Bluetooth technology should be 5.0. Since having the device with the latest technology is always good and future secured.

The second important feature should be if it is plug n play and does not require the driver to be installed separately.

The other feature should include but these can be customized based upon your needs are, supporting devices. Suppose you need a Bluetooth device for PlayStation 5 audio streaming then you should go with a device that supports that.

Size

Since most of my recommendation comes in a very small size. You must consider only small-sized Bluetooth dongles as they need to be immersed rather than giving you a bulky feel with your laptop or desktop.

Warranty and Technical Support

Any device which provides you excellent technical support and warranty is very important. Technical support is a very important feature to maintain the brand value of the company.

Similarly longer warranty period can bring a sense of release and belief into the product. A few of my recommendations above have excellent technical support which you can consider.

Price

Price can be also an important factor for someone who is on a tight budget. But this should be very less important and you should always look at the product as a whole.

Access any Bluetooth dongle and decide if that is worth your money. And then decide whichever you want to buy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Is there a URL to download the drivers?

Answer: Yes – all the devices recommended here which require the device driver to be installed will provide you a CD and URL link as well. You can even connect with the technical support team if you are finding it difficult.

Q2: Does These work on iPhone?

Answer: Yes if you want to connect your iPhone to Windows PC. You can surely do that using these dongles.

Q3: Does this connects with any high-end headphones?

Answer: Yes, it will connect with any high-end headphones you wish to connect. It can be connected with Bose QCII, Airpod Pro, and Sony XM4 as well. All the dongles are tested on these headphones and it worked fine. But Note that you will not get the latest codec support unless specified for the dongle.

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Further Read:

1. Best Bluetooth Transmitter and Receiver [Complete Guide]