10

I want to avoid buying a bluetooth speaker, and would rather use my computer's speakers to play my phone's audio. This would allow me to control music from the native music app on my phone (Android, Nexus 4).

I've considered using this bluetooth receiver that my speakers would plug into. At that point, I would want my computer paired %100 of the time, and my phone only when I want to play music (I want to avoid constant pairing and unpairing). Would both phone and computer (a custom build Windows 8 machine) be able to pair to the bluetooth receiver and use the speakers at the same time?

Maybe I'm making this too complicated... Is there an easier way for me to achieve this (having dedicated computer speakers that will play music from my phone wirelessly)?

4 Answers 4

5

I realize this thread is a couple years old now, but in case anyone else comes across it:

With windows 8.1 (not sure about windows 8), you don't need anything extra to play audio from an Android phone (not sure about iPhone), just pair the phone with the computer and go to Bluetooth settings and select to connect to the PC (by name) then select whatever audio on the phone you want to play.

Any media played on the phone will play through the computers speakers. Phone calls will still be routed to the phone.

1
  • Is any special driver needed or this stuff was cut out from Win10? I don't see such option in Windows 10
    – Suncatcher
    Commented Apr 2, 2018 at 7:02
3

Alternatively, if you have an android phone (im unsure if it is available for iPhone), you can download an app called Bubble UPNP from the google play store. As long as your PC and phone are connected to wifi, and windows media player is open and set up on your pc, you can play music wirelessly to your PC from any where in the house.

To configure windows media player, if in windows 8+, click stream, and allow all of the options if you can. If you don't have windows 8 or above, then google how to do it. There are tutorials all over the internet for configuring windows media player for streaming. Then go onto the Bubble upnp app, click devices. Your PC should appear provided your phone and PC are connected to Wifi. Next go to Libraries to select the music you wish to play. Finally, go to the now playing tab, click settings, and click Renderer. Ensure your PC is selected. You can now play music to your PC, change song, and even adjust the volume of your PC from the app!

Hope this helps. Any further enquiries then just ask.

1

You may need to adjust some settings, but in theory it should be possible to pass the signal from your computer's microphone jack through to your existing speakers. So, you could buy that Bluetooth receiver and plug it in to the microphone jack in your computer instead of plugging it into your speakers. Or you could simply use a regular audio cable, and plug your phone in to your computer's microphone jack directly.

4
  • 4
    I like your thinking. But my experience with using the mic jack like that results in poor audio quality out the speakers.
    – Ben
    Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 14:38
  • 1
    Apparently a direct Bluetooth connection from your phone to your computer is an option: guidingtech.com/12120/stream-songs-phone-to-computer-bluetooth
    – Brian Z
    Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 17:40
  • A microphone jack is for, guess what, microphones! The impedance mismatch and amplitude mismatch can result in poor audio quality. A "line-in" jack (which is typically stereo) is probably the proper input to connect a phone's audio output.
    – sawdust
    Commented Sep 7, 2013 at 0:28
  • I had done that many times for receiving the call audio on my laptop computer. I did this both during the windows XP and Windows 7 days. There was a "hands-free" option somewhere in the bluetooth property sheet for my phone. But "hands-free" calling usually uses a mono connection instead of the stereo A2DP. I'm not sure windows 8 can act as an A2DP sink. Commented Dec 26, 2013 at 19:05
0

I've finally come to a solution of my own here. Since my computer/speakers don't have bluetooth, I bought a Chromecast Audio. Luckily, my computer speakers accept dual inputs simultaneously, so the computer's audio, and the Chromecast's audio will play at the same time, without me having to plug/unplug each time.

This also works well with other speakers around this house, since Chromecast Audio now support multiroom playback.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .