These days, a lot of phones don’t have audio jacks anymore. It can make it hard to listen to music if your favorite headphones aren’t already wireless-enabled. Minty Tunes solves that problem, combined with a little Altoids tin flair.
Yes, the long and the short of it is that this is a Bluetooth audio receiver built into a tin of mints. The build is relatively simple, hooking up a cheap Bluetooth audio decoder module to a lithium-polymer battery. This is paired with a TP4056 battery charger IC to allow the battery to be topped off easily. It’s all then wired up and stuck in everyone’s favorite hacker electronics enclosure.
For those who aren’t fans of wireless earbuds like AirPods and the like, it’s a useful solution for listening to music from a smartphone. As the builder notes, it’s also a great way to play music over a hi-fi or car stereo with an aux port. Alternatively, you could always build your own pocket MP3 player from scratch. Video after the break.
How does a BT radio signal get into a metal box? Is range limited? If it ain’t 5.0 it’s a waste of your hearing even with already compressed files.
Yes. It seems like putting it in a Faraday cage is counterproductive.
Beyond that, you don’t make sense. Bt 5.0 adds absolutely nothing to Bluetooth’s audio capabilities over 4.x. And good luck distinguishing 256kbps AAC over bluetooth from a wired connection playing back the CD quality source, provided that Bt interference isn’t causing stuttering or dropouts. Even SBC is better than most people give it credit for.
Big fan of the DT770 pro.
Well that’s pretty neat. I would not have predicted that microwaves could penetrate an Altoids tin.
Where is the antenna? The headphone and as is common for FM radio? Or does the tin cans holes allow just enough signal to pass through?
Maybe the tin is resonant at 2.45 GHz. Painted metal may give you a slot antenna where you don’t expect it.
That can drastically change when the paint wears off.
But I was quite surprised about a Raspberry Pi with WiFi in a closed anodized aluminium heat-sink case. It had unexpectedly good reception. There are two slots of a few cm length for ribbon cables. Perhaps these are enough for the signal to penetrate.
And it does kinda look like a birdhouse. (Thanks [rvense] for that bit of poetry)
I don’t care that it is kinda silly to put an RF device basically in a faraday cage, I LOVE THIS PROJECT.
A headphone amp in an altoid’s tin was my first ‘useful real product’ project I ever did as a youngin. I was always so proud to show it off on the bus (especially if I had stole my brother’s minidisk player to use with it). I never use headphones anymore, but might recreate the project in this post just for a bit of nostalgia, haha.
” kinda silly to put an RF device basically in a faraday cage”
Have you ever been a passenger on a commercial airliner?
Indeed I have.
What I am really looking for is this with a headset (incl. microphone)
For everybody asking… the antenna is built into the Bluetooth module board, so yes, it is going *through* the tin. She’s getting the full 15m range. *Shrug* The Instructables (linked to in the video notes) has more detail. https://www.instructables.com/Minty-Tunes-Bluetooth-Audio-Player-w-Rechargeable-/
I was thinking about doing something like this, then just bought a Fiio BTR5. Unless you have the parts already or just like the “build”, things like this are a commodity item now.
Similar to the “RT02” bluetooth module a got from Aliexpress for 2,50. But this needs an extra USB power supply (power bank). OTOH it can work as receiver or transmitter.