Please suggest a product or fix for my dad's Linux Bluetooth woes

Bren · Post by **Bren** » Sat Sep 05, 2026 7:40 am

I asked my father what he wants for his birthday, and I wrote the following:

I actually thought of something I could use for my Bday. I hope you understand Bluetooth better than I do. My hearing aids connect easily with my phone and produce good sound. However I have problems pairing with my desktop. It's not just the hearing aids, it's other devices as well, earbuds or headfones. I am using an old adapter that originally came with headfones, that finally went dead.

Linux has problems with BT, but the adapter works at least some of the time. It's always a pita pairing with my hearing aids. I have to turn them off and on again while putting the adapter in pairing mode. It doesn't always work.

In short, I could use an adapter that works but I don't know which one to get. I don't know the difference between Bluetooth 5, 5.3, or 6. If you could try to solve this prob for me, that would be nice.

He has a desktop computer. I'm not sure if this Bluetooth adapter he speaks of is a card or a USB peripheral, but I will try to find out.

Anyway, what should I be buying him, or telling him to try?

Post by **obvs** » Sat Sep 05, 2026 2:30 pm

Newer versions of Bluetooth are better at using lower power, saving energy, and having better audio quality.

But my first thought is that you'd want to make sure that he doesn't have a microwave in range of his computer.

Second, I'd consider getting his wifi switched from 2.4GHz to 5GHz and/or 6GHz(or even using a wired connection). The 2.4GHz wifi uses the same spectrum as bluetooth, and can interfere with bluetooth signals.

I do think a new Bluetooth adapter would be good as well. The Asus USB-BT600 looks like a good option and works well with Linux, according to reviews. I would make sure the brand is ASUS, because it looks like "BT600" is a name that's been used for several products.

Bren · Post by **Bren** » Sat Sep 05, 2026 7:42 pm

Thank you! He tells me he is using a USB Bluetooth thingy because although his PC does have a Bluetooth card, those are notoriously not working happy with Linux.

Bren · Post by **Bren** » Sun Sep 13, 2026 5:58 am

That Asus USB-BT600 is working much better for him than the previous hardware! He is now able to consistently pair his hearing aids with his computer, and he is quite happy about that.

Thank you again for your help!

Post by **obvs** » Sun Sep 13, 2026 3:19 pm

Awesome.

That's great to hear! Thanks for the update.