Aves Mercury Bluetooth Music Receiver review

Budget bluetooth streaming

  • £30
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The Mercury connects to your hifi via a 3.5mm stereo line-out to RCA jack

MusicRadar Verdict

At this price, it makes getting a Sonos system look increasingly crazy.

Pros

  • +

    Connects easily. Decent sound quality. Affordable.

Cons

  • -

    Mains powered and no battery option.

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Digital music streamers can be expensive and complicated. In this age of Spotify and capacious mobile devices, they're also increasingly irrelevant. Step up the Aves Mercury. It's the size of a well-worn bar of soap and acts as the perfect go-between for your clever mobile device and your dumb stereo.

"Our iPhone 5 picked up the Mercury every time without a hitch"

The phone sees the Mercury via Bluetooth and streams audio from your choice of app, be it the onboard music player, Spotify, radio... whatever. Meanwhile, the Mercury connects via a 3.5mm stereo line-out to RCA jack and your amp and speakers treat it like a CD player.

Our iPhone 5 picked up the Mercury every time without a hitch and Bluetooth range is great (we even streamed tunes through walls from adjoining rooms).

Sound quality is loud and proud and certainly good enough for Spotify's 'high quality' streams and 256 AAC on-board audio.

Daniel Griffiths
Daniel Griffiths

Daniel Griffiths is a veteran journalist who has worked on some of the biggest entertainment, tech and home brands in the world. He's interviewed countless big names, and covered countless new releases in the fields of music, videogames, movies, tech, gadgets, home improvement, self build, interiors and garden design. He’s the ex-Editor of Future Music and ex-Group Editor-in-Chief of Electronic Musician, Guitarist, Guitar World, Computer Music and more. He renovates property and writes for MusicRadar.com.