TV Headphones for wireless monitoring

[bnt]

I was looking for some new Bluetooth headphones for use with my PC and iPad, and got a set of Philips TAH6206BK headphones. These are actually work in two modes: as standard Bluetooth headphones, with all the latency you expect, or in a “TV mode” for low latency with the supplied dongle. When the dongle is plugged in to a computer or smart TV, the combination works as a standard USB audio device with low latency = good for games, movies etc. 

 

The dongle can also work standalone when plugged in to any USB power source (such as a charger), and it has an aux input, and so this is where it gets more interesting. For example, I just had my tc SpectraDrive preamp’s headphone out going in to the dongle, and a long cable in to a bass, and while I expect there was some latency, it was not audible. I was pleasantly surprised that it worked as well as it did and sounded as good. 
 

I wouldn’t call the Philips headphones “road-ready”, being light plastic as they are, but for home practice, I’d call them pretty good. 

[EBS_freak]

I hate when manufacturers do this -

 

Whispered revelations. Car chases. Or crystal-clear conference calls. Whether you're relaxing with your favourite show or working from home, these wireless over-ear TV headphones let you hear perfectly. In clear, latency-free sound.

 

Then -

 

A super-stable, low-latency Bluetooth connection ensures that you won't have the syncing issues that can occur when watching TV with wireless headphones.

 

Which is it? These statements are not equal.

 

If they are confident that they are low latency, publish the figures. I don't want to be told they are low latency, I want the actual figures. I don't want somebody elses idea of "low-latency"

 

The bluetooth specs tells me that that the codec is SBC, which typically has latency of circa 220ms. That's enough to throw out sync with the TV. So that's standard bluetooth. What's "TV mode" entail? Lower quality sound? Some googling suggests <20ms. Which is still not great for audio applications - but I guess would be less than 1 frame in a 30fps situation... which is a lot better than  nearly 7 frames with standard bluetooth. (you tend to notice syncing issues when things deviate by more than 3 frames. So in this context, Id say that they're pretty good.

 

For reference, 7ms end to end latency is the target standard for live audio monitoring purposes. I'd imagine that you'd feel the 20ms when playing, especially if there is anything else digital in your signal path.

 

Thanks for posting, it's made for quite an interesting google whilst munching on my lunch!

[bnt]

Since bass monitoring wasn’t the primary use case here, but rather a bonus, I didn’t feel the need to research this heavily or spend more on a “professional” setup. Philips’ dongle method means that they handle both ends of the link transparently, so I didn’t have to worry about how they achieved low latency. It could be aptX LL or something proprietary. But I agree that the current situation is a mess e.g. Apple’s approach to low latency is very hit-and-miss. 

[EBS_freak]

10 minutes ago, bnt said:

Since bass monitoring wasn’t the primary use case here, but rather a bonus, I didn’t feel the need to research this heavily or spend more on a “professional” setup. Philips’ dongle method means that they handle both ends of the link transparently, so I didn’t have to worry about how they achieved low latency. It could be aptX LL or something proprietary. But I agree that the current situation is a mess e.g. Apple’s approach to low latency is very hit-and-miss. 

Oh totally agree. For it's use - for TV, it would seem to hit the spot perfectly. If you can cope with the latency for bass monitoring... well, that's a nice brucie bonus!