Tech question about TV audio

[kuksul08]

I am interested in a way to connect multiple bluetooth and/or wired headphones to a TV so that each person can watch and listen at their own volume. Let's say, up to 4 people.

Does such a thing exist? I've researched a bit and everything says even with the latest and greatest "smart" TV's you can only connect 1 bluetooth device - be that a pair of headphones or a sound bar.

Anyone have experience with this?

 

[TylerW]

It's kinda a kludgy solution, but you could get a headphone amp and a grip of these.

https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-B...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

I don't know that there's a more elegant solution. Bluetooth is intended ad a 1-to-1 audio protocol.

 

[kuksul08]

It's kinda a kludgy solution, but you could get a headphone amp and a grip of these.

https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-B...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

I don't know that there's a more elegant solution. Bluetooth is intended ad a 1-to-1 audio protocol.

Could I theoretically get a 3.5mm splitter and then multiple bluetooth modules depending on how many headsets there are? Is that what you meant by a headphone amp? A lot of TV's have a 3.5mm output jack.

 

[Demoni]

The unit that TylerW linked should be the ticket to getting multiple bluetooth headsets working with your TV. Based on one of the questions in the listing you can run more than one of them at the same time.

If your TV has a 3.5mm output you would just need a splitter. If it does not you would need to add a RCA to 3.5mm adapter.

 

[kuksul08]

Thanks guys!

I'm baffled that modern TV's don't allow this from the get go. It's probably easy to implement for them.

 

[motomania2007]

A couple of points:

Many TVs have RCA jack outputs and inputs so you can use that RCA audio output if there isn't a 3.5mm headset jack

Many TVs have a USB port and you can get a USB audio adapter. I haven't tried this on any TV yet but I suspect it would work.

 

[berth]

TV Audio is doomed from the start.

Basically everything seems to be mixed to put music and explosions at the forefront and speaking in the back. If you have the volume down to a tolerable level when the music comes soaring up after the gunfire and car crashes, the people just mumble and mutter.

I simply run CC when I'm watching alone (my wife doesn't like it, so we keep it off).

I have a 5 channel set up and have the center channel kicked up a couple of notches with the vain hope to equalize it, but it's been not spectacularly successful.

 

[UDRider]

This supports 2, but look around maybe others support more.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08B7R862T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_Qr1UFbZZWVXMS?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[kuksul08]

TV Audio is doomed from the start.

Basically everything seems to be mixed to put music and explosions at the forefront and speaking in the back. If you have the volume down to a tolerable level when the music comes soaring up after the gunfire and car crashes, the people just mumble and mutter.

I simply run CC when I'm watching alone (my wife doesn't like it, so we keep it off).

I have a 5 channel set up and have the center channel kicked up a couple of notches with the vain hope to equalize it, but it's been not spectacularly successful.

Yeah, this always pisses me off. We're watching a movie and can't hear anything then suddenly *south park michael bay noises* and it's ridiculously loud. Add in the fact that some people don't have the best hearing, and if your volume isn't exactly right it's unwatchable. Individual headphones seems like a good solution...

CC works but kinda ruins the experience.

 

[GAJ]

TV Audio is doomed from the start.

Basically everything seems to be mixed to put music and explosions at the forefront and speaking in the back. If you have the volume down to a tolerable level when the music comes soaring up after the gunfire and car crashes, the people just mumble and mutter.

I simply run CC when I'm watching alone (my wife doesn't like it, so we keep it off).

I have a 5 channel set up and have the center channel kicked up a couple of notches with the vain hope to equalize it, but it's been not spectacularly successful.

Zero such issues here and I've had a 5.1 setup since the mid 80s when there were no A/V receivers and you had a stack of amps+decoder 3 feet tall.

What receiver and speakers are you using?

 

[berth]

Zero such issues here and I've had a 5.1 setup since the mid 80s when there were no A/V receivers and you had a stack of amps+decoder 3 feet tall.

What receiver and speakers are you using?

It's a Pioneer Elite and the speakers are whatever came with the house. I didn't purchase the speakers specifically, they're all in the ceiling.

And, in contrast, for example, we recently (re)watched Open Range, and everything was just fine.

But a lot of stuff off of streaming -- not so much.

This receiver is the weirdest thing. The "volume" is measured in dB, but not just dB, NEGATIVE dB :wtf about -40 is ok for the streaming. Turn it "down" to -50, or up to -38 - -37.

Just...odd. What human being thought taht this was the right scale to represent this to Joe Consumer. Maybe it's more sophisticated than I am (likely).

 

[GAJ]

It's a Pioneer Elite and the speakers are whatever came with the house. I didn't purchase the speakers specifically, they're all in the ceiling.

And, in contrast, for example, we recently (re)watched Open Range, and everything was just fine.

But a lot of stuff off of streaming -- not so much.

This receiver is the weirdest thing. The "volume" is measured in dB, but not just dB, NEGATIVE dB :wtf about -40 is ok for the streaming. Turn it "down" to -50, or up to -38 - -37.

Just...odd. What human being thought taht this was the right scale to represent this to Joe Consumer. Maybe it's more sophisticated than I am (likely).

Worst possible idea to have all in ceiling.

At the very least I'd add a center channel speaker which would make a big difference for you.

Yes, receivers usually have two volume settings, the one you describe, (which is the number of db below "reference" which is 75db at the seating position post microphone based EQ), and then an "absolute scale" going from 0 to 100.

Adding a real center directly below or above the TV angled towards your ears while seated would indeed be you best bet.

$10 returns within 60 days for a center speaker at Crutchfield which has many solid choices depending on budget.

 

[TylerW]

CC works but kinda ruins the experience.

That's a weird take.

CC is pretty much always on in hour house. But have have a lot of deaf and HoH friends, so...

I ended up discovering those individual bluetooth transmitters because I have a friend who has cochlear implants - and she's picking up an interest in filmmaking. She can connect her cochlears to bluetooth audio sources, but most camera gear is strictly analog for monitoring. Found those so she can minotor audio while she's filming.

 

[stangmx13]

3.5mm audio from a TV to splitters to bluetooth sounds like a recipe for terrible audio quality. TV audio amps are meh in my experience. And a digital connection all the way to the final amp that produces the sound will usually result in the best audio quality. A headphone amp off the TV with a digital connection would probably sound way better.

Id guess you'll spend more $$ buying all this equipment than you would a great soundbar or a receiver with a center channel. 4 headphones, 4 transmitters, 1 headphone amp - that wont be cheap.

 

[kuksul08]

Let's include a slightly different scenario. People watching a movie late at night don't want to disturb others in the house so they want to wear headphones. Getting a killer sound system won't help that situation.

 

[berth]

Adding a real center directly below or above the TV angled towards your ears while seated would indeed be you best bet.

My fantasy would be to make the TV itself the center speaker, but that doesn't seem to be possible.

 

[GAJ]

My fantasy would be to make the TV itself the center speaker, but that doesn't seem to be possible.

Perfectly possible but expensive.

Projector with an acoustically transparent screen.

My setup works just fine and I don't need a bigger screen.

Here's the front three and subwoofer.

Sorry about the dust.

 

[GAJ]

Let's include a slightly different scenario. People watching a movie late at night don't want to disturb others in the house so they want to wear headphones. Getting a killer sound system won't help that situation.

Call Crutchfield with their excellent support and if anyone has the answer they will.

Current wait time is 3 minutes.

1-844-875-5857

 

[mercurial]

FYI many of those little bluetooth dongles suck. I've owned several and I noticed they sometimes are really unreliable in how and when they connect to the headsets, and it seems it would be particularly annoying trying to get several of them connected to 4 headsets. The shittier ones also sometimes get choppy or delayed audio issues.

I went up-market and bought an airfly pro dongle and a bose 700 headset, and my setup now works "ok". Even still, I have to manually pair/unpair these things whenever I use them, otherwise the airfly pro steals the connection and doesn't allow the headset to work with other sources.

 

[GAJ]

FYI many of those little bluetooth dongles suck. I've owned several and I noticed they sometimes are really unreliable in how and when they connect to the headsets, and it seems it would be particularly annoying trying to get several of them connected to 4 headsets. The shittier ones also sometimes get choppy or delayed audio issues.

I went up-market and bought an airfly pro dongle and a bose 700 headset, and my setup now works "ok". Even still, I have to manually pair/unpair these things whenever I use them, otherwise the airfly pro steals the connection and doesn't allow the headset to work with other sources.

Yeah, if his TV has analog outs, (could always use digital to analog converter), maybe an analog distribution amp with corded headphones would suffice.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...UMwBEX41Bt2ExoCDVMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#specs