I would like to know if it's possible to use bluetooth headphones for streaming movies and shows. It seems to me if there's a way to connect the headphones to my TV/soundbar that this method would provide the absolute best sound quality and sound processing compared to using HT speakers placed all around the listening area. It would also be much less expensive than having to purchase all of these speakers as well. A separate powered sub could also be used to get the low frequency effect, so long as the soundbar has a sub out, which mine does. Have any of you ever done this?
Question for you home theater gurus
- Thread starter grampi
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If all you want is 2-channel sound it's certainly an option. But that would be nowhere near the quality or experience of a multi-channel surround setup, which as you indicated, can be expensive.
I imagine most newer soundbars and receivers should have bluetooth built in (someone correct me if I'm wrong.) If you want to use an existing receiver or soundbar that doesn't have this capability, you can buy a simple bluetooth adapter/transmitter that plugs into RCA or headphone jacks.
Be aware that the audio sent via bluetooth will very likely be compressed, but that depends on source encoding and what the bluetooth device supports.
I imagine most newer soundbars and receivers should have bluetooth built in (someone correct me if I'm wrong.) If you want to use an existing receiver or soundbar that doesn't have this capability, you can buy a simple bluetooth adapter/transmitter that plugs into RCA or headphone jacks.
Be aware that the audio sent via bluetooth will very likely be compressed, but that depends on source encoding and what the bluetooth device supports.
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So you are trying to drive bluetooth headphones as well as the soundbar and sub simultaneously? Or are you just trying to keep the sub active, silence the soundbar and use the bluetooth headphones? What do you plan on being the main bluetooth transmission device?
i Know just messing around with the setup i paired my pixel buds to my TV..... of course it shut off the sound for everyone else in doing so....
I haven't run into a set of headphones yet that can produce low frequency bass effectively. It might be worth checking out a demo at a home theatre retailer in order to understand the pros and cons of each setup.
If you simply don't want to spend the money on a high-dollar stereo setup, that is perfectly reasonable. Just don't kid yourself about getting equal or better sound from headphones.
If you simply don't want to spend the money on a high-dollar stereo setup, that is perfectly reasonable. Just don't kid yourself about getting equal or better sound from headphones.
The soundbar has a wired sub out jack, so I would just connect a separate powered sub to that. I just had a chat with a Crutchfield tech and he said there's no way to connect multiple wireless headphones at one time. The only way to do it would be to convert the optical output of my TV to an analog signal, than plug that into a junction box that I could plug in up to 4 sets of wired headphones at a time. I would have to use some sort of splitter for my optical out as the soundbar uses this as well. There no surround sound headphones, however there are some gaming headphones that are said to do a pretty good job of simulating surround sound. I don't know, this sounds like more of a cluster than it's worth. Why does this stuff have to be so difficult?
Neither have I. That's why I would connect a separate powered sub to my soundbar. It has a wired sub output...
One challenge with BT headphones is latency/delay which may cause annoying lipsync issues when watching videos. Hardwired headphones don't have this issue, and some full size headphones do produce decent amount of bass, assuming you use a quality headphone amp to power them.
Does your soundbar have RCA (red and white) sound outputs? If so, you could run y-splitters (one each for red and white) from the soundbar out to the inputs of two sets of headphones. Of course that would require headphones which accepts RCA input, and would limit you to 2.1 (stereo headphones plus sub) sound.
No. The only wired output it has is sub out. I would have to use the optical output from my TV, plug that into a converter that converts the signal to analog, then that would give me a preamp (or whatever a suitable output would be called for headphones) signal coming out on RCA jacks...
I wouldn't be able to use BT headphones, I would have to use the wired type....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-In-1-Blu...740906?hash=item2acab8e36a:g:c18AAOSwo61cxA5J Optical to bluetooth transmitter adapter.
Optical splitter, sometimes it requires an actual switch box, the switch boxes are $30, but I think a splitter in your case would be fine as you're not trying to pair multiple devices to one receiver (ie, plug a DVD player, bluray, and the TV into the receiver) you're simply wanting to make the light signal from the TV go to two things at once. If you run two different light signals they'll cross and not work, though.
EDIT:
You might be able to get away without the splitter with that bluetooth DAC box, as it says optical in/out on it, but I'd buy the splitter to be safe.
So yeah, with the $30 DAC bluetooth thing from China, you'd get a 3.5mm headphone jack output and bluetooth. So one split optical signal to sound bar, one to DAC. DAC transmits bluetooth to bluetooth headphones, hopefully no audio sync issues happen (who knows?) if they do, you need wired headphones.
For a subwoofer you could use the 3.5mm split into two with a 3.5mm female Y adapter, https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5mm-Ster...470299?hash=item46724eb05b:g:h9EAAOSwFsBdFQST Like that, then you'd have two headphone jacks plugged into one port.
Subwoofers use RCA usually, unless they're proprietary to a brand/all in one setup, so you'd need a 3.5mm to RCA cord like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/5ft-1-8-3-...095298?hash=item2f3afc9782:g:NXIAAOSwvthfmOAB
Then you would plug that into the subwoofer and ideally use another Y to put it into the generally one RCA input of the sub. https://www.ebay.com/itm/RCA-Audio-...406665?hash=item48cb4c1689:g:CLgAAOSwAj9dl5Ir But if the sub happens to have two, then you don't need this.
With this setup you could use any random home theater sub of almost any brand as long as it has the RCA input, and find one very cheap off Craigslist or at a thrift store (I have a 100w Sony home theater sub I paid $15 for off Facebook Market...) I think your soundbar is meant to use its own proprietary sub of some sort, though, with its terminal setup.
For quite a few years I did a similar setup but not with headphones, I'd use a 3.5mm headphone to RCA cord from my computer to a Panasonic all in one stereo, then I separately Y'd off to a powered subwoofer with RCA input later on. Now I have a much better stereo receiver and speakers with its own subwoofer out on the receiver, but I still use the Panasonic in my garage as a stereo still with the same RCA to 3.5mm cord to play my phone.
It's about $50 into adapters there, but I think it would allow you to do exactly what you wanted. Also, though new you'd be paying a pretty penny, people are practically (or sometimes completely) just giving away older and newer surround sound receivers now. A surround receiver with only optical and no HDMI usually only goes for $20-50 now, but even some fairly modern ones with bluetooth out aren't going for a lot. People are also practically giving away OK speakers, too. I built my downstairs surround sound setup for about $100 in, including receiver, front and rear speakers, a center speaker, and a sub, just from snatching up deals on Craigslist and Facebook over a few months, using an older early 2000s Denon receiver with only optical in. Of course if space/etc is an issue, then keep with the soundbar, but the prices nowadays on the used market are insanely good. With a receiver you could just use the headphones (since the receiver has buttons to turn the speakers on/off) with a bluetooth transmitter and you'd be done and have it all in a somewhat convenient manner.
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EDIT:
You might be able to get away without the splitter with that bluetooth DAC box, as it says optical in/out on it, but I'd buy the splitter to be safe.
So yeah, with the $30 DAC bluetooth thing from China, you'd get a 3.5mm headphone jack output and bluetooth. So one split optical signal to sound bar, one to DAC. DAC transmits bluetooth to bluetooth headphones, hopefully no audio sync issues happen (who knows?) if they do, you need wired headphones.
For a subwoofer you could use the 3.5mm split into two with a 3.5mm female Y adapter, https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5mm-Ster...470299?hash=item46724eb05b:g:h9EAAOSwFsBdFQST Like that, then you'd have two headphone jacks plugged into one port.
Subwoofers use RCA usually, unless they're proprietary to a brand/all in one setup, so you'd need a 3.5mm to RCA cord like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/5ft-1-8-3-...095298?hash=item2f3afc9782:g:NXIAAOSwvthfmOAB
Then you would plug that into the subwoofer and ideally use another Y to put it into the generally one RCA input of the sub. https://www.ebay.com/itm/RCA-Audio-...406665?hash=item48cb4c1689:g:CLgAAOSwAj9dl5Ir But if the sub happens to have two, then you don't need this.
With this setup you could use any random home theater sub of almost any brand as long as it has the RCA input, and find one very cheap off Craigslist or at a thrift store (I have a 100w Sony home theater sub I paid $15 for off Facebook Market...) I think your soundbar is meant to use its own proprietary sub of some sort, though, with its terminal setup.
For quite a few years I did a similar setup but not with headphones, I'd use a 3.5mm headphone to RCA cord from my computer to a Panasonic all in one stereo, then I separately Y'd off to a powered subwoofer with RCA input later on. Now I have a much better stereo receiver and speakers with its own subwoofer out on the receiver, but I still use the Panasonic in my garage as a stereo still with the same RCA to 3.5mm cord to play my phone.
It's about $50 into adapters there, but I think it would allow you to do exactly what you wanted. Also, though new you'd be paying a pretty penny, people are practically (or sometimes completely) just giving away older and newer surround sound receivers now. A surround receiver with only optical and no HDMI usually only goes for $20-50 now, but even some fairly modern ones with bluetooth out aren't going for a lot. People are also practically giving away OK speakers, too. I built my downstairs surround sound setup for about $100 in, including receiver, front and rear speakers, a center speaker, and a sub, just from snatching up deals on Craigslist and Facebook over a few months, using an older early 2000s Denon receiver with only optical in. Of course if space/etc is an issue, then keep with the soundbar, but the prices nowadays on the used market are insanely good. With a receiver you could just use the headphones (since the receiver has buttons to turn the speakers on/off) with a bluetooth transmitter and you'd be done and have it all in a somewhat convenient manner.
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As it turns out, I wouldn't need a splitter. I have my soundbar connected to my TV via an HDMI (ARC) connection, so the optical output from my TV currently isn't being used for anything. I would need a converter, and then connect a headphone junction box via RCA cables. I don't know if the sub out of the soundbar is a mono, or a stereo out, but I believe the sub I want to use (an HSU 15", I forgot the model number) accepts either both a left and right RCA input, or it will work just using the left channel input. I've gone the whole surround sound route before and I want to avoid having to go back using multiple surround speakers, running speaker wire all over the living room, and having to use an A/V receiver. I like the simplicity of just having a soundbar and a separate powered sub. I do think using headphones, while not able to accurately reproduce surround sound processing, should still provide a much better listening experience than just using the soundbar, and I wouldn't have speakers and wires all over the place...
I personally love surround sound as I grew up poorer as a kid/teenager in the 90s and early 2000s when it was more popular, and all my more wealthy friends' families had surround sound setups with a plasma TV while we had a little 19" CRT until about 2009. So once I started making some amount more money I ended up going kind of nuts buying audio equipment because I really wanted it back then.
I loved it too, but absolutely hated all of the speakers that are required, and all of the associated speaker wires.
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