Which Bluetooth transmitter?

Wing80surfer

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I've got an LG CX & whilst it has built in BT I can only transmit to one pair of headphones at a time. Am thinking of a BT transmitter that will output to at least 2 devices simultaneously, so myself and my partner can both use headphones - can anybody recommend one?

I'm looking for something that will transmit good quality sound without (or with unnoticeable) audio delay. Connection options are 1) 3.5mm audio jack or 2) optical (if using optical transmitter it would need both input and output as soundbar is connected via optical)

If it helps, one pair of headphones are Bose Soundsport Free & the other are Airpod Pros.

Thanks in advance
 
I've got an LG CX & whilst it has built in BT I can only transmit to one pair of headphones at a time. Am thinking of a BT transmitter that will output to at least 2 devices simultaneously, so myself and my partner can both use headphones - can anybody recommend one?

I'm looking for something that will transmit good quality sound without (or with unnoticeable) audio delay. Connection options are 1) 3.5mm audio jack or 2) optical (if using optical transmitter it would need both input and output as soundbar is connected via optical)

If it helps, one pair of headphones are Bose Soundsport Free & the other are Airpod Pros.

Thanks in advance

So, for your particular scenario, there are a couple of must haves and some nice to haves.

Given you have Apple and Bose headphones then you will be needing a Bluetooth transmitter that supports the AAC codec. If that is missing from the transmitter your headphones will connect using the lowest common denominator SBC codec which more often than not causes sound quality and delay issues.

Unfortunately, neither your Bose nor Apple headphones support the aptX Low Latency codec which is usually the best shot at avoiding delay issues. However, AAC is usually not too bad in this regard but will nonetheless remain something of a lottery - you won't know until you've tried it.

An optical connection will be best for sound quality; however, you will need the transmitter to have an optical bypass function because of your soundbar. The top-end Avantree transmitters have that bypass function but, alas, I’m pretty sure Avantree don’t support AAC (which is a must have for your current headphones). Some transmitters can have an optical input and output (for their Tx and Rx modes) but usually won’t offer a bypass mode. My knowledge of all available transmitters is not complete but you may have to go analogue into the transmitter.

There’s a reasonable amount of transmitters available which will connect to two sets of headphones simultaneously.

Finally, never having owned Apple AirPods, I’m unsure how you would control their volume when connected to the standalone transmitter.

Leaving aside that last point, then one of these might do the job. Looks like you would have to go analogue in (seems no digital bypass mode).

Amazon product ASIN B08MXLQVHW
 
So, for your particular scenario, there are a couple of must haves and some nice to haves.

Given you have Apple and Bose headphones then you will be needing a Bluetooth transmitter that supports the AAC codec. If that is missing from the transmitter your headphones will connect using the lowest common denominator SBC codec which more often than not causes sound quality and delay issues.

Unfortunately, neither your Bose nor Apple headphones support the aptX Low Latency codec which is usually the best shot at avoiding delay issues. However, AAC is usually not too bad in this regard but will nonetheless remain something of a lottery - you won't know until you've tried it.

An optical connection will be best for sound quality; however, you will need the transmitter to have an optical bypass function because of your soundbar. The top-end Avantree transmitters have that bypass function but, alas, I’m pretty sure Avantree don’t support AAC (which is a must have for your current headphones). Some transmitters can have an optical input and output (for their Tx and Rx modes) but usually won’t offer a bypass mode. My knowledge of all available transmitters is not complete but you may have to go analogue into the transmitter.

There’s a reasonable amount of transmitters available which will connect to two sets of headphones simultaneously.

Finally, never having owned Apple AirPods, I’m unsure how you would control their volume when connected to the standalone transmitter.

Leaving aside that last point, then one of these might do the job. Looks like you would have to go analogue in (seems no digital bypass mode).

Amazon product ASIN B08MXLQVHW
Volume is something that I have thought about. As far as I know (not got around to actually checking) the tv remote does not control volume when using optical, so unless there are volume controls built into the transmitter, going to have to go with analog connection
 
I went for this one in the end Amazon product ASIN B07M69L5RF
Turned up yesterday & as expected, cannot control volume when using optical so went for 3.5mm analogue connection. There is a slight delay but this is only noticeable when outputting sound to TV speakers at the same time, my eyes/ears don't notice any lip sync issues. Happy with quality too, there is a slight buzz but I can only hear this when no sound is coming through so don't mind that :)
 

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