Bluetooth Headphones

Marc

Marc

TPer Emeritus
Messages
34,275
Edit My Images
Yes
I have a set of bluetooth headphones which I mainly use to watch Netflix/Prime on my iMac. The thing is, I find that the sound is, more often than not, is out of sync with the picture which is rather annoying.

So, my question is, is this down to them being a cheap set?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-...51031&sprefix=bluetooth+headph,aps,136&sr=8-2

If so, can anyone recommend anything better? Can't afford £250 for Bose but anything up to £100?

Thanks
 
There 'should' be a setting somewhere in your set-up to allow adjustment for such delays Marc. Time to dig out the manual maybe? ;)
 
Sky said:
There 'should' be a setting somewhere in your set-up to allow adjustment for such delays Marc. Time to dig out the manual maybe? ;)
Click to expand...

Sadly not Trevor, the manual is very basic

IMG_1083.JPG
 
It could be the headphones, they don’t give me a huge amount of confidence in the component and build quality, but don’t assume it yet!

How old is your mac and what model is it?
 
Sky said:
I meant the sound settings on your computer. :)
Click to expand...

Ah, you said manual, I've never seen a manual for a Mac but the sound settings don't appear to help.

Screenshot 2020-07-02 at 16.48.14.png

Screenshot 2020-07-02 at 16.48.41.png

JnrJedi said:
It could be the headphones, they don’t give me a huge amount of confidence in the component and build quality, but don’t assume it yet!

How old is your mac and what model is it?
Click to expand...

It's a year old.

Screenshot 2020-07-02 at 16.50.30.png
 
Ah, that doesn't help at all does it? :facepalm:

Sorry Marc, I was an electronics and computer engineer when I was working, but when it comes to anything made by Apple I just want to :headbang:

Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable of all things Apple will be along to help soon . . .
 
Last edited:
There might be some more synch settings in the media player software.

Looking at the 1* Amazon reviews, none of them seem to mention an excessive delay so I would hazard a guess at it being a user error of some sort - hope you get it sorted.
 
Nod said:
There might be some more synch settings in the media player software.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by media player software. I'm not playing any media outside of Netflix.

Nod said:
Looking at the 1* Amazon reviews, none of them seem to mention an excessive delay so I would hazard a guess at it being a user error of some sort - hope you get it sorted.
Click to expand...

Perhaps but it could be that most people use them for audio?
 
Retune said:
Might depend on what audio codec your headphones and Mac support - if the headphones only do bog standard SBC, you may be seeing high latency, which can cause sync problems:

www.macrumors.com

How to Enable the Optimal Audio Codec for Your Bluetooth Headphones in macOS

How good your digital music sounds often comes down to which file format it's encoded in. Be that as it may, every Mac audio setup is only as...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
Click to expand...

Thanks but in your link, it shows:

bluetooth1.jpg

Mine just shows:

Screenshot 2020-07-02 at 17.26.18.png
 
Ah yes I had this exact issue with some nice B+O headphones. I sorted it though, but I can't remember how, now. Soz. But what I have discovered, is that even using them wired in, there can be a slight annoying delay in audio. Even through the Mac's speakers. So it's probably a fault either with the recording or the software you use to play media. I get this now and then with TV stuff too.
 
Marc said:
Thanks but in your link, it shows:

View attachment 285051

Mine just shows:

View attachment 285052
Click to expand...
I don't know if that's what you get if only standard Bluetooth is supported, or whether it's a Mac OS version thing. But I suspect that £20 headphones may only support SBC. You might want to look out for some headphones that do support AAC (which is the native high quality Mac codec), and maybe aptX and aptX low latency (the latter is designed specifically for this sort of situation). The Sennheiser 350BT supports AAC, aptX and aptX LL, as well as SBC, for under £100:

HD 350BT | Sennheiser UK

Enjoy great wireless audio on the go or at home with the HD 350BT. Your ultimate companion for wireless audio – whatever you listen to. Discover them now!
en-uk.sennheiser.com en-uk.sennheiser.com

The 450BT is another £50 and adds active noise cancelling. With either of these, you'd have the option of trying the native AAC codec to see if it solves the issue. If it doesn't, you could try aptX LL.

Even if the aptX codecs aren't supported natively by the OS, you should be able to use them with a dongle like this:


(I use this on a PC and Raspberry Pi for aptX).
 
Last edited:
Retune said:
I don't know if that's what you get if only standard Bluetooth is supported, or whether it's a Mac OS version thing. But I suspect that £20 headphones may only support SBC. You might want to look out for some headphones that do support AAC (which is the native high quality Mac codec), and maybe aptX and aptX low latency (the latter is designed specifically for this sort of situation). The Sennheiser 350BT supports AAC, aptX and aptX LL, as well as SBC, for under £100:

HD 350BT | Sennheiser UK

Enjoy great wireless audio on the go or at home with the HD 350BT. Your ultimate companion for wireless audio – whatever you listen to. Discover them now!
en-uk.sennheiser.com en-uk.sennheiser.com

The 450BT is another £50 and adds active noise cancelling. With either of these, you'd have the option of trying the native AAC codec to see if it solves the issue. If it doesn't, you could try aptX LL.

Even if the aptX codecs aren't supported natively by the OS, you should be able to use them with a dongle like this:


(I use this on a PC and Raspberry Pi for aptX).
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Not to bothered about noise cancelling, they would only get used at home or, hopefully, in a hotel room.
 

Netflix audio is out of sync

When your audio is out of sync, there's a problem with your device or the title you're trying to watch. Use this article and follow the steps to fix the problem.
help.netflix.com help.netflix.com

This might be worth a try.
 
Cockney said:

Netflix audio is out of sync

When your audio is out of sync, there's a problem with your device or the title you're trying to watch. Use this article and follow the steps to fix the problem.
help.netflix.com help.netflix.com

This might be worth a try.
Click to expand...

Thanks but I should've made it clearer that it isn't only Netflix that it occurs with, it's the same with youtube videos as well.

It's looking likely that aptX might be the solution.
 
I don’t think Aptx main value is in latency improvement but in distance and resolution. And I’ve seen recently a review in some aptx speakers that had a terrible delay. Do you have any other devices you can temporarily pair your headphones to and watch Netflix to see if the issue travels with them?
 
I have some sennheiser 350BTs. I'll try and remember to check whether YouTube is out of sync tomorrow. I've not noticed anything so far. They were about £70 odd and I think they're pretty good for the money.

Could it be a browser plugin issue perhaps?

Not all you tubers are good at audio and video sync either. Which doesn't help. :rolleyes:
 
JnrJedi said:
I don’t think Aptx main value is in latency improvement but in distance and resolution. And I’ve seen recently a review in some aptx speakers that had a terrible delay. Do you have any other devices you can temporarily pair your headphones to and watch Netflix to see if the issue travels with them?
Click to expand...

It's the aptX LL that I was referring to.

I've used them with my phone but, tbh, the screen is too small fro me to tell.

srichards said:
Tried youtube. In sync with mac speakers. Out of sync with the BT headphones. That's using firefox.

I found this thread which suggests it's basically Catalina being crap that is the cause of this. There is a work around to force using a different bluetooth driver to fix it.

Bluetooth audio delay (audio not synchron… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com discussions.apple.com
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. The workaround looks useful but my headphones don't use aptX. I held Option and clicked on bluetooth as it suggested

Screenshot 2020-07-03 at 09.44.22.jpg
 
JnrJedi said:
I don’t think Aptx main value is in latency improvement but in distance and resolution. And I’ve seen recently a review in some aptx speakers that had a terrible delay
Click to expand...
Isn't APT-X about sound quality rather than other issues? IE; if there is a delay cos of a software issues, then that's nothing that APT-X can solve anyway.
 
Marc said:
Not sure what you mean by media player software. I'm not playing any media outside of Netflix.
Click to expand...

Sorry, missed the net flicks bit.


Marc said:
the sound is, more often than not, is out of sync with the picture which is rather annoying.
Click to expand...

More often than not or always? We occasionally get noticeable lag when watching iPlayer or other catch-up on Freeview but restarting the show usually re-synchs. A bit of a PITA but not too bad.
 
Nod said:
Sorry, missed the net flicks bit.




More often than not or always? We occasionally get noticeable lag when watching iPlayer or other catch-up on Freeview but restarting the show usually re-synchs. A bit of a PITA but not too bad.
Click to expand...

I'd say most.
 
And only when you use those 'phones on any device?
 
I believe that with bluetooth data transfer there is no mechanism keeping the audio and video data streams synchronised. They both start playing at the same time, but if one gets delayed for whatever reason then that's it. It's a pretty crappy transfer protocol which is focused towards convenience and low power usage, rather than quality and reliability.
I use bluetooth headphones for music, but never for video.

Cheap bluetooth earbuds can be particularly annoying. The left earbid connects tot he phone, and then the right earbud connects to the left so you can sometimes get situations when left and right ears are out of sync with each other. o_O
 
Last edited:
bass_junkie83 said:
I believe that with bluetooth data transfer there is no mechanism keeping the audio and video data streams synchronised. They both start playing at the same time, but if one gets delayed for whatever reason then that's it. It's a pretty crappy transfer protocol which is focused towards convenience and low power usage, rather than quality and reliability.
I use bluetooth headphones for music, but never for video,
Click to expand...

Mine seem to start off out of sync.
 
Marc said:
Mine seem to start off out of sync.
Click to expand...
Do they have a jack output? Some bluetooth headphones do so you can use them wired if the batteries go flat. If so then that would be your best option I'm afraid.
 
srichards said:
Tried youtube. In sync with mac speakers. Out of sync with the BT headphones. That's using firefox.

I found this thread which suggests it's basically Catalina being crap that is the cause of this. There is a work around to force using a different bluetooth driver to fix it.

Bluetooth audio delay (audio not synchron… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com discussions.apple.com
Click to expand...
Does the workaround (switching to aptX) work for you with the 350BTs, or are you not on Catalina? Although aptX is mostly about better audio quality, it will probably still have better latency than SBC (and perhaps AAC).

aptX LL is different, and designed for low latency, but may not be supported by the OS. The Avantree dongle I linked to above implements aptX and aptX LL in hardware (the OS just sees it as a USB soundcard). Using this with some older Sennheiser headphones that only support regular aptX, I find that watching Youtube is fine.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
Do they have a jack output? Some bluetooth headphones do so you can use them wired if the batteries go flat. If so then that would be your best option I'm afraid.
Click to expand...
Some can also use the USB cable for audio. Incidentally, I just noticed that the 350BTs don't have a 3.5mm jack (the 450BTs do), but I don't know if they do audio over USB.
 
I use Sony WH-CH500 with my phone and they don't have any sync issues and the battery lasts for ages. Reasonable price as well.

But if it's not the headphones, could it be worth trying a 3rd party Bluetooth dongle to see if that solves it?

I had a similar issue with my previous car, lip sync was slightly out when watching films on my phone but streaming audio through the car's speakers - very annoying. Same phone but different car and it's now perfect, so I assume it was the car's Bluetooth hardware.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
Do they have a jack output? Some bluetooth headphones do so you can use them wired if the batteries go flat. If so then that would be your best option I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

Yes, they do but I would rather use them over bluetooth as I really hate excess cables.

Nod said:
Looks like a return to Amazon for those and an alternative purchase. :(
Click to expand...

I've had them about 9 months, probably a bit late for that.
 
The headphones support bluetooth 5 but my imac is only bluetooth 4. I wonder if the issue occurs with both supporting bluetooth 5 and the same catalina?

I don't use the headphones much and generally used them for music or podcasts so it's never been an issue.
 
srichards said:
The headphones support bluetooth 5 but my imac is only bluetooth 4. I wonder if the issue occurs with both supporting bluetooth 5 and the same catalina?

I don't use the headphones much and generally used them for music or podcasts so it's never been an issue.
Click to expand...

How do you know which bluetooth your mac supports?
 
Marc said:
How do you know which bluetooth your mac supports?
Click to expand...

I went into the 'about this about this mac' and the system report. The bluetooth is listed as Bluetooth Core Spec: 4.0 (0x6) It's a broadcom chip.

I think bluetooth 5.0 is only quite recent ie last 3 years which is very recent in my book :)
 
srichards said:
I went into the 'about this about this mac' and the system report. The bluetooth is listed as Bluetooth Core Spec: 4.0 (0x6) It's a broadcom chip.

I think bluetooth 5.0 is only quite recent ie last 3 years which is very recent in my book :)
Click to expand...

Mine says 0x8 but it doesn't give a Bluetooth number
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top