Wireless headphones or transmitters below 10ms in-to-out latency

rs2000

Reading the funny claims of Bluetooth AptX's 32ms latency being undetectable by the human ear and even the pretty https://www.natus.one/ transmitter adding a critical 16ms latency to the audio, I'd like to invite everyone to share their experiences with recent non-Bluetooth products.

There are still infrared and RF headphones available but many of them have gone digital to provide better sound quality at the cost of ... well ... higher latency too.

The lowest-latency headphones I've tried so far use the really old analog FM circuits over infrared or radio antennas.

Does anyone know current RF or infrared products that can still provide latency under ten milliseconds?

mistercharlie

No answer for your question, but this is a good article/test on AirPods/AirPods Pro latency.

https://stephencoyle.net/airpods-pro

rs2000

@mistercharlie said:
No answer for your question, but this is a good article/test on AirPods/AirPods Pro latency.

https://stephencoyle.net/airpods-pro

Cool, thanks! Good to see latency measurements for these gadgets.

SevenSystems

If there are decent headphones with an integrated standard FM broadcast radio receiver, then get a pair of those and use one of those "Car FM transmitter" things. Zero latency, decent quality, $30. (device needs a headphone jack)

rs2000

I've just read in other forums that the Sony RF985 and the Sennheiser HDR120 II both use analog RF (FM) transmission wich seems to be almost latency-free.
But yes, the car FM transmitters have an important advantage: They're small!

SevenSystems

@rs2000 https://www.amazon.com/Transmitter-Universal-Wireless-Modulator-Hands-Free/dp/B018QN4INM

I got that one. EUR 12. Zero latency. Rechargeable via USB. Lasts 5 hours or so. only drawback I can see is that the quality is maybe only equivalent to 32 kHz and roughly 12 Bit. But it's stereo.

rs2000

@SevenSystems said:
@rs2000 https://www.amazon.com/Transmitter-Universal-Wireless-Modulator-Hands-Free/dp/B018QN4INM

I got that one. EUR 12. Zero latency. Rechargeable via USB. Lasts 5 hours or so. only drawback I can see is that the quality is maybe only equivalent to 32 kHz and roughly 12 Bit. But it's stereo.

Mine looks very similar, same case but classic LCD display.
But which quality headphones have an FM receiver built-in?

animalelder

I have very little testing proof, but isn’t infrared low latency? It’s line-of-sight and doesn’t have good range, but it seems to be nearly instantaneous.

It’s not very popular, but I’ve always thought it would work well with iOS users, since those two issues shouldn’t be a problem.

rs2000

@animalelder said:
I have very little testing proof, but isn’t infrared low latency? It’s line-of-sight and doesn’t have good range, but it seems to be nearly instantaneous.

It’s not very popular, but I’ve always thought it would work well with iOS users, since those two issues shouldn’t be a problem.

Yes, at least the old infrared models using analog FM. Problem is - The transmitters are usually way too bulky to attach to an iDevice.
I'm curious though about the new digital models...

SevenSystems

@rs2000 said:

@SevenSystems said:
@rs2000 https://www.amazon.com/Transmitter-Universal-Wireless-Modulator-Hands-Free/dp/B018QN4INM

I got that one. EUR 12. Zero latency. Rechargeable via USB. Lasts 5 hours or so. only drawback I can see is that the quality is maybe only equivalent to 32 kHz and roughly 12 Bit. But it's stereo.

Mine looks very similar, same case but classic LCD display.
But which quality headphones have an FM receiver built-in?

Hehe I haven't done any research. But to me it would be an obvious product to create?

rs2000

Oh wow, fashionable results on "FM radio headphones" 😅