Low latency Bluetooth Earbuds - recommendations?

bibenu · 2023-09-26T17:47:17.271Z

Seems that ‘low-latency’ bluetooth earbuds are designed for gamers, and often have 2 modes

‘game’ optimised for latency
‘music’ - which is not so low latency and optimised for flat EQ (presumably ?)

I’d anticipate using with iPad or iPhone using

music - for listening, including music that I’m making on iPad apps
game - for recording / live-sequencing in iPad apps

I’m particularly interested in brands that work for you, and also observations on what I want to do (e.g. “It will never work because X”) .

mabelsound · 2023-09-26T18:10:06.990Z

The Apple pro Airpods are pretty great, imo, if you’re using them with Apple products. Good sound, very responsive. But they are expensive. Are there actual latency numbers out there?

f · 2023-09-26T18:11:50.447Z

Over 100 ms for the latest gen Airpod pro the last time I checked.

mabelsound · 2023-09-26T18:11:54.830Z

This article seems to put latency at ~126ms, not ideal for music, actually, I stand corrected

stephencoyle.net

AirPods Pro 2 Audio Latency - Stephen Coyle

mabelsound · 2023-09-26T18:12:45.471Z

yes cross-posted!

I’m still mad they removed the headphone jack from the pro ipads, they don’t seem to understand what musicians need

SoundReverend · 2023-09-26T19:01:08.331Z

My 2 cents:

Unfortunately there is no such thing as low latency bluetooth headphones. I have tried many solutions including Avantree and APTX low latency or whatever that is called.

Does it have to be portable?

What worked decent: “LEKATO MS-1” In ear Monitoring solution on Amazon that you can plug in to whatever you want via 3.5mm - of course you need an USB-C to 3.5mm adapter for the iPad.

I only had issues once when I had too many bluetooth devices in the same room (mouse, keyboard) and wireless guitar solution all on 2.4Ghz was a little too much.

The transmitter gets pretty warm, you need to charge it after a few hours (I don’t know if it is ok to leave on USB charger constantly)

…and of course AIAIAI wireless+ headphones but those are over ears. This solution works really well. But it is not very portable.

bibenu · 2023-09-26T20:10:22.005Z

SoundReverend:

LEKATO MS-1

“Less than 12ms Latency”

That’s good, if the claim is true.