Recommend Me Bluetooth Headphones with Low Latency

[marurun]

The mini consoles all have audio delay and it's actually quite annoying, especially if the game already has some audio lag in it naturally. For me, at least, laggy audio can make the game feel laggy even when it might actually be responsive. Whether it affects my performance or not it does affect my perception.

[Note]

I have a pair of imitation Air Buds. On a rare occasion, I like to use ear buds while working. But there's no way I would ever pay the going price for brand name ones. For the price, these are simply amazing. Long battery life, sounds absolutely fine, no complaints at all.

Thanks for posting this link and info, Ziggy. At this price, I might purchase a pair eventually. This was a topic I was curious about too, but I don't own a pair or have experience with anything to recommend.

When it comes to audio, I'm actually in the market for a headphone wire extension cord, if anyone has any recommendations for that as well.

[Ack]

Serious question:

Are there games where quick reaction to audio cues is critical to success?

I can absolutely believe that they are out there, but I guess I must not play them.

Related, and vaguely interesting:

The human brain can handle a decent amount of audio latency before it becomes bothersome. However, if the audio leads the video by even a small amount it becomes very distracting very quickly.

I am not personally a fan of bluetooth audio, but I can see why other people would like it.

There are some horror games that rely heavily on audio queues, so the faster you can react, the greater your survivability. I'd also image it would get pretty annoying for rhythm games if the action ties directly to the music.

Also, twitch FPS games. Sometimes, all you might get for warning is the audio queue of a grenade bouncing off a wall or a shot being fired from behind to warn you of an oncoming player.

[marurun]

I cannot find latency data for the Jabra 45h cans I bought in the fall, but they have decent audio quality and a massive 50+ hr battery life. If their BT latency is reasonable they're worth a look. Do any of the consoles support that Qualcomm BT 5.0 extension to reduce latency? The Jabra doesn't support it, I'm just curious.

[Anapan]

The reason I bought the Kokkia device(s) is to force latest compatibility into the rest of my devices. These adapters can accept and send all the different new formats, while still supporting the older ones. Being D-A converters with a (limited 6-8hr reported) battery, they can be adapted into all my other devices if docked and plugged in (USB powered). The one I'm trying to buy (the iTransceiver) is capable of sending or receiving selectively. There's pictures of it attached to the bottom of wired over-ear headphones that have a removable cord, as well as the top headphone jack on a Nintendo Switch. Looking at the specs for Bluetooth 5; It's ~20ms at best, 40 at worst before cutting out. aptX is 20ms in Low latency mode. aptX supports high quality modes with it's HD mode causing ~140ms, but offering a really good audio experience. The sending-only Kokkia device allows you to hot-swap (force) a bunch of Bluetooth and Codec combinations, while all of their current receiving-capable devices can accept any combination of mode and codec. A bit pricey, but the size and capability is well worth it IMO, that is, if I could just get the right one sent to me. I'm on order#4 for the Kokkia iTransceiver from now a 3rd reseller.

[REPO Man]

Ziggy, how goes the search?

[Ziggy]

So I finally picked up a set of wireless headphones. Mostly because of the price, I believe I got a good deal.

Arctis Nova 7P

https://steelseries.com/gaming-headsets/arctis-nova-7p

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/revie ... ss-7-7p-7x

There's different versions, which also come in different colors. The "P" donates that it's the PlayStation compatible model. Which is a little confusing, because the X model (for Xbox) also supports the PlayStation. Weird. Anyway, the P model in white was $123 on Amazon the other day. They reviewed good, and it looked like the price was good, so I decided to finally try a set.

So it seems that headphones that really try and get low latency do not rely on Bluethooth. Rather, they have their own wireless dongle to communicate with. The drawback is whatever you're trying to use it on has to support the wireless dongle. So the one that comes with these works on the PS4 and 5, PC/Mac, mobile (probably means Android and iOS). It lists Switch as compatible, but it's unclear to me if that means with the dongle or not. Because these headphones also support Bluetooth, and can connect to anything via BT like you normally could. So that means that with my AVR, I would be limited to BT if I ever want to use these for watching TV.

I have done limited testing so far. I played a few hours of Resident Evil 4 on my PS4 yesterday. Plugging in the dongle to the PS4, the console automatically detected it as headphones and switch the audio output to it. As for latency, I've only played the one game so far, but nothing stuck out to me as bad. As for sound quality, I have no complaints so far. But again, I've only played the one game so far. As for comfort, I had them one for an hour or two and they didn't bother me in the slightest.

I don't know how standard some of these things are... They have controls built in, which is convenient. There's a volume wheel and a mute button, as well as some other stuff. And I really like that the microphone completely retracts and looks like it's not even there. Because I have no interest in using it.

I'll post some more thoughts after I get to use them more.

[Ziggy]

So I used these headphones a bunch more. Mostly still just on the PS4. The batter life is great. As far as latency, I don't notice a difference when switching between headphones and my AVR speakers in the same game.

That said, I was curious and connected these headphones to my AVR. The delay was horrible. So much delay that watching anything would be impossible. I blame the AVR. But this means that anything that doesn't support that wireless dongle, gaming would be impossible. Unless my AVR is just really horrible, and the BT connection on, for example, a game console would be faster. I still have to test it with the Switch and see. I haven't tested it with the PC yet, but I'm assuming it works just as well as the PS4. And I did test out a generic BT connection to my phone, just to see, although that's not how I ever plan on using these.