My mom has this TV: Sony KDL-32BX320
She wats to know if there’s some way to connect wireless headphones to it. (If it helps, it has a Roku connected to it.)
Anyone have any ideas?
If it has a headphone jack, or audio out you can easily get a bluetooth adapter.
Mrs. Martian uses these with a Sony TV of similar vintage and a Roku when she has her embroidery machine cranking.
Don’t Roku devices have Bluetooth?
Cripes, that’s pricey. My mom would never let me get that for her.
Using the Roku app on my phone, I can connect wireless headphones to my phone, and make the Roku audio come out the headphones, and the Roku picture come out the tv. This will only work for stuff you are watching through Roku. I’ve used it, and it works perfectly, with no lag.
I also have a somewhat higher end Roku and it has a Bluetooth remote with a headphone jack. I’ve never tried using it, because the phone thing works, and lets me use my fancy earbuds.
Sennheiser do a range of wireless headphones. The one linked is a higher end one. You do get what you pay for. My parents used the RS 120 mkII happily for ages. It isn’t quite as nice, but works fine.
There is no shortage of simple analog or digital audio to Bluetooth adapters. Most TVs have a headphone output and an optical digital audio (S/Pdif) output.
One thing is that these outputs are typically not controlled by the TV’s volume control. The user of the output is expected to control their own levels with whatever is fed by the output. This is useful for when one person in the room needs headphones and everyone else listens via the TV speakers.
If you have a Bluetooth transmitter there are zillions of headphones available. Anything from no-name rubbish to very high end.
Some of the Sennheiser wireless headphones are more directed at people with some hearing deficit, and include frequency compensation profiles for hearing loss and attempts at active speech enhancement, whereas the general Bluetooth headphones are more intended for music, often when paired with your “personal device” of choice.
Sennheiser makes a good product–when I was having issues hearing my calls in a noisy ass call center they got me a dual ear noise cancelling Sennheiser headset and it was the bomb. Wired, of course, but quality make and fit.
I myself have a set of the 120s and I’ve been using them since December 2015, so pretty darned durable, although there’s a little crackle now when I adjust the volume. I suspect a noisy potentiometer. Mine cost $75 back then.
Amazon has quite a few BT headphone transmitters in the $15 - $25 range that will work with just about any set of BT headphones. I have one on my old non-BT Sony TV in the bedroom. Plugs into the headphone jack and can be powered continuously or recharged periodically. It works fine with my cheap ($20) BT headphones.
You can also connect a transmitter to the line-level outputs on a TV if you don’t have a headphones jack.
I have a slightly more expensive unit on my bigger Samsung TV in the den because the Samsung does not have a low-latency BT version and the external transmitter does. (This may be my ignorance at work, though. I’ve upgraded the TV firmware, but I still get delays with my newer Sony headphones using only the TV BT.)
Something like this might be the best option but there are several similar items out there.
One thing to be aware of is that on some TV’s connecting the “headphone out” from your TV to a wireless transmitter will mean that you cannot operate the TV speakers. They are effectively muted. Operating the main volume involves getting up and unplugging the headphone cable.
That can be a pain, the same is not true with optical outputs. You can have that plugged in to the transmitter all the time and still have your TV speakers operate if you so wish, or mute them via the main volume.
That’s a set-up I have in my bedrooom and it works well.
Sorry, never mind.
Echoreply has the solution, just as long as:
- Your mom has a smartphone
- She exclusively watches content through the Roku
- She has a pair of headphones that can connect to her phone.
If she doesn’t watch everything via the Roku, the solution might just be to buy her a Roku TV.
Some Roku models have a headphone jack on the remote control, so you would not need to have a smartphone.