Jun 16th 2025
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show
00:01 - Scott Wilkinson (Host)
In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I answer a question from Anne Duren, who's shopping for a TV and at the top of her list is headphones Stick around.
00:15 - Leo Laporte (Announcement)
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00:30 - Scott Wilkinson (Host)
Hey, home theater geek fans, I'm here to let you know that I'm going to do a special show on Wednesday, june 25th, right after Intelligent Machines. So if you're in the chat room for that show, stick around, because I'm going to be answering questions live from the chat room All home theater related, of course, nothing else. But if you got a home theater question for me and you're in the chat room, that's the time to ask it, because I'll be watching the chat room and answering those questions as best I can. So I hope you'll join us. Hey there, scott Wilkinson. Here, the Home Theater Geek.
01:11
In this episode I answer a question from Anne Duren, who writes we're starting to look at new TVs and when making a priority list, I find headphones at the top. I'm tired of hearing football games in every corner of our small house, so the TV must connect wirelessly to some kind of headphone Ideally Apple headphones, but not crucial. What do you recommend? Immersive sound is fine for a movie we watch together, but not for football. We likely will buy, per your recommendation, a 48 inch Samsung OLED or the 55 inch Sony A95L. Well, thanks, ann, for writing.
01:58
Headphones are an important part of my house as well, but I'll start with your second question. First, which TV to buy? I have the Sony 77-inch A95L and I love it. I prefer it to the Samsung only because Samsung as a company does not support Dolby Vision high dynamic range which is common in the streaming world and Sony does Otherwise. They're both great sets. There's nothing wrong with the Samsung in terms of performance, but it doesn't support Dolby Vision, so that's why I prefer the Sony. In fact, you can see well, here's the webpage for the 55-inch A95L, which is the one that I would recommend. I have the larger one and it just looks beautiful. It's gorgeous, uses QD, oled, and that's a superior technology in my book.
03:08
Okay, now on to your question about headphones. Most modern TVs can connect with Bluetooth headphones, and most headphones have Bluetooth capabilities as well Not the audiophile ones which connect with a cable or a wire, but most well certainly all wireless headphones use Bluetooth these days modern ones, and I use this feature all the time. I imagine that Apple headphones would work perfectly well as any other, as long as they have Bluetooth capability. I looked on Apple's website at their headphones and they include earbud designs, including the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4, which can be gotten with and without active noise cancellation, and the over-the-ear AirPods Max, as well as a wide variety of Beats models, both earbuds and over-the-air. Now the AirPod Pro 2 and AirPod 4 are all under $200. The Max, the AirPod Max, is $549, so that's quite a bit more expensive. On the other hand, I have to say I generally prefer over-ear models, especially for home use.
04:40
Earbuds need to have the right ear tips for your ears to seal the ear canal, and most earbuds come with small, medium and large at least ear tips and you can put on the ones that seal your ears the best. But you have to go through that process and find the ones that work best for you and they can become physically irritating after a few hours, whereas over the years don't. Now over the year headphones are bigger, bulkier, more obvious, but at home who cares? All the Apple brands that I could see have Bluetooth capabilities and all the Beats models do as well. Anything that says true wireless will have Bluetooth capabilities.
05:23
Now in my house I use the Sony WH-1000XM3 over-the-year noise-canceling headphones. They're somewhat older. That model line is now up to XM6, which sells for $450. The XM5 is still on sale for $300. And they make many. Sony makes many other headphones and earbuds and they're generally very high quality. I really like Sony headphones quite a bit. They're used in professional studios all the time and they all use Bluetooth at least the wireless ones do. So that should be easy. They should match up. In fact my Sonys match up with my Sony TV just fine, with a little caveat that I'll tell you about.
06:20
At first they often connected completely automatically, but sometimes they didn't, and that was a little frustrating and it was probably due to the fact that the surround processor I was using at the time was not connected by HDMI. It was an older one, just temporary. Now that I have the final processor in the system, everything is HDMI. That particular processor does not send Bluetooth. It accepts Bluetooth from a phone or a tablet or some device. If you want to play music from your phone through that processor into the system, you can do it, but it doesn't send Bluetooth to headphones.
07:06
So I have to do it through the TV and there's a slight bit of a process involved, and here's what it is. You turn on the headphones, they pair and connect automatically. Once you've paired them with the TV in the first place, they connect automatically, but you have to go into the menu and switch from audio system to TV speakers. Once you do that, the audio is going to the headphones because they've been connected. When you're done with the headphones, you turn them off and you need to go back into the menu and go back to the audio system. It's a little bit of a process. I don't mind it that much and if it keeps peace in the house, as you're wanting to do and as it does in my house as well, then well worth the few seconds it takes to do that.
08:06
Now, this process is not documented anywhere that I can find in the Sony manual or anywhere else, so maybe that's an important service I'm providing here for anybody who wants to do it with that Sony TV, which I do recommend, the TV itself. And if you're going to use headphones, ok, so you do this little process, it's fine. No-transcript, it's fine. Anyway, thanks for writing in. If you have a question for me, please send it along to htg at twittv and I'll answer as many as I can right here on the show. And, as you know, all Twitch shows, including Home Theater Geeks, are available on YouTube for free, but they have ads. No-transcript. Go to twittv, slash club, twit and join up and you'll be able to see all the Twitch shows commercial free until next time.
09:06 - Leo Laporte (Announcement)
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09:47
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Jun 19 2025 - Headphones with TV
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