[sceleratus]

Hello

My hearing has started to go and has been supplemented with a pretty good case of tinnitus. This makes is difficult to watch TV/Movies. esp with ambient noise. My audio is upstairs and I have the Audeze, but I can’t use them downstairs for media because all the A/V equipment is racked in a closet.



My solution was my wife’s AirPods and a blue tooth widget. I tried pairing with my Sony Bravia, FireTv 4K, AppleTv 4K, Marantz AV8001 (stupid). Good luck with that. Digging a little the AirPods have the W1 chip (you already know that) not the standard Bluetooth chip. It’ll work on some but it’s hit and miss. Some not at all. You will need to make a bunch of trips to the box and hold down buttons for several seconds. I tested four boxes with both the AirPods and Beats Solo3. Both have the W1 chip. Far and away the box that worked the best was box #4 the “WSIIROON” It’s not a W1 box but it has something the others don’t…. Bluetooth 5 I attribute this to pretty consistent quick pairing. #3 Avantree Oasis Didn’t work at all. #2 Leelbox Q2 This is just the wrong box. It’s for multi-media developers #1 Tao Tronics Kinda worked.



That said there are times the box #4 gets twisted, like two days ago. I was flipping and pressing all the usual expected buttons and switches. Nothing, why I flipped it to Rx mode I don’t know, but when I flipped it back. Bingo. Such is life with tiny boxes. When the WSIIROON came in I bought the Beats and put the AirPods on the shelf so I don’t have anything to report. I’d say it’s been 90% the connection distance is good. It passed the family room to kitchen test.



First post update. I have been a bit annoyed with the Beats Solo3. Just too tight on my fat head. Then as I described I’m making Apple talk to not Apple. Lastly the micro-USB charging cable is very very difficult to attach and I know pins will break down the road. To solve all 3 problems I returned them and ordered Bose QC-35 II

#4

#1

#3

#2

 

[SilverEars]

Interesting. I was looking for device that has more BT codecs than my TV (which I believe has SBC and basic AptX). The headphone i'm most interested in using with my TV is Sony WH-1000XM3 which is also a wireless ANC headphone.

These are the codecs the M3 supports: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC

So, I'm looking for something that can convert optical or hdmi audio to BT aptX HD or LDAC (I don't see this one existing). It's interesting one of the products above do support AptX LL and HD.

 

[sceleratus]

The WSIIROON is what you want SPDIF from the TV to the box BT to the headphone and naturally HDMI into the TV.

My feed to the TV is from a Marantz AV8801. I have 5 sources that can be switch to the TV They all work.

It doesn’t need to match the TV codec only the headphones. It’s a Transmitter

 

[sceleratus]

Update: The Bose QC35 II arrived yesterday. My expectations... Expectations WERE that it would pair. straight away. Same codec Right Right? One would think. Wrong snot face After 45 minutes of intense button pushing and switch switching. I Gave Up. It’s really cool that the Bose tells you what’s going on. It wasn’t quite sure what it was trying to connect to but it kept trying. At least the Beats Solo3 would eventually work. Chalk one up for the W1 chip. Hey what do I know.

Not giving up i hoped the QC35 BT was stronger than the Beats and I could link directly to my Apple TV 4K. TaDa! It just worked. That’s because the 4K is in a nearby closet. However it’s in a Middle Atlantic steel rack. I ordered a Wall mount for th 4K that should fix it. I need to fix the cable box and Chromecast (Which I don’t have a clue. How to use). FireTv is on Apple so I’m good.