Is wireless mature enough?

Devrij

Devrij

Devrij

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I'm getting sick of all the wires on my desk, and so I'm considering moving to a wireless headset (don't want to add wires for a desk mic). I have a pair of Bluetooth Sony headphones for just music, and wireless audio quality is fine to my luddite ears, so I'm mostly concerned about latency and battery life and whether I'm adding more faff rather than removing it by getting ride of the wires.

I was looking at the corsair virtuoso SE due to the decent build quality and mic (headset mics are usually crap so this appealed as I'd use it for work calls a lot).

Looking at sub £200 ideally.

What you guys think?
 
I'd say it will depend what you are transmitting the audio with to understand if it will benefit you. For low latency high quality audio you will need both the transmitter and the receiver to support the same codec.

What's the Bluetooth version and/or hardware so you can see what the best it can support is? :-)
 
The sony headphones I have support APTX HD, but I don't really want to use them as they are more my "out and about" headphones, and I would be concerned about the latency with bluetooth for gaming.

What I mean is that I want a decent wireless headset but want to know what they are like to live with
 
The headphones themselves aren't the relevant part, the device you are connecting them to has to also support APTX HD or equivalent or it won't use the codec and they'll be rubbish regardless of how high quality the headphones are.

You need to see what is transmitting the audio and what Bluetooth standard it has before you can know if connecting anything will be decent. Or you'll have to buy a Bluetooth transmitter with better codecs and quality to get the most out of it.
 
AptX hd won't cut it for gaming. You need apt x adaptive or aptx LL.

Bear in mind to reduce the latency, range and quality takes a hit.

There's a reason why xbox and pS use WiFi for official headsets.
 
@kona786 has hit the mark on the head there - if you're doing any gaming then you need aptx-ll or adaptive or the latency will be horrible. They're a good shout even for video.

You're pretty much guaranteed terrible results if you connect them to your computer's Bluetooth, so you'll need an audio dongle. I'm not aware of any Bluetooth transmitter that supports aptx adaptive yet. The Creative BT-W3 supports aptx ll and aptx hd, so it would be a reasonable option.

In terms of good headphones that support atx ll and aptx, I'd look at the Shure Aonic 50, Beoplay H9 and the Momentum 3. The Amiron Wireless is definitely with a look (but isn't cheap) - I have the wired version and love it. You should be able to get a good deal on the Sony wh100xm3 now (might need a bit of Googling to track one down), it's very capable but just don't be tempted get the xm4 as the codec support is rubbish.
 
Thanks gents. I'm mostly looking at the wireless gaming headsets like the corsair virtuoso which uses WiFi not Bluetooth (although the new version can do either) and my main query was whether they are livable or not in terms of battery life, connection stability etc. Like I want to get rid of my headphone cord, but not if it's going to be more hassle going wireless than just having a cable over my desk
 
In terms of connection stability, it's absolutely fine in a home setting. I've been using a wireless Jabra headset for work and haven't had any issues.

Audio quality is dictated by the headset and the codec, and is a bit of balancing act. If you're listening to music, you'll want aptx hd or ldac, but you'll want aptx ll for gaming and video to minimise lag. Even so, you won't get the same experience as wired.

Gaming headsets are generally something I'd avoid unless it's your sole reason for using one. It'll be fine for online gaming, but it's not something I'd consider for anything remotely serious.
 
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