airpods 2 and other bluetooth 5 headphones: what about voice over latency

By Falco, 31 July, 2020

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hello,

Can someone tell me if there is a difference between the airpods 2 and other bluetooth 5 headphones when using voice over aspecially for the latency of voice over?

thanks
regards

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Comments

By Ishkabibble on Saturday, August 22, 2020 - 19:12

I have used both AirPods and other Bluetooth 5 earbuds with VoiceOver. Trust me, the difference is massive. The AirPods have close to no latency but other earbuds have about a third of a second latency which is torturous. Hope this helps.

By Yvonnezed on Saturday, August 22, 2020 - 19:12

I don't know. I'm using a set of the latest Aftershokz and find it pretty good. Not that I've used the latest Airpods for comparison.

In general I think Bluetooth 5 is a big improvement, but I don't know whether it depends on brand.

By Daniel Angus M… on Saturday, August 22, 2020 - 19:12

these are bluetooth 5 and well, not entirely, the W1 chip, which is amazing! a range of 30ft and no lag. they are $561.20 Canadian with AppleCare+ for $37.00. I used to think they were bass havvvey but a firmware update fix that! I was going to cell them, bu they're just so good. if anybody ones me to put a review on here, let me know!
regards,
Daniel

By PinkCupcake5 on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 19:12

Because of the Apple-specific chip, airpods or beats have less latency. Not just for voiceover, but generally the advantage of the Apple-specific chip is that it communicates with the device faster.

By a king in the north on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 19:12

In reply to by PinkCupcake5

This is not really an apple specific thing. Its simply that each headphone has its own individual bluetooth chip, unlike in the past. This does reduce latency, but not by much.

By a king in the north on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 19:12

Bluetooth 5, by itself, brings no improvements to bluetooth audio at all. Performance will heavily depend on the individual bluetooth implementation by the manufacture, with some being better than others. The technology to look out for in this space is really LE audio, a new bluetooth technology set to ship this year or the next.