Bluetooth audio delay?

[gadje]

I used bluetooth headphones before (Bose QC 35 II) and I did not notice a significant delay between video and audio.

yesterday I googled what I could do with that Amazon echo dot and I found out it does have bluetooth. I didn't open the new one, the 3rd generation 2018, maybe I'll give that to someone, but I did grab one that I had, Echo Dot (2nd Generation), turned on the BlueTooth and connected to my mac Mini (2012). I noticed the sound is better than from the internal speaker, but there is perhaps a 1/4-to-1/2 second delay. It's not obvious unless you pay attention the the lips. It bothers me.

I will try the headphones again to see if I notice the same thing. I am curious if it is normal to have a small delay, or this is something peculiar to the Dot, the Mini, or the combination of Dot and Mini.

Thanks for your thoughts.

P.S. the 4th generation also has 3.5 mm line IN and OUT. the previous generations have only OUT and i think the 3.5 mm was removed from the 5th (current) generation.

[gadje]

BTW, I still see the code on my page, but I cannot order again

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FZ8S74R/

[RAMd®d]

Currently, my most used Mac is a 2012 mini, and it's my opinion the 2012 mini's BT sucks, one reason possibly being it's 4.0.

Any latency in audio of a video is a problem for me.

A delay of .25-.5s is horrific.

The 2012 mini's BT version is 4.0, so I think using a higher version in headphones may help reduce the latency, but that's a guess.

At this point, any BT device I buy has to be BT 5.0 or higher.

The 2018 and 2020 minis have BT 5.0.

I don't know what version of BT is used in the Dot's, Gen 2 and 3.

If one is 5.0, I'd go with that, because I think that 5.x > 5.x would be better than 4.0 > anything else.

One site says the Gen 3 dot sounds much better than the 2nd, so you might compare the two and see if you perhaps don't need to BT a speaker to the Dot.



I did grab one that I had, Echo Dot (2nd Generation), turned on the BlueTooth and connected to my mac Mini (2012). I noticed the sound is better than from the internal speaker


If you're referring to the mini's internal speaker, it was not meant to be used to listen to audio.

It's just for alert sounds, such as the startup chime, and just about any speaker would be an improvement.

[Fritz]

most BT headphone, in-ears that I have tried do have some latency.
Nature of the beast.
Most people can spot >2 frames aka 66ms.

"Despite the number of developments in this field, the minimum latency reached in the modern-day Bluetooth headphones and earphones is still around 34 ms (aptX Low Latency). While this delay sounds very small, it is much higher than the delay that occurs in wired headphones (usually between 5-10 ms). For reference, an average Bluetooth earphone, AirPods, for example, experiences a latency of around 150 ms."

~5 frames aka 1/6 second

[gadje]

Is there a way to buffer the video and play it with a delay so that the video and audio are in sync?

How do people listed to Wireless Surround Sound, does it have the same delay? What about AirPlay over WiFi? they have whole house speaker systems where music plays in several rooms, it would be annoying to sear musing from 2 speakers with different delays.

I really don't know much about this topic.

[Fritz]

some TVs will allow you to delay the audio to the video.
and some receivers as well.
dunno about the echo dot.
If the surround is BT, yes. WiFi, dunno.
A client has a pant load of TVs and Sonos speakers. Them is WiFi and in sync near as I could tell.

[hal]

I don't use BT HPs for tv watching much, but I have noticed a few times a bit of latency. Sometimes pausing and restarting the video fixes it. I use VLC for most of my viewing - I can adjust audio timing if I really want to. Might have done that once or twice.

[RAMd®d]

I've never not known latency in BT when watching video, and it bugs me no end.

BT 5.0 was supposed to specifically address that, but I haven't put the kit together to check that out.

I have no idea of my threshold to detect it, but I've not ever noticed it with wired cans.

So for me, BT is only for audio, except for the occasional video podcast to which I'm only listening.

VLC will let one delay or advance an audio track, but it's too finicky for me to bother with.

And if one backs up or forwards the video, the 'sync' is lost.

As for WiFi / AirPlay type speakers, I assume with good throughput in one's network, the greater bandwidth reduces latency below the average threshold.

WiFi cans are rare, if they currently exist at all, though I'd consider the cost, if they were effective.

Wireless ear/headphones are really freeing, and a WiFi iteration might be suitable for critical listening as well as convenience.

[rich in distress]

AirPods work out latency issues with the host. Love’em.

[mikebw]

RAMd®d wrote:
One site says the Gen 3 dot sounds much better than the 2nd, so you might compare the two and see if you perhaps don't need to BT a speaker to the Dot.

FWIW I have both 2nd and 3rd gen echo dots, and the 3 is MUCH better than the 2. Still not super great quality compared to other larger speakers, but way better than the 2, no contest.