[ltp] Re: Best Wireless Headphone with Thinkpad and Linux?

[John Sullivan]

Jiang Qian <qian2@fas.harvard.edu> writes:

> Hi all:
>
> I'm thinking about getting a wireless headphone to use with my laptop.  
> Since I use wifi it should not use 2.4Ghz frequency(bluetooth is fine, I 
> assume), and it should be reasonably easy to carry and not too prone to 
> breaking. And of course I run linux on my T43, so compatibility with 
> linux is crucial.

Ugh, good luck. I've given up on bluetooth stereo audio.

You have to have a transmitter that is capable of a2dp in order to get stereo
audio. The ALSA project mentioned earlier in the thread kind of works, but is
still not convenient or reliable to use.

So, the problem is that the companies are selling these transmitters only in
proprietary pairs. I have the IOGEAR one, and it's terrible. The signal does
not reach from my office desk to my kitchen sink, which is < 30ft through an
open doorway. The headphones are horribly uncomfortable. The transmitter does
not transmit stereo when plugged directly into the X40 headphone jack -- I have
to plug it into a small extension cord they provide, and plug the cord into the
jack.

I've actually written to the Bluetooth SIG about this next part. The
transmitters (I've tried Logitech and IOGEAR) won't show up on any bluetooth
scan. So you can't use a different pair of bluetooth headphones with them. I
guess if you got bored you could try and brute-force guess the bluetooth ID of
the transmitter, but who knows -- they might be using an actually passcode for
pairing on top of that.

I still use the IOGEAR pair occasionally, but I would never buy them again.

-- 
-John Sullivan
-http://www.wjsullivan.net
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