TechAudioHeadphonesThese new wireless headphones look perfect for musiciansThe best wireless headphones usually have a fatal flaw when it comes to making and mixing music – but not theseWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechAudioHeadphonesThese new wireless headphones look perfect for musiciansThe best wireless headphones usually have a fatal flaw when it comes to making and mixing music – but not theseWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
The best wireless headphones usually have a fatal flaw when it comes to making and mixing music – but not these
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: AIAIAI)
(Image credit: AIAIAI)
If you make music, you’ve probably bought thebest wireless headphonesyou can afford and tried to use them while recording or playing. And like me, you probably stopped pretty much straight away. As clever as headphones such asAirPods Pro,AirPods MaxandSony WH-1000XM4sare, they’re no good for music makers. And that’s because of a three-letter word: lag.
Lag is the delay between something happening and it reaching your ears, and over Bluetooth it can be significant. You’ll never notice it if you’re just listening to music rather than playing it too, and you probably won’t notice it in voice or video calls either. But when I put on a pair of the best wireless headphones, I can never get them to keep up with my playing – not because I’m some kind of mad shredder, but because Bluetooth simply isn’t fast enough. With latency of around 40ms on more modern headphones and 100ms or more on older kit, Bluetooth headphones are always slightly behind my fingers making it impossible to concentrate on what I’m doing.
AIAIAI Audio has the answer. It isn’t cheap – it’s $350 – and you have to built it yourself from the supplied parts because it’s a modular system. But the TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ headphones claim to be the very first wireless headphones for music creators, with a wireless connection that’s as close to zero latency as you could desire. When you play, there’s no delay.
(Image credit: AIAIAI)
(Image credit: AIAIAI)
Sound quality that other wireless headphones lack
Musicians and producers don’t just need low latency. They need high quality too: you want to be certain that you can hear absolutely everything in the mix so there are no alarms and no surprises when the music makes its way to people’s ears. And most wireless headphones simply aren’t good enough: the standard SBC codec in Bluetooth delivers about 256kbps in real-world use, aptX HD is 576kbps andSony’s LDAC is 990kbps. Those are all sub-CD bitrates: a CD is 1,411kbps.
The TMA-2 studio wireless headphones have thought of that, and their W+ Link delivers up to 1,500kbps. That’s interesting for non-musicians too, becauseApplehas previously discussed needing more bandwidth for higher resolution audio on itsAirPodsPro and AirPods Max and this is the most likely way they’ll do it. For now, though, the big-name wireless headphones aren’t delivering what the pro music makers need – and that means Aiaiai Audio pretty much has that market to itself.
Today’s best AIAIAI TMA-2 deals$135.95View$139View$164.88ViewShow More DealsWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best AIAIAI TMA-2 deals$135.95View$139View$164.88ViewShow More DealsWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best AIAIAI TMA-2 deals
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