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There comes a time when you want to watch TV, but no one else in your house wants to be disturbed by the noise. You can choose to stop off watching each video in your YouTube Recommended feed, or you can grab a pair of headphones and watch in private.
Many companies, like Bose and Sonos, make headphones with special, proprietary connectivity for their soundbars, but you can connect any headphones to most streaming sticks via Bluetooth. Some TVs have native Bluetooth connectivity, although you’ll need to check your device settings; Older and budget TVs probably not.
Also: Roku TV vs. Fire Stick: Why I’m looking beyond streaming resolution when comparing the two
Connecting headphones directly to a TV or streaming stick is much more reliable than connecting to a soundbar. Solutions exist, but if you want your soundbar and headphones to play audio together, you’ll need to do some magic with an optical cable or A/V receiver.
However, if your goal is to watch a movie late at night without disturbing anyone or spending extra money on special headphones, here’s how you can do so with the equipment you already have.
How to Connect Headphones to Your Streaming Stick
HD Roku Streaming Stick (violet letters).
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
what you need: A pair of headphones or earbuds and a Roku, Google, Amazon Fire, or Apple TV streaming device.
Go to your streaming device’s Settings and find the Bluetooth devices category. Depending on your device, the language may vary. However, it’s usually under “Remotes and devices” or “Remotes and Bluetooth devices.”
You can usually connect headphones, earbuds, remotes, and gaming controllers to these streaming sticks as well.
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Before your streaming stick can connect to your headphones, you’ll need to make your headphones discoverable. You can usually put over-ear headphones into pairing mode by pressing and holding the headphone’s power button for at least five seconds. Typically, their status lights will glow blue or amber, or pulsate white to indicate that they have entered pairing mode.
Also: I connected a Bluetooth Auracast receiver to my TV, and it’s a worthwhile home audio upgrade
For earbuds, there’s usually a button on the back of the charging case. Press and hold that button, then check the case status light for a flashing or pulsating blue, amber, or white light to indicate pairing mode.
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Once your headphones or earbuds enter pairing mode, their product name should appear in the streaming stick’s list of available devices. Once you see your headphones, click on them to connect.
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In some cases, remotes that come with streaming sticks, such as Roku, may have 3.5mm headphone jacks, allowing you to connect wired.
While this may be less convenient, since you’re effectively tied to where your controller is (or need to have it close to you), it also produces the lowest latency, minimizing any delay between the audio you hear and the visuals you see.
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A warning to consider
These streaming sticks plug into your TV via HDMI, which uses a completely different method of encoding the audio, sending it to your connected soundbar or TV speakers. Although Roku, Google, Amazon Fire, and Apple TV 4K support Dolby Atmos, you need either a compatible TV or an audio device connected to your TV’s eARC port to encode audio in Dolby Atmos or other high-quality, spatial audio formats.
Therefore, your headphones will not deliver Dolby Atmos audio when connected to a streaming stick or TV via Bluetooth. Instead, you’re likely to receive audio over Bluetooth using the standard SBC codec, which is associated with higher latency, less stable connections, and poorer audio quality.
Also: Why ‘subwoofer crawl’ is the only way I found the bass sweet spot in my living room
Before the existence of the Sonos Ace, which connects to the Sonos soundbar via Wi-Fi (hence reducing connectivity and latency issues), I regularly connected my headphones to my Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and didn’t have many complaints.
If you’re a true audio buff, you’ll no doubt hear the difference between your Bluetooth-connected headphones and a carefully crafted home theater. But if you want to finish your movie peacefully at 3 in the morning, this trick saves your housemates money, time and frustration.
