A reader recently asked if he could continue to use his Bluetooth headphones after casting videos from his mobile device to his Google Chromecast streaming media player. I tried it out and discovered I couldn’t do it directly because as soon as I cast the video, the audio switched from my headphones to the TV.
I did some research and saw recommendations for some apps like LocalCast, but I tried installing it and haven’t yet figured out how to make it work. But then I discovered that as long as your TV has an Audio Out port, you can get an accessory to send the audio back to your wireless headpones.
I got this TaoTronics Bluetooth Transmitter to test it out and it worked easily and perfectly.
Note: Your Bluetooth headphones must support the A2DP Bluetooth technology. I have no idea what that means, but that’s what the little booklet that comes with the device says. If your headphones don’t support it, there may be other transmitters that you can use.
How to use the Bluetooth transmitter
All you need to do is plug the audio jack into your TV’s headphones or other Audio Out port. If your TV doesn’t have a single port, the device comes with an adapter for dual output ports. It also has a USB charging cable that you plug into the transmitter and then into a USB adapter (not included) to plug into the wall. I tried plugging it into a USB port on my TV but it didn’t seem to provide power to it.
Once it’s set up, you simply press the button on the transmitter until the light starts flashing blue and red, which means it’s in pairing mode. Then you follow the instructions for pairing your Bluetooth headphones to other devices and voila! You can now cast anything to your TV and listen to the audio through your headphones.
Note: If I no longer want to listen through my headphones, I need to unplug the transmitter from my TV. Simply turning it off doesn’t work. I’m not sure if this is a function of my TV specifically or whether it applies to all TVs.
Do you have another solution for listening to your Chromecast content through wireless headphones? If so, please share it in the comments.
You may also be interested in:
Google Chromecast: What Is It and How Does It Work?
Can You Cast Netflix from a Kindle Fire Tablet to a Google Chromecast?