{"id":678,"date":"2021-11-30T07:42:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T07:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spinbad.com\/?p=678"},"modified":"2022-11-21T18:50:34","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T18:50:34","slug":"can-i-dj-with-bluetooth-headphones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spinbad.com\/can-i-dj-with-bluetooth-headphones\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I DJ With Bluetooth Headphones? (Answered!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why Is Going Wireless Considered The Cardinal Sin Of Mixing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wireless headphones seem like a no-brainer for DJ sets \u2014 you can get lost in the music, throw some shapes without worrying about yanking your lead out, and truly put on a great show. So why then are they not more popular across DJ communities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With people hooking them up to their phones and using them for general listening, we\u2019ve seen a huge spike in the popularity of Bluetooth headphones in other sectors of the music tech market, but they never really got a foothold in the DJ scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does this mean that you can\u2019t or shouldn\u2019t DJ with Bluetooth headphones? And, if so, why do DJ brands keep manufacturing them? All will be revealed below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Can<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Is It Possible To DJ With Bluetooth Headphones?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To answer this question as bluntly as possible\u2026 No, it is not normally possible to DJ with Bluetooth headphones, the reason being that DJ controllers typically don\u2019t feature any wireless transmitters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to be honest, even if our controllers did have Bluetooth transmitters, I, for one, would be sticking with my good old-fashioned wired headphones, and I\u2019d recommend that you do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why, <\/em>you ask? Well, the worry is that Bluetooth connections suffer from latency issues. For the uninitiated, latency simply refers to the time it takes a signal to reach one device from another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, latency is the time difference between us, say, scratching a jogwheel, and us hearing the scratching in our headphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wireless technology may be convenient in that we don\u2019t get tangled up in a spider\u2019s web of cables, but it\u2019s the cables that reduce latency, ensuring we hear everything we do, as we do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I Modify My DJ Controller To Receive Bluetooth?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you really wanted to give wireless DJing a go, it is possible, but you\u2019ll need something like this TP-Link Bluetooth Receiver<\/a>, a little gizmo that imbues your controller with wireless technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, and it\u2019s a very big but (no laughing anyone), you\u2019re still left with the latency issue, and being that there\u2019s a bridge device involved, the latency stands to be even worse than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Is It A Bad Idea To Try And DJ With Bluetooth Headphones?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve already spoken a lot about the latency problems of Bluetooth, and we\u2019ll dive deeper into that in just a sec, but another factor you may not have considered is the battery dependency of wireless headphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bluetooth And Battery Life<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now, I know that the big headphone brands out there are doing great things with their batteries. Hell, some will even last upwards of 30 hours if you tone down advanced features such as noise cancellation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, as great as that is, it really doesn\u2019t help the humble DJ out all that much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t speak for you, but I\u2019m just as likely to forget to charge a pair of Bluetooth headphones with a long battery life as I am a pair with a 3\u20136-hour battery life, which means they\u2019re just as likely to run out of juice midway through a set \u2014 a devastating and embarrassing blow! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this happens to you, well\u2026 good luck trying to book that venue again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll all be pleased to hear that that\u2019s my battery rant out of the way, but now I\u2019m going to double back and rage against Bluetooth latency one last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bluetooth Latency And The Death Of Rhythm<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The average audio latency you\u2019ll experience using Bluetooth headphones is 150ms. I know that considering there are 1000 of these little guys in every second, 150 doesn\u2019t seem all that significant, but it\u2019s enough to completely throw off your beat matching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say you\u2019re trying to beat match two songs at 120BPM, as that\u2019s a relatively common pace for floor-filling dance tunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n