Can I pair *TWO* bluetooth headphones with *one* macbook

I don't believe you can have two bluetooth audio devices connected at the same time.

you can save them as a fav but I don't know if you can do two at the same time, give it a try

NAG said:

I don't believe you can have two bluetooth devices connected at the same time.

Click to expand...

I am able to pair a Wiimote and a Mighty Mouse at the same time so I don't see why pairing two headphones would be an issue. There system might only allow sound output to one device at a time though?

NAG said:

I don't believe you can have two bluetooth devices connected at the same time.

Click to expand...

Really? So you couldn't use a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse at the same time? I assume the wireless keyboards operate by bluetooth like the mighty mice...

Well if you were logical about it you might think I just dropped the word audio. Sorry that I did not meet your high posting standards.

Now that we're done arguing semantics, has anyone actually paired two headsets to a mac? I'm dubious of it since you can only have one audio output on a mac as far as I'm aware.

Feel free to find something irrelevant to harp on though.

You can pair as many bluetooth devices as you like but OSX only allows one audio output. So in a way no. You might be able to pair two sets of bluetooth headphones but sound will only come out of one.

Yeah, that is what I was thinking but I never actually tried it so I was thinking there might be an off chance it would be like putting a splitter on your stereo mini jack.

Peace said:

... OSX only allows one audio output. ...

Click to expand...

Does this mean if someone is routing their iTunes music via Airport Express to stereo speakers, that they can't have system sounds, such as new mail notifiers, play on their computer speakers? The system sounds would also go to the stereo?

NAG said:

Yeah, that is what I was thinking but I never actually tried it so I was thinking there might be an off chance it would be like putting a splitter on your stereo mini jack.

Click to expand...

If you had some kind of bluetooth splitter device connected then you could connect the headsets to the splitter device connected via bluetooth and probably get sound.

Seems a bit useless to me though. And too much hastle for what it's worth.

ggjstudios said:

Does this mean if someone is routing their iTunes music via Airport Express to stereo speakers, that they can't have system sounds, such as new mail notifiers, play on their computer speakers? The system sounds would also go to the stereo?

Click to expand...

when I said only one audio output I was referring to bluetooth technology.

Using multiple speakers in iTunes is actually streaming over a certain type of network protocol and has nothing to do with bluetooth networking.

Yeah, the airport extreme is actually streaming the music over your network, which is not considered an audio output.

The problem comes in the way the mac handles sound. For instance, if you open up your Sounds system preferences panel you can only select one output at a time for audio output (whether it be internal, external, bluetooth, etc).

And about the splitter, I wasn't suggesting some sort of weird bluetooth splitter, I was speculating that the bluetooth might just automatically act like a splitter if the computer just sends it to bluetooth in general rather than a specific device. It doesn't sound horribly likely but you never know.

Peace said:

Using multiple speakers in iTunes is actually streaming over a certain type of network protocol and has nothing to do with bluetooth networking.

Click to expand...

NAG said:

Yeah, the airport extreme is actually streaming the music over your network, which is not considered an audio output.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the answers!

As for the Bluetooth question, what happens if you try to connect two Bluetooth mice? Or is the one-output rule only for audio? It would be great if someone could test the Bluetooth headphones. I could see applications where that would be useful.

It isn't really a limitation with bluetooth that is the issue but the built in audio in macs.

NAG said:

Well if you were logical about it you might think I just dropped the word audio. Sorry that I did not meet your high posting standards.

Now that we're done arguing semantics, has anyone actually paired two headsets to a mac? I'm dubious of it since you can only have one audio output on a mac as far as I'm aware.

Feel free to find something irrelevant to harp on though.

Click to expand...

...

I wasn't being snarky, I was genuinely curious. I've only had my mac for just under a month, I'm still learning.

Good to know that people here are super friendly though... uh, yikes.

Sorry, I interpreted it as sarcasm. I tried to keep my edit somewhat humorous though. Anyway, good luck with the sarcasm in the second half of your post, unless that is a question too.

Haha, that part was most definitely sarcasm, but I'll take it back! Cheers

This probably isn't of much use to you but I have found on my G5 plugging wired headphones into the front headphone jack whilst using speakers plugged into the rear, sound is produced out of both outputs.

Going from this logic (not very strong logic), perhaps this means that two bluetooth audio devices could be used at once.

TheReef said:

This probably isn't of much use to you but I have found on my G5 plugging wired headphones into the front headphone jack whilst using speakers plugged into the rear, sound is produced out of both outputs.

Going from this logic (not very strong logic), perhaps this means that two bluetooth audio devices could be used at once.

Click to expand...

Yeah, thats what I was contemplating during this thread. If the computer sees each device individually, than no, if the computer just sees bluetooth than yeah, maybe.

You can do this in the Audio MIDI Setup built into recent editions of OSX:

1) Open up the Audio MIDI Setup application (located in the applications/utilities folder)
2) On the "audio devices" window that opens up you'll see a list of devices on the left and a little plus icon in the bottom left hand corner. Click the plus icon.
3) Click "Create multi-output device"
4) Add the different devices you need to this new device.

You're done, now you can send audio to this new device as if it were a single audio output.

You can change the name of the multi-output device if you want by double clicking on it.

You have to go into systems preferences and then select the output under 'sound'/'output', can also compensate for speakers being a bit out of synch by checking the 'drift correction' box in the audio midi set up window.

Tested and works with 2 bluetooth headsets (1 motorola and 1 Unotec WB Run)
source : http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...oth-speaker-and-headphone-jack-simultaneously

Thank you for the tip

I tried this setup with two Harman/Kardon Onyx Studio speakers, and it works, syncs the audio and even separates left and right channel to each speaker,

Note; to do this, both speakers need to be in bluetooth connected mode, and this is only possible with OS X Yosemite, ... Mavericks won't let you have the two connected at the same time, it will just switch back and forth disconnecting the other one.

my macbook pro is a 2008 unibody so the bluetooth chip in it is not up to the latest standards, If I do something that puts load on the CPU the audio gets out of sync and I start hearing echo, the Drift correction on the MIDI window seems to help but still they get out of sync easily, I pause the music for a second and the play to even up the issue

I assume this is not an issue with newer i5 and on Macs

I did some more research and the Avantree Priva bluetooth adapter supports dual stream, (as in two headsets or speakers), I ordered it but we'll see it it has echo issues, plus it won't do channel separation, still is a good solution to have an AUX input for these awesome speakers and play from an iPod

asheenlevrai said:

You can do this in the Audio MIDI Setup built into recent editions of OSX:

1) Open up the Audio MIDI Setup application (located in the applications/utilities folder)
2) On the "audio devices" window that opens up you'll see a list of devices on the left and a little plus icon in the bottom left hand corner. Click the plus icon.
3) Click "Create multi-output device"
4) Add the different devices you need to this new device.

You're done, now you can send audio to this new device as if it were a single audio output.

You can change the name of the multi-output device if you want by double clicking on it.

You have to go into systems preferences and then select the output under 'sound'/'output', can also compensate for speakers being a bit out of synch by checking the 'drift correction' box in the audio midi set up window.

Tested and works with 2 bluetooth headsets (1 motorola and 1 Unotec WB Run)
source : http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...oth-speaker-and-headphone-jack-simultaneously

Click to expand...

Napolitanus said:

Thank you for the tip

I tried this setup with two Harman/Kardon Onyx Studio speakers, and it works, syncs the audio and even separates left and right channel to each speaker,

Note; to do this, both speakers need to be in bluetooth connected mode, and this is only possible with OS X Yosemite, ... Mavericks won't let you have the two connected at the same time, it will just switch back and forth disconnecting the other one.

Click to expand...

Hi Napolitanus,
I'm working at a dance performance that should involve bluetooth speakers connected at the same time.
I was so glad to hear that you can pair two different bluetooth speakers at the same time in Yosemite. I'm now working in Mavericks but I'll test it later in the day with a Yosemite machine.

I'm in contact with AirCable customer support, and they told me they can't figure out how you can pair two speakers in Yosemite! Did you do some passages we are missing? Or it was just straightforward?

Your help is very much appreciated!
Thank you.

AIRPLAY ON THE GO OR SPLITTABLE BLUETOOTH ...SHARED EXPERIENCES / LIVE STREAM / 2+ HEADSETS

Sorry I do not have a reply but an Airplay-on-the-go or splittable bluetooth ON-THE-GO is truly necessary, in particular if they want to further fuel the QuantifiedSelf Fitness rev' they're pushing so much with fitness apps. Very often exercise, be it triathletes or a walk around the lake, need synchronized live audio streams, playlists, podcasts, etc. stuff not saved locally as mp3 but streamed LIVE.

I don't know why Apple has not implemented this yet, specially with Beats in their pocket. Easy to carry, not-too-expensive, shared-experience headsets and mostly iDevice capability is necessary, from work out to silent discos at colleges or community centers (trending).

I searched for the MyStreamApp but I am not sure if that will link with itunes Radio, Spotify playllists or radio, Stitcher, SoundCloud, MixCloud, Rhapsody, Rdio, Tidal, etc. and locally stored content does not connect directly to the app e.g. off-line folders for Stitcher or Spotify.

APPLE decision makers, please throw in solutions with next iOS!

SHARED EXPERIENCES ON-THE-GO / LIVE STREAMS OF MULTIPLE CONTENT SOURCES / NOT JUST LOCALLY STORED CONTENT.

Por favor! (assuming Apple insiders read this)

June 22, 2015

MondoTechnoir said:

(assuming Apple insiders read this)

Click to expand...

They don't.

asheenlevrai said:

You can do this in the Audio MIDI Setup built into recent editions of OSX:

1) Open up the Audio MIDI Setup application (located in the applications/utilities folder)
2) On the "audio devices" window that opens up you'll see a list of devices on the left and a little plus icon in the bottom left hand corner. Click the plus icon.
3) Click "Create multi-output device"
4) Add the different devices you need to this new device.

You're done, now you can send audio to this new device as if it were a single audio output.

You can change the name of the multi-output device if you want by double clicking on it.

You have to go into systems preferences and then select the output under 'sound'/'output', can also compensate for speakers being a bit out of synch by checking the 'drift correction' box in the audio midi set up window.

Tested and works with 2 bluetooth headsets (1 motorola and 1 Unotec WB Run)
source : http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...oth-speaker-and-headphone-jack-simultaneously

Click to expand...

I can Joyfully confirm that this works a treat. Bought two Identical sets of bluetooth headphones one for my partner, and using this method have connected both at the same time successfully on my iMac running El-CAPITAIN Regards

Mark