AirPods + Mac Mini for Zoom Meetings?

[getrealbro]

My wife and I are currently using an audio jack extension/splitter and two pair of EarPods when we are both attending the same Zoom meeting/presentation. The wires are a hassle. If we bought a single pair of AirPods, could we share them (i.e. 1 pod each) and still have both of us able to both hear and speak in a Zoom meeting?

FWIW I searched and couldn’t find an answer to this specific use case.

Thanks in Advance — GetRealBro

 

[Venderious]

I believe there is a microphone in each of the AirPods, but only one of each is on when speaking (it switches between them). But if you are sitting close to each other, that wouldn’t be a problem.

 

[zhenya]

The mic will be a problem. Only one mic will be active and the person without it will be very difficult to hear. My wife and I have tried this on our phones before.

 

[getrealbro]

Thanks for the replies.

I was concerned about the microphones. It would be really nice to be able to quickly switch which mic is active e.g. by taping the AirPod. or something similar

FWIW We have several iPhones and Macs but…we live in the country and our WISP’s fastest internet plan only provides 4Mb/s (yes bits). That barely supports one Zoom connection. So during Zoom meetings we share a screen, speakers and microphone. The screen is no problem — my 2018 Mini has two monitors. The audio jack splitter & EarPods lets both of us listen and speak. But we are getting annoyed with being tethered to the Mini.

Is there any other solution for two people using the same Mac with Zoom?

GetRealBro

 

[zhenya]

4Mb should be enough for 2 zoom sessions. We have 400Mb and 5 people working/playing at home. There are times when we have 5 calls going and it’s only 8-10Mb sustained use.

Zoom‘s own documentation confirms this. 1Mb per group stream should work fine. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-requirements-for-Windows-macOS-and-Linux

 

[getrealbro]

4Mb should be enough for 2 zoom sessions. We have 400Mb and 5 people working/playing at home. There are times when we have 5 calls going and it’s only 8-10Mb sustained use.

Zoom‘s own documentation confirms this. 1Mb per group stream should work fine. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-requirements-for-Windows-macOS-and-Linux

Thanks for the Zoom bandwidth requirement link and your experience.

We may try to run 2 Zoom streams. But that doesn’t really fix the issue of wanting to sit together during a Zoom group meeting with both of us able to hear and speak during the meeting without wires tethering us to the computer.

Thanks Again - GetRealBro

 

[Sharewaredemon]

You might be able to get it to work using an aggregate device and more than one set of headphones.

Create an Aggregate Device to combine multiple audio devices - Apple Support

With an Aggregate Device, you can use audio inputs and outputs from different devices at the same time with Logic Pro, GarageBand, MainStage, and most other Core Audio-compliant applications.

support.apple.com

 

[getrealbro]

You might be able to get it to work using an aggregate device and more than one set of headphones.

Create an Aggregate Device to combine multiple audio devices - Apple Support

With an Aggregate Device, you can use audio inputs and outputs from different devices at the same time with Logic Pro, GarageBand, MainStage, and most other Core Audio-compliant applications.

support.apple.com

Thanks for the link. It got me thinking that I may have been over thinking the problem.

Maybe all I need to do is tell Zoom to use the AirPods as the Speaker and use a USB mic as the Microphone. Not ideal, but it may work OK and get rid of the wires.

GetRealBro

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Thanks for the link. It got me thinking that I may have been over thinking the problem.

Maybe all I need to do is tell Zoom to use the AirPods as the Speaker and use a USB mic as the Microphone. Not ideal, but it may work OK and get rid of the wires.

GetRealBro

I think that would be a much easier solution!

 

[getrealbro]

To follow up…
Using a single pair of AirPods shared by two people plus a USB mic does work for Zoom meetings on our 2018 Mini. Note: The system Sound preference allows you to control the input and output devices separately.

FWIW we discovered that a 2nd pair of AirPods doesn’t help much, since even the latest macOS Big Sur doesn’t support Audio Sharing on our 2018 Mini But iPadOS 14 on our iPad Air 4 does. More on that in another thread.

GetRealBro

 

[cdcastillo]

... even the latest macOS Big Sur doesn’t support Audio Sharing on our 2018 Mini...

Have you tried creating a double output midi device in sounds preference? It is not "on by default". Macrumors has a guide to "split" the audio out to 2 devices.

 

[getrealbro]

Thanks for the suggestion. I did look into Midi. But getting the the Mini to deal with two sets of AirPods for sound out isn’t the key issue. Two people sharing a single set of AirPods for audio out works quite well for Zoom, since the audio is mono anyway. The key issue is how to use 1 or 2 sets of AirPods as the microphone(s) for two people.

FWIW I find AirFoil works quite well for playing audio in sync to a wide range of devices.

GetRealBro