Headphones AND sound system?

[nelson1457]

I’m a little hard of hearing, and I normally use closed captioning. When my girlfriend comes over and we want to watch Netflix, or something streamed from my Macbook, she doesn’t like the closed captioning. If I listen on headphones, it really helps me. But, of course, that cuts out the sound on the sound system, so she can’t hear anything.

Can anyone think of a way to get sound out of both the headphones and the sound system simultaneously?

My configuration is ATV3 to Sony sound system to LCD tv. I can do home sharing streaming from my Macbook Pro, iPad 2 or iPhone 6.

 

[Mackinjosh]

I’m a little hard of hearing, and I normally use closed captioning. When my girlfriend comes over and we want to watch Netflix, or something streamed from my Macbook, she doesn’t like the closed captioning. If I listen on headphones, it really helps me. But, of course, that cuts out the sound on the sound system, so she can’t hear anything.

Can anyone think of a way to get sound out of both the headphones and the sound system simultaneously?

My configuration is ATV3 to Sony sound system to LCD tv. I can do home sharing streaming from my Macbook Pro, iPad 2 or iPhone 6.

I use the optical out to feed my wireless headphones, which then forwards the sound via its own optical out to the stereo system.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If I'm not mistaken, TV outputs both optical and HDMI at the same time. So route both to your receiver and use headphones with Zone 2 (Both zone 1 via HDMI and zone 2 via optical or maybe an optical to analog converter would be sound sources).

Before you try that though, I'd do some experiments with that Sony to see if it will output to both from a single input source. Maybe you can make the HDMI or optical (or optical to analog converter) be the sole input sound source and then set both zone 1 and zone 2 to that source: speakers for zone 1 and headphones for zone 2.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I’m a little hard of hearing, and I normally use closed captioning. When my girlfriend comes over and we want to watch Netflix, or something streamed from my Macbook, she doesn’t like the closed captioning. If I listen on headphones, it really helps me. But, of course, that cuts out the sound on the sound system, so she can’t hear anything.

Can anyone think of a way to get sound out of both the headphones and the sound system simultaneously?

My configuration is ATV3 to Sony sound system to LCD tv. I can do home sharing streaming from my Macbook Pro, iPad 2 or iPhone 6.

The best solution may be to get some cordless headphones. It's plugging into a headphone jack that mutes the audio to the speakers. Feed the the headphone from either the output of the Sony or the TV itself (if it has one) - a direct out is best (one that isn't affected by the speaker volume control), so that you have totally independent control of speakers and headphones.

 

[Uofmtiger]

I just reviewed something called Vitasound TV (PAE-200) on Amazon that is made specifically for this situation. It has a base station that accepts analog, Coax, or digital optical from your TV and sends the signal to a handset that connects to headphones that they provide (or you can use you own). It has 4 different EQ settings that boost specific parts of the audio spectrum.

The set costs nearly $200, but with my TV, I was able to send audio from any source to the TV (I had the receiver send sound to the TV rather than my surround speakers) and it would send audio to the headphones and the TV's speakers. The range is 33 feet and works through walls and the handset comes with a neck strap so you can hang it around your neck as you move around the house.

 

[takeshi74]

(nm)

 

[takeshi74]

But, of course, that cuts out the sound on the sound system, so she can’t hear anything.

Not all sound systems do this so it's not necessarily a matter of "of course".

Some details on specific equipment and how, exactly they're connected would help. It sounds like you're probably running HDMI from the ATV to the sound system and then HDMI to the TV? What sort of connections do your headphones have? Can they be connected to the TV?

 

[Khalanad75]

I simply used y splitters coming from my TV to the sound system/headphones. If I wanted to use just the headphones, I would keep the speaker system turned off.