How to Output Your Mac's Audio to Two Pairs of Headphones at the Same Time

[Markoth]

Are you sure about this? I flew on several different European airlines across Europe about a month ago, and was using Bluetooth headphones without any comment from the flight crew. There were lots of people using Bluetooth devices on all of the planes I flew on.

Beware of the "everyone does it, so it must be okay" sort of reasoning. "Everyone" used to do all sorts of things that I'm sure you wouldn't do, at various points throughout history. Even today, there are many things that most people do, that you probably shouldn't do, such as stuff your face with food that's bad for you. You happen to be right, but it certainly isn't because everyone was doing it.

 

[Mac 128]

How many Apple branded headphones are there? To my knowledge, none are the size of the Bose model I use.

You are shifting your argument from a policy regarding functionality, to a marketing strategy. They are not the same thing. Whether or not Apple introduces headphones with this functionality, or even if Apple chooses to get out of the headphone business, like they did with displays, still an appropriate response is not to remove this functionality from headphones that can deliver it.

Apple makes Beats, plenty of which are the size of Bose models. I’m not shifting anything. The iPhone needed the space. They should have had replacement technology ready to go when they decided they needed to remove it. Wires on a mobile device are kind of pointless. Apple is doing the right thing.

 

[loybond]

Thanks for sharing that! I wonder if there's any way to make that setup work with the second pair of headphones being non-Bose. I have a pair of QC35s and also Sony MDR-X1000M2. Would love to do both wirelessly with one iPad.

It's worth noting that the newer Bose bluetooth headphones with the newest firmware can do this with any bluetooth source (including iOS devices). You can use the Bose app to temporarily link two of their bluetooth headphones together. For example, the audio goes from your iPad to the first set of headphones, and then those headphones transmit it to the second set of headphones. There is no lag between the headphones, and the audio stays in sync with the video you're watching.

I just did this a few weeks ago with my wife, and it was surprisingly great. The only downside was that the headphone batteries seemed to drain a little faster than normal, but I can't be sure about that.

 

[RobNYC]

What I would love is if you could stream from your mac to a blue tooth speaker AND airplay to another stereo at the same time. I use airplay to listen to music through my receiver at home but I wanted the option to take a blue tooth speaker outside while having the audio streaming to both those sources at the same time. So far that doesn't seem doable.

 

[GGJstudios]

Apple makes Beats, plenty of which are the size of Bose models. I’m not shifting anything. The iPhone needed the space. They should have had replacement technology ready to go when they decided they needed to remove it. Wires on a mobile device are kind of pointless. Apple is doing the right thing.

Apple doesn't make Beats. Beats Electronics makes Beats. Apple simply acquired them. The point remains that Bose headphones provide a functionality that many other headphones, including Apple's, don't. It would be irresponsible and anti-customer for Apple to hinder that functionality simply because they don't offer a product with similar features, as you suggested they do. Whether or not Apple did or will offer such a product is completely irrelevant.

 

[Schnegg]

This is a really great tip. Thank you very much!

 

[Mac 128]

Apple doesn't make Beats. Beats Electronics makes Beats. Apple simply acquired them. The point remains that Bose headphones provide a functionality that many other headphones, including Apple's, don't. It would be irresponsible and anti-customer for Apple to hinder that functionality simply because they don't offer a product with similar features, as you suggested they do. Whether or not Apple did or will offer such a product is completely irrelevant.

If you believe Apple has nothing to do with Beats ... well there's not much point in continuing the debate. Further, it wouldn't be the first time a developer discovered a way to add functionality to an Apple product that Apple did not intend, and Apple then limited access to that functionality. Finally, it was sort of a joke if you knew this about Apple. Good day to you sir!

 

[GGJstudios]

If you believe Apple has nothing to do with Beats ... well there's not much point in continuing the debate.

I didn't say that Apple "has nothing to do with Beats". I said "Apple doesn't make Beats". There's a material difference. Beats headphones were being manufactured by Beats Electronics before Apple acquired them.

Further, it wouldn't be the first time a developer discovered a way to add functionality to an Apple product that Apple did not intend, and Apple then limited access to that functionality. Finally, it was sort of a joke if you knew this about Apple. Good day to you sir!

The functionality isn't in an Apple product; it's in the Bose headphones. It's not a "hack" that alters the intended functionality of Apple hardware or software and there is no risk to the security or functionality of Apple products, so Apple has no reason to interfere with this capability. If now you are claiming that your suggestion was a joke, why didn't you state that at the beginning, rather than try to argue the merits of your suggestion?

 

[NorCalLights]

Thanks for sharing that! I wonder if there's any way to make that setup work with the second pair of headphones being non-Bose. I have a pair of QC35s and also Sony MDR-X1000M2. Would love to do both wirelessly with one iPad.

Unfortunately the Bose app only works with two pairs of Bose headphones, and only with specific models at that. I can confirm that my QC35 IIs and my wife's Soundlink II headphones work together, and I know that the original QC35s are supported, but I don't know if there's a full list anywhere. You have to use the Bose app to make the link between the two headphones, which is why it only works with Bose devices. The feature is called "Bose Music Share" if you want to search around for it.

Good luck!

 

[RecentlyConverted]

It's worth noting that the newer Bose bluetooth headphones with the newest firmware can do this with any bluetooth source (including iOS devices). You can use the Bose app to temporarily link two of their bluetooth headphones together. For example, the audio goes from your iPad to the first set of headphones, and then those headphones transmit it to the second set of headphones. There is no lag between the headphones, and the audio stays in sync with the video you're watching.

I just did this a few weeks ago with my wife, and it was surprisingly great. The only downside was that the headphone batteries seemed to drain a little faster than normal, but I can't be sure about that.

Edit - I misunderstood.

Anyway, on doing research, I see JBL have BT headphones with their ShareMe technology that will allow two pairs of BT headphones to listen to one source (seems second pair don’t need to be JBL) -

 

[yum.yab]

Could Audio Midi Setup also be used to route two different apps to two different outputs? For example, could I play a game on my mac and have the audio coming through my macbook speakers whilst playing music on my mac and having it sent to my bluetooth receiver plugged in to my stereo? That would be perfect.

 

[RogerDeJonge]

would love to have the same feature in iOS devices..

Yes hands down.
Although you can share your output to multiple Apple/Beats headphones, it would be great if we can also share with non-apple product. I just bought a Woojer and with the above method I can use the Woojer together with my AirPods pro on my MacBook Pro but not with my iPhone XS.