Best wireless headphones for TV 2023
Avoid irritating your significant other/roommates with the best wireless headphones for TV use
Share this article...
WePC is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
We’re going to be looking for the best wireless headphones for TV usage today, and there are a lot of use cases for this as these days, a decent TV can be had for <$500, or you can spend up to tens of thousands of dollars for TVs that can exceed 100″ in diagonal width. The problem comes when you consider sound. Sound is where TVs have always lagged as they typically have backward-facing speakers, relying on the vibrations reverberating off the wall to get to the viewer. There are problems with this: The first is the assumption that you’re positioning the TV against a wall which isn’t always the case, and the second is that walls aren’t exactly an ideal acoustic material so you instantly lose some quality. Of course, the big companies could solve this, but they’d rather sell you a soundbar for another few hundred dollars wouldn’t they?
Soundbars for TV can perform very well, especially those paired with a separate subwoofer, then the next step is a 3 or 5 or 7.1 dedicated speaker system that will net you the best sound quality. But what if you live with other people? or have neighbors? If this is the case those fancy speakers will rarely get to properly stretch their legs, unless you care not for the ears of your fellow man. If you do, then a good set of wireless headphones for your TV might be what you need. These will provide great sound quality, without risking a fight with the spouse, roommate, or neighbor. Let’s take a look what the best options, and what you should be thinking about before hitting that ‘buy’ button.
- 03Best Wireless TV Headphones For Gaming
Things to consider when picking the best Wireless headphones for TV use
Unlike picking the best OLED TV, where it’s essentially a game of pure specifications, colors, and I/O options, headphones have far more subjectivity and some annoyingly nuanced considerations that must be thought about. Despite the essentially unsolvable issues surrounding subjectivity, we’ve done our best to cover what you’ll need to know regarding sound, connectivity, compatibility, and a few other areas of consideration.
Headphones for TV connectivity: Bluetooth, RF, or IR?
Those of you sued to the normal experience of buying wireless headphones might be surprised to discover that this category isn’t just pure Bluetooth, instead, there are three primary wireless connection protocols that each have their own advantages and drawbacks. We’ll start with Bluetooth, just for a bit of familiarity.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a wireless connection standard anyone with a modern cellphone will be familiar with. It’s convenient, relatively low-latency, and is the most widely supported wireless audio standard in the world. Almost every soundbar out there supports it and even some modern TVs like the LG C2 OLED support it natively, making it without a doubt the easiest wireless headphones solution out there, but there are downsides.
The first one is that Bluetooth has a fairly limited bandwidth, meaning that audio needs to be compressed as it’s sent, leading to a loss in quality. Additionally, Bluetooth can have some pretty noticeable latency, which can become even more noticeable if you have a large enough TV that necessitates being sat a fair distance away. Lastly, Bluetooth can be prone to interference or intrusion, so it’s not the best option if you’re particularly concerned about privacy.
RF (Radio frequency)
This one will be more familiar if you’re a user of a wireless gaming headset as it uses the same technology. the best gaming headsets usually utilize the 2.4GHz frequency of the radio spectrum, and RF wireless headphones for TV are no different, though they sometimes use 5GHz or another section of the wavelength to lessen the chances of interference as 2.4GHz is a pretty busy area of the spectrum these days.
The main benefit to RF headphones is the huge range they’re capable of, we’re talking anywhere up to around 330ft/100m. Of course, you’d have to live in a mansion or enjoy watching your TV from the comfort of a neighbor’s house, but the extra headroom is nice regardless. Additionally, the signal has no problems passing through walls either, so you’ll be able to continue listening during a trip to the fridge, or considering the range, a trip to the corner store.
The drawbacks come in the form of the obligatory base station as no TVs come with RF transmitters built-in, meaning that you’ll need space within cable-length to position it. These base stations typically connect directly to the RCA outputs of the TV or via a special splitter cable that combines them into a single 3.5mm jack. The base station then converts the signal to RF, then sends it to the headphones.
IR (Infrared)
It’s an older data transmission protocol sir, but it checks out. Yes indeed, the same technology used for sharing family guy episodes between phones during class in 2007 is still alive and kicking. What’s more, you’ve probably used it already today as it’s what allows your remote to control the TV.
Despite the nostalgia, infrared has a lot of fantastic benefits, and one huge drawback. The benefits start with the latency, or lack thereof, Given that infrared is non-visible light, it travels just as fast as visible light, so you get an instantaneous connection and transmission. Well not technically instantaneous, but given that light travels at ~300m meters per second, we’ll bet that you won’t notice a delay. Additionally, IR signals don’t interact with radio frequencies whatsoever, so there will be zero interference from other wireless devices.
The drawbacks come as a result of the inherent properties of light, specifically, its straight-line travel. You have to have a direct line of sight otherwise your connection will stop, so you’ll have to keep the remote handy for rapid pauses as there’s no chance of continued audio when going from room to room with IR.
Surround sound
Of course, true surround sound is impossible with headphones, but you can get pretty damned close thanks to today’s headphone dynamic driver technology. This means, if you make the right purchase decision, you can lose little cinematic immersion when it becomes too late in the night (or early in the morning) for the speaker to keep cranking.
Virtual surround sound has become more and more accessible over the last few years, meaning that unless you are very, very tightly constrained by your available budget, you’ll be able to get hold of some. All the best wireless headphones for TV usage should include this as the 3D soundscape of a movie, game, or TV show adds a lot to the viewing or playing experience. This means that we very, very strongly recommend that you get a pair with this capability as you’ll be inf or a far more immersive and enjoyable experience overall.
Comfort
We typically write about gaming-specific technology here at WePC, so we know how important long term comfort is, but it becomes far more vital when talking about the best headphones for tv use as online gaming matches don’t last nearly as long as a move or even an episode of TV, meaning that there are ample opportunities to take readjust them or take them off entirely.
The same cannot be said for TV use as it’s not unusual to watch a 2-hour+ movie in one sitting, so the comfort needs to be top tier for extended sessions. This means we’re looking for headphones with a lot of plushy, high-quality padding. Additionally, said padding needs to be upholstered in comfortable material that won’t cause irritation over long periods of use. This is less important on the headband as most people, the lucky ones, at least, have hair. The earcups are a different story as they directly press onto the area of your head surrounding the ears, meaning that you’ll feel it pretty quickly if it’s not up to scratch.
Battery life
This follows on from the comfort section as the extended periods of TV use necessitate a longer battery life, as trying to settle into a movie only to tether yourself to the base station 40 minutes later will no doubt put a downer on the overall experience. Luckily, increases in wireless communication protocol efficiency mean that generally speaking, battery life concerns are becoming a thing of the past, however, there are still some lemons out there, but you won’t find any on this page. Regardless, it’s something that must be considered when it comes to picking the best wireless headphones for TV usage.
The best wireless headphones for TV
With the considerations considered, we can start picking our picks, let’s take a look.
Sennheiser RS 195 Wireless headphone system
Battery Life
Up to 18 hours
Weight
340g/11.9oz
Connectivity
2.4-2.48GHz (Via included base station)
Frequency response
17-22,000 Hz
Driver diameter
Not published
- lightweight
- Very comfortable
- Adjustable balance between voice, music, general sound
- Attractive base station
- Very expensive
It’s not just us who are big fans of the RS 195 from Sennheiser, they frequently appear top of the charts when it comes to wireless headphones for dedicated TV usage, and for good reasons too.
First up is the supreme comfort levels, this is unsurprising given that Sennheiser has been around since 1945 so they’ve had enough trial and error time to refine their designs. The ear cups are padded with squishy material, covered in very soft faux leather that both helps with the seal around the ear, and keeps temperatures down too. This works well with the low weight to result in a headset perfectly capable of extended listening sessions.
Weirdly enough, it seems impossible to find the driver diameter, but given the size of the headphones and the fantastic audio quality, we feel confident that the driver lives in the normal range somewhere between 40mm-50mm, additionally, the ~18-hour battery life means that you’ll get more than enough running time out of it.
Sony WH-1000XM4 ANC Headphones
Battery Life
Up to 30 hours
Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5mm
Frequency response
20Hz – 20,000Hz
Driver diameter
40mm
- Best ANC in class
- Very comfortable
- Premium materials
- Very expensive
If you’ve already got a soundbar or other such dedicated sound system, chances are its the default audio output device for your TV already, this means that the most convenient way of adding a set of headphones to your setup is to have them run directly off the existing sound system, and these are usually Bluetooth-compatible, so we had to include a Bluetooth compatible pick here and we had no choice than to go with the current king of Bluetooth ANC headphones, the venerated Sony WH-1000XM4s.
You might be confused as to why we didn’t go for the newer XM5 series from Sony. Well, there’s been concerns over their battery life, and given the recent slight drop in price for the XM4s, they still present a superior value proposition.
Of course, it’s all about the audio quality here and we’ve had our work done for us in this regard as they’ve already received hundreds of industry awards for the surround sound, audio profile, sound isolation, and comfort. Comfort and surround sound are what we are interested in the most here as they are the two aspects here that truly make the difference for extended TV sessions.
Additionally, due to the aforementioned efficiency increases in Bluetooth, they manage a spicy 30 hours of battery life between charges. This is an unrealistic length of time for a TV binge, but it’s nice to have the extra headroom in case you forget to charge them here and there.
Razer Barracuda Pro wireless gaming headset
Connectivity
Bluetooth, 2.4Ghz
Driver diameter
50mm
Frequency response
20Hz–20kHz
Mic
Dual Integrated MEMS Beamforming, Noise-Cancelling
Weight
340g/0.75lbs
Compatibility
PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch
- Beamforming mics make for less of a gamer-centric design
- Dual-mode wireless connection
- Included carrying case
- Active noise cancellation
- Competitive gamers might find the mics unideal as they are less clear than the traditional boom style mic
We had to include a gaming pick here as, chances are, you use your TV for gaming in addition to traditional movie/TV consumption. IF this is the case, then the newly released Razer Barracuda Pro might be the solution you’re looking for as it boasts similar specs to the XM4s mentioned above, but with the added benefit of a dedicated 2.4GHz connection and dongle. This means you can switch from watching TV on the Bluetooth connection, then tap a single button to flip over to 2.4GHz for use with your PC or PS5, which is a huge ease of use benefit.
Though the audio isn’t nearly as good as the XM4s or RF 195’s, it’s still great, and the value opportunity of buying just one headset for general use and gaming is hard to argue with. This makes it super tempting if you aren’t concerned about audiophile levels of sound and just need a convenient, good-quality solution for both uses.
Additionally, it’s equipped with THX Spatial Audio so when viewing supported content on a supported TV or via a supported soundbar, you’ll be getting all the surround sound goodness to fully enjoy the content in question.
Related headphone and headset pages
- Best open-back headphones for gaming
- Best gaming headsets
- Best Gaming Earbuds
- Best Gaming Headset under $100
- Best Gaming Headset under $50
- Best Corsair gaming headset
- Best Razer headset
- SteelSeries Arctis Pro vs Arctis Nova Pro (wireless)
- Best Logitech gaming headsets
- Best Astro headset
Best wireless headphones for TV: Final word
Picking audio equipment is always a tricky task, you can’t merely rely on a spec sheet and even prices don’t scale with quality all the time. However, despite this, we’ve made our picks and covered Bluetooth and gaming too. Sennheiser won for their great base station and enduring comfort over even the longest periods of use, not to mention their 60+ year audio product heritage that of course helps them out.
The illustrious XM4s took the cake for Bluetooth as they have possibly the best ANC technology we’ve seen, and are definitely the best audiophile option, especially if you have a pre-existing Bluetooth-enabled soundbar, as setup will be near-instantaneous and just about as streamlined as is possible these days.
Being WePC, we had to look out for our gaming homies too, and the Razer Barracuda Pro is the perfect balancing act between gaming and general use. This is due to the dual wireless connectivity and integrated mics that provide a comprehensive audio experience regardless of the content in question.
