The Best Wireless TV Headphones of 2024
There are few feelings more delicious than cozying up under a blanket to watch TV after a long day—for a couple of precious hours, surrendering all of your worries to excellent storytelling, beautiful cinematics, or a cadre of Botoxed rich people fighting dramatically over a wedding dress. But if your schedule doesn’t line up with those of other household members—say, an early-rising partner or a sleeping baby—your craving to unwind can be overridden by their need to get some shuteye.
Fear not: There is a solution that can bring some peace. Wireless TV headphones allow you to enjoy TV shows, movies, and video games without disturbing people around you.
If you already own Bluetooth headphones, you may have an easier, better-sounding way to accomplish the same task. But if you’re looking for a complete package that includes headphones and a wireless transmitter, we recommend either the Insignia NS-HAWHP2 or the Avantree Quartet, depending on how many headphone sets you need.
Top pick
These over-ear headphones are comfortable, with no audio lag and solid sound. The transmitter doubles as a charging base, but the system supports only a single pair of headphones.
The Insignia NS-HAWHP2 system is easy to use, sounds good, and delivers a comfortable fit so you can enjoy marathon binge-watching and gaming sessions. The package includes a single pair of headphones and a wireless transmitter that doubles as a docking station for storing and charging the headphones when you aren’t using them. Insignia promises 10 hours of battery life, but we got more than 11 hours on a charge, so you could easily binge an entire eight-episode season of Stranger Things in one sitting.
The NS-HAWHP2 uses radio frequency (RF) transmission, and we didn’t notice significant lag between the audio and video, which can be a problem for Bluetooth-based systems. These headphones delivered the most consistent, balanced sound in our latest round of tests, and they’re also lighter and more comfortable than many competitors. The downside is that the system comes with only one pair of headphones, and you can’t add more.
Top pick
This cost-effective bundle includes a transmitter and four sets of headphones, with the ability to add many more. The system is easy to set up, but the headphones don’t sound as good or fit as well as our Insignia pick.
If you’d like to be able to use multiple headphone pairs simultaneously, we recommend the Avantree Quartet. This RF-based system includes the transmitter and four pairs of headphones, with the ability to add up to 100 headphones total. The transmitter includes all of the cables required for most TV systems, and it provides an optional speaker bypass so you can play audio through the headphones and a sound system at the same time. We didn’t experience significant lag between audio and video, whether we were gaming or watching a movie.
The headphones are lightweight, and each pair has volume controls, a mute button, and two EQ settings to fine-tune the sound. In our tests, we found that these headphones lacked the clarity and balance of the Insignia set, and the headband design may require some fussing to get a proper fit. Avantree claims 20 hours of battery life, though at moderate volumes, we were able to eke out a few more. Charging is via a standard USB-C cable, so you don’t have multiple bulky docks or specialized cables taking up space.
If you don’t need four sets of headphones, you can purchase the transmitter and headphones individually—but the bundle is the better deal.
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