Heya! I’m thinking about purchasing wireless noise-canceling earplugs (e.g. the Sony WF-1000XM4 or Apple AirPods Pro), mostly for listening to music on the go. But I was also wondering whether there are any issues (aside from the latency one) when it comes to making music on the go with these headphones? I assume it’s generally possible to configure Ableton Live to use those Bluetooth headphones instead of the internal audio card? And there’s most probably a quite high latency, but I would probably be fine with that (at least in most mobile music production situations where I would just use the internal audio card of the MacBook Pro). Anyway, would love to hear experiences from people who did this!
Edit: I’m currently using Audio-Technica ATH-M50 X (mostly at home) and Shure SE-215 (mostly on the go). So especially with regards to the Shure earplugs I’m probably quite used to not having a super neutral listening experience already.
I have WH-1000XM3’s which I’ve used in public or hotels. The main caveat I found is that I lose a lot of detail in mid-high frequencies. So I wouldn’t rely on them over a good pair of monitors/reference headphones and do anything too serious… but using them as a tool in a hotel/public space to get ideas down is definitely better than not having anything.
You should look and see if there’s an AutoEQ patch for them. Might be able to even out the response curve to something much more usable!
Interesting to hear about the mid-high frequencies. But I guess it makes sense that they’re not very neutral, considering they’re made for hifi listening and not producing/mixing music. I’m currently using the Shure SE215 which are also rather made for monitoring and hifi needs. So, I probably won’t have a huge issue with the earplugs not being super neutral.
They’re not only not neutral, but actively interfering with the signal (as long as they do active noise cancelling of course). But yeah, better than nothing still.
I LOVE the idea of wireless. But I haven’t been able to get to to work reliably. To me the latency was absolutely too much. I suppose if you never play anything but use a piano roll or sequencer instead it might work.
The latency is miserable!!! Unfortunately I don’t think wireless is worth the convenience is this case
Hi had to work on some recordings while a building was build from ground up next to my office. This included driving huge metal planks into the ground. If I hadn‘t had my headphones (Bose QuietComfort 35 II) I wouldn‘t have been able to do my job.
So I would say, if it adds value/comfort to your routine, yes! If it‘s more a question of I‘d like to try because I can, do some testing first. I can only support what already was mentioned about latency and a neutral frequency band, which is hard to find with wireless. Read some reviews and (if possible) do some test listening in a store with your best known/favorite songs, to get a feeling for it.
In the end, you will adapt and know the strengths and weaknesses of your gear.
Ah, that’s great to hear! Thanks a lot for the information and tips. :)
Also using the qc35II and had the same thing, building going up across the street and needed to get work done, i’d wear them through the day then in the evenings do some mixing on the monitors to balance stuff out.
One thing you need to be aware of is the sample rate and codecs your wireless headphones use. Different DAWs handle this differently and it can be a massive headache if it doesn’t get handled well.
I haven’t tested with Ableton but both Logic and Studio One have their quirks when using Airpod Pros e.g. having to go into settings and re-select the headphones as the main output every time I take one earphone out using airpods.
Headphones that aren’t “true wireless” i.e. have a physical cable connecting L&R might be be less fiddly but I have no experience with those.
So I often make music with Bluetooth headphones cause I’m lazy lol. It becomes really hard to live record yourself since the monitoring will be lagging behind.
If you mostly work with midi instruments, it’s doable. I often use the piano roll when I’m making music like this. It’s also possible to play the instruments on a keyboard, but your sound will be delayed, so it’s a bit more difficult. It’ll always be easier with wired headphones.
That being said however, I still have had success with making music with Bluetooth headphones and most of my stuff has been like 50/50 speakers and Bluetooth headphones.
NC Headphones are good to have in your arsenal for testing purpose, in fact just like any monitoring setup, if you know your gear’s response well and if you’re skilled enough to anticipate how it will translate to other systems, it’s a great tool to mix on.
I use a JBL 660 “entry level” NC headphone for A/B testing on a daily basis, it’s a great tool to change monitoring context.
AirPods show up as normal audio outputs on the mac so they’re fine. They sound perfectly good for production unless your genre is all about bass.
The lag is annoying if you are playing in or recording. But if you’re programming/arranging it’s not a problem.
Bluetooth isn’t ideal for audio production due to the latency and audio compression inherent to the technology. That being said, the AirPods Max have an optional cable you can buy to use them with less latency. They’re very hyped headphones (as most consumer headphones will be), so might not be the best for mixing, but might be fine for your purposes.
