[OtinG]

This afternoon I connected my Echo Buds 2 to my iPhone XR, and later to my iPad Air 2020 as well. Unlike the Apple AirPods Pro which can be connected to multiple devices simultaneously, the Echo Buds can only connect to one device at a time. So if I change device I will need to manually disconnect/reconnect. That is fairly easy and quick though. They really shine the best on the iPhone and iPad. That is because iOS and iPadOS have the most robust settings which can be used with them. You use the Alexa app on one device to setup the Echo Buds, and since I connected them first to my iPhone XR it became the device from which I can set up and manage their settings. Can’t use the Alexa app on the iPad Air 2020 since they are already using the one on the iPhone XR. A bit kluge, but okay. Most of the settings only need to be set once anyway. Alexa voice control only works on the iPhone XR too for same reason, it is the device with the default Alexa app. Apparently the Echo Buds are considered an accessory to be used in conjunction with an Alexa app on a single device. Again, that is rather kluge, but not a big deal.

I set my iOS and iPadOS Audio settings to use Spatial Audio automatically, which means it only uses it when the song is SA capable. I also set them to use Lossless, not that I would likely be able to tell the difference.

This evening I managed to get my Echo Buds 2 to connect via BT with my Apple TV 4K. ATV 4K allows me to use the Accessibility settings to set the balance in much the same way as I used the Accessibility setting on my iPhone and iPad to set balance for them. No Spatial Audio of course, but the sound is really good and more balanced than using the soundbase. My soundbase is basically a big soundbar but 18” deep rather than just 4”, but since the speakers are still not separated very far, adjusting the balance doesn’t help much. So the Echo Buds work better in that regard as they give me a better stereo feel.

Ironically, even though I was able to connect the Echo Buds 2 to my Fire TV Cube 2, it didn’t work well at all. As soon as the Buds are selected, the video starts to sputter and freeze. The sound was no where near the quality it is on the ATV 4K, and the Fire TV Cube doesn’t allow me to adjust the balance. Strange how another Amazon device doesn’t work with the Echo Buds in any meaningful measure, but they work very well with the ATV 4K!

Unfortunately, my Sony Bravia wouldn’t pair with any BT headset. It can only connect to BT devices like remotes and game controllers. I researched that and discovered that only the models with the A2DP BT profile can do that, and mine doesn’t have that profile. I would have been really pissed if I had purchased the Sony earbuds at $280 then discovered they can’t connect to my Sony TV! No big deal though since 90% of what I watch as far as TV goes is watched via my ATV 4K.

I could probably connect them to my Sony soundbase since it does have the A2DP profile, but I decided against it. My TV automatically sends whatever sound it receives from the ATV 4K, Fire TV Cube, Blu-Ray player, and its own TV receiver to the soundbase. I figure I don’t need two middlemen in the mix! I’ll just get the audio directly from the ATV 4K rather than having it pass through the TV then the soundbase then to the Echo Buds. The ATV 4K likely has way better headset settings than the soundbase anyway.