Most Bluetooth headphones work fairly simply, one singular Bluetooth signal transfers data between the headphones and source device - your phone or your laptop. These source devices are also capable of staggering the video and audio streams to ensure they sync with each other - so you don't get that infuriating gap between an actor's mouth moving and hearing their words.
But with the introduction of Bluetooth 5 offering the most energy efficiency and stable connection yet, true wireless has flourished. But how do they work? It’s all got to do with the way they talk to each other.
In every set of true wireless buds, one earbud (usually the right) is considered the primary (or 'master') bud and acts as a bridge between the source device and secondary bud, creating a tiny network known as a piconet. The primary earbud manages the piconet and compensates for any delay between the buds that occurs in the audio transmission.
Audio delay (known as latency) can be a pain, so minimising this effect is crucial. To minimise latency, the buds send information to and fro to compute how long it takes to travel information around the piconet. The speed the information travels at can be affected by several factors, especially by the environment they’re used in; built-up areas busy with signals can majorly affect latency. Once the time to complete the circuit is known, it is halved, and the earbuds 'know' how long it takes for data to be transferred. Knowing the transfer time allows the primary earbud to compensate for the latency, ensuring the buds stay in sync with each other and the source device.
True wireless earbuds are ground-breaking in the world of personal audio, and an essential accessory for many of us. Now, with your knowledge of how the earbuds stay in-sync in their tiny network, explore some of the best musical duos that work in much the same way in our True Wireless playlist.