Gym headphones

[Sam]

Can you use wireless earbuds or headphones at a gym that has machines that use a jack to hear the Tv or cycling program? Do i need some sort of transmitter ? Any recommendations on which earbud or headphones work well on eliptical machines and treadmills? May or may not use my IPhone XR for Spotify to workout to.

[John Rose]

I think what you are looking for is most briefly described as a "bluetooth audio transmitter".

Beware though, some are meant to be plugged into a USB port of a PC, in order to transmit to a bluetooth receiver (such as wireless headphones, and to supply power to the transmitter. That would be for digital audio to BT tramsmit to BT receiver. The gym equipment may not have that.
Some are intended to be plugged into a 12V automotive socket. The gym equipment likely does not have that.

At a minimum, look for a little box with a 3.5 Mini Stereo plug to get the music out of the gym equipment (or any non-bluetooth portable music player) and transmit to a BT receiver.
Also look for one with a battery that can easily be recharged, such as a built-in Li-ion battery, or AA batteries, or whatever. It may also have a micro-USB port simply for charging.

For a few bucks more some units can be used as transmitters or receivers. Receiver mode could be handy for non-bluetooth headphones to receive audio from a bluetooth source.

This one appears to be able to transmit or receiver (not both at the same time):

It seems to be about the size of a Zippo lighter.
It also comes with other audio and USB cables.

[Sam]

I went on Amazon and got some Tozo T10 buds for $41 shipped. Was about to get a refurbished pair of Elite 65T by Jabra, the Active version, for $80 shipped on the Jabra store on Ebay, but these got great reviews and one or two sites, consumers rated them higher overall. I can always give them to the Wife, and grab a better pair like Bose or even the Jabras if I really love wireless.

[ThePossum]

I have been using wireless BT headphones that I paired with my Samsung Tablet and played music I had downloaded to the device. For the last couple years I have used them with my LG mobile phone which has BT. The main problem I see with using it with a iPhone to listen to Spotify is using phone data to play the music. Now if the gym has a secure WiFi connection and it is a faster one you can just log onto the WiFi and play Spotify using the BT wireless headphone paired with your iPhone. Before you go hog wild buying headphone be sure they are compatible with the iPhone. They should also be rechargable. As for the style of headphones, mine are wrap around the back of the head kind but more recently many manufacturers have introduced "ear buds" which fit into your ear like a hearing aid. Good luck and enjoy your workout.

[Kyle76]

My concern would be the pairing process. Could wireless earbuds be paired to the transmitter mentioned? Normally, when you pair with a phone or tablet, you use that device’s screen to select the buds you want to pair. I may be wrong, but I don’t think the transmitter has a screen or any way to pair with another device (the buds) that doesn’t have a screen either. You might be able to get the transmitter and your earbuds “talking” to each other with your phone, but I’m not certain how or even if that would work.

[John Rose]

Compatibility with the gym equipment (a plain-old-vanilla analog audio stereo jack) is not an issue.

My concern would be the pairing process. Could wireless earbuds be paired to the transmitter mentioned? Normally, when you pair with a phone or tablet, you use that device’s screen to select the buds you want to pair. I may be wrong, but I don’t think the transmitter has a screen or any way to pair with another device (the buds) that doesn’t have a screen either. You might be able to get the transmitter and your earbuds “talking” to each other with your phone, but I’m not certain how or even if that would work.

It does not seem to be an issue, at least with this model:

Perhaps (in Transmit mode) it locks onto the strongest BT signal coming back from headphones/earbuds.
Even so, it might be a good idea to do an initial pairing between the transmitter and BT buds at home, and maybe it remembers the BT buds it last paired with.

In Receive mode (from a phone or iPod), it would be like pairing any other BT speaker or headphones.