IR audio bridge

posted Mar 1st 2006 11:00am by Eliot
filed under: home entertainment hacks

ir bridge

Reader [Chris Rybitski] had a pair of RCA IR headphones laying around from the Radiohut. He’d never really used them and decided they would be much better suited as a wireless audio bridge between his computer and stereo. Since it was going to be a permanent installation his first task was to find a wall wart to power the receiving end. He then reboxed the receiver in an old laptop battery case with the IR LEDs from each ear and an output jack for his stereo. Not to complex, but I’m sure the system works a lot better now that it is in a fixed position instead of strapped to someone’s head.

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Comments [11]

11 Responses to IR audio bridge

Joakim Arfvidsson says:

March 1, 2006 at 11:45 am

What about sound quality? The degradation is at best negligible, but might be considerable. If I were to hook up something permanent, I would definitely not go with anything that requires line of sight

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atrain says:

March 1, 2006 at 11:54 am

I just use a patch cable… But if you do need a long distance link, this is a great + simple solution.

I would not use IR in this case though, I would rather a higher quality link.

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Orphaze says:

March 1, 2006 at 12:21 pm

Something like this has the indirect benefit of getting rid of those pesky ground loops that often arise when connecting a computer to a home theater system (especially if that system is attached to a grounded coax cable TV line as they usually are in some way.) I’m not sure about other people, but coax isolation transformers degraded my signal too much, even with an amp boosting the signal beforehand. Never tried an AC isotrans though.

I ended up solving my problems by grounding my computer (a MythTV box) to the coax (a debatable but fuctional solution.)

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Tired2 says:

March 1, 2006 at 2:01 pm

I think some people missed the idea of this hack… I always thought ‘wireless’ speakers were a waste of money because they still had to be plugged in…. Though now in my current setup, wires are unacceptable for the rear speakers, so I’m forced to run at 3.1 :(…. Anyway, this would be a great hack along side a diy amp or some computer speakers to re-claim those rear speakers… wonder how hard a full on DIY setup would be….

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Tired2 says:

March 1, 2006 at 2:03 pm

Also, I forgot to mention, I’ve had pretty good success with ground loops between computer/stereo/tv by using an old peice of speaker wire and connecting it from computer chassis to stereo chassis, or tv coax ground…. kinda ghetto, but i think that is a lot of what the diy/hack scene is about.

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tau says:

March 1, 2006 at 4:52 pm

Remember that hack not to long ago about using a laser for wireless sound? Would that not result in better sound quality and less attenuation then IR?

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Chris Rybitski says:

March 1, 2006 at 9:19 pm

The distortion on this is .9%, so the ir quality is not noticably bad.

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matt sandy says:

March 2, 2006 at 12:16 am

I think everyone has tried this before. It doesn’t have the quality of the optical out, but the geek factor makes up for it when friends are over. There was a bluetooth one posted on engadget a while ago (maybe a week?). I do love this site though. MORE LASERS.

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ben says:

March 2, 2006 at 2:57 am

This has got to be the most boring “hack” ever. a 10 year old could have done this. You just simply taken the signal that would have been delivered to the speakers and wired them to a line out.

I come to this site to see hardcore hacks… not your simple hack… besides, you didn’t even bild your own transformer… and a simple variable DC power supply could have probably drawn currnet anywhere from 12-24v from your speaker system… thus eliminating the need for batteries.

Out of 10, I rate this a -5

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pea says:

March 3, 2006 at 6:29 am

Aah i wouldn’t go near those wireless head phones with a barge pole, 300% over priced. You’re better off making a IR audio trans and receiver yourself, or even better, RF.

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Rob says:

March 3, 2006 at 10:02 pm

Please pardon me, but where is the hack in this posting ?

This is on the same level as making an extension lead for a pair of headphones or resoldering a jackplug.

If my 13 year old daughter decided to do this I would think, good she is thinking for herself and I would encourage her.

But please it’s embarrasing.

Rob…

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