Announced today, Amazon’s Fire TV is now compatible with Bluetooth headphones, allowing easy wireless access to the audio output of Amazon’s powerful new streamers. Bluetooth headphones have skyrocketed recently — both in availability and performance capabilities — and Amazon’s latest feature offers an excellent way for Bluetooth believers to hook up and veg out late-night style without waking up a significant other or risking a wall-pounding from those angry neighbors.
Connecting your Bluetooth cans to a Fire TV is simple. The first step is putting your headphones in discoverable (pairing) mode, usually accomplished by simply tapping on or holding the Bluetooth pairing button. Next, navigate to the “Settings” menu on the Fire TV home screen, and scroll right to “Controllers and Bluetooth Devices.”
Once you’ve found the devices window, scroll down to “Other Bluetooth Devices,” then click on “Add Bluetooth Devices.” It’s similar to pairing the headphones with your smartphone, sending the streaming device to find your headphones of choice.
Once the headphones appear in the devices list, simply click on them to designate them as the audio device and you’re ready to rock. To go back to regular audio, simply turn the headphones off.
Roku’s flagship, the Roku 3, allows you to plug wired headphones directly into the remote for similar functionality, but if you’ve got Bluetooth cans, Amazon’s new update presents an easy way to wirelessly connect without disturbing the world around you. (Note: Although the original press release claimed the Fire TV Stick was also compatible, we’ve since discovered only the regular set-top box will do the trick here.)
As an added bit of assistance, we’ve included a list of a few solid Bluetooth headphones we’ve tried out to get you started on your Bluetooth adventure. Check these out, or find your own headphones, and enjoy high-quality sound without the worry.
Polk Audio Hinge Wireless ($200)
Sennheiser Urbanite XL Wireless ($300)
Plantronics Backbeat Pro Wireless ($250)
Samsung Level Over Wireless ($300)
GoGroove BlueVibe DLX ($70-150)
Updated 5/12/2015 at 3:50 PST: Contrary to the original press release, the Fire TV Stick is not compatible with the new feature at this time. We’ve reached out to Amazon for more information, and will update this post accordingly.
