Nintendo Switch might support Bluetooth headphones — why PS5 and Xbox Series X should too

Nintendo Switch might support Bluetooth headphones — why PS5 and Xbox Series X should also

(Paradigm credit: Future)

After iv years, the Nintendo Switch might finally let you ditch headphone cables and adaptors and connect directly to Bluetooth headphones instead.

Before this week, dataminers constitute evidence of Bluetooth support hidden deep within the Switch'due south 12.0.0 firmware update. It should be noted that this doesn't actually confirm anything, of course. And even by enabling the Switch's Bluetooth driver, the update wouldn't unlock wireless headphone support by itself. But the road is paved, and if Nintendo stays the course it could grant the Switch with a characteristic that information technology, along with the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, should really all have possessed since launch.

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Yes, none of the large iii consoles merely allow you pair your favorite set of cans, at least non without some fumbling around with adaptors. And in 2021, where wireless headphones are a business firm norm, that seems fairly ridiculous.

A wireless console — without wireless audio

Nintendo Switch — (Paradigm credit: Tom's Guide)

Information technology'southward a particularly egregious fault on the Switch, not to mention the portable-merely Switch Lite. While the PS5 and Xbox Serial X are more naturally suited to Tv speakers and soundbars, the Switch is designed to get out and almost, where headphones are necessary. And while it's the oldest of the three, it's not similar it came out in the days of phonographs. Bluetooth headphones were already popular during the Switch'south evolution, and the original Apple AirPods was already making tiny truthful wireless earbuds into a very big deal.

The inclusion of Bluetooth drivers, in add-on to the 3.5mm headphone jack, could be seen as future-proofing. Only in this case the futurity had already arrived, and every bit encouraging equally this recent firmware update is, at the absolute best it's a bafflingly late endeavor to play catch-upwardly. "But apply a cable" isn't a very convincing culling either: information technology would defeat the purpose of buying a wireless pair of headphones in the commencement place. And some models, like the Apple tree AirPods Max, don't fifty-fifty include a 3.5mm cable.

The PS5 is in a similar state to the Switch: the only way to employ Bluetooth headphones is by purchasing a USB adapter. This can, at least, plug relatively inconspicuously into the panel; with the Switch, you'll have to carry it around with an unwieldy block of plastic poking out of the headphone jack or USB-C port. The latter of which, don't forget, becomes inaccessible in docked manner.

But the PS5's "solution" is far from ideal. Besides requiring an adaptor purchase on peak of the $499 panel, USB Bluetooth adaptors themselves can add together lag — not a major problem in single-player games that the Switch is so fond of, but in more competitive multiplayer games information technology can be a genuine disadvantage.

Microsoft'due south walled garden

Where to buy Xbox Series X — (Paradigm credit: Shutterstock)

Then there's the Xbox Series X, which combines the worst of both worlds. Technically, the console itself doesn't support Bluetooth at all, probable to protect Microsoft'southward proprietary Xbox Wireless protocol that it uses for controllers and headsets. Yous therefore need to plug your potentially lag-calculation adaptor into the 3.5mm jack on the controller, adding bulk and weight to the but handheld device in the organisation.

I appreciate if this sounds similar the reverse of every argument nearly Apple ditching the headphone jack on the iPhone series. The irony of getting from "But not everyone has wireless headphones" to "But non everyone has wired headphones" is not lost.

Either mode, here'due south the matter: both those arguments are valid. Ultimately, the trouble with the Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X all lacking proper Bluetooth support comes downwardly to a absence of choice. If you lot're happy to plug in a 3.5mm cable to your Switch console or Xbox controller, great. Only for millions of others, it would be quicker and easier to but pair over Bluetooth, a technology that'southward cheap to implement and bachelor in headphones of nigh all styles and prices.

To limit that choice can only therefore be the effect of weird oversight or, I suspect, to incentivize sales of proprietary peripherals. Neither of which, given the accessibility and popularity of Bluetooth headphones, are good plenty.

More: Our picks of the best wireless headphones

James joined Tom's Guide in 2020, bringing years of feel in consumer tech and product testing. Every bit Audio Editor, James covers headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes noise. A PC enthusiast, he also covers the occasional spot of computing and gaming news, ordinarily relating to how hard it is to detect graphics carte stock.