How To Connect Earbuds To A TV: Step-By-Step Setup Guide

For the full breakdown, see our best Earbuds for TV guide.

Wireless earbuds can connect to a TV two ways. If the TV supports the A2DP Bluetooth audio profile, you pair the earbuds directly through the TV’s sound menu. If it doesn’t, you plug a Bluetooth transmitter into the TV’s optical or headphone jack and pair the earbuds to that instead.

Here’s the catch most setup guides skip: your earbuds aren’t the problem. The TV is. Bluetooth audio output is profile-dependent, not universal, and plenty of sets that advertise “Bluetooth” only accept keyboards, mice, and game controllers — never audio. Sony’s own support documentation frames the check this way: look for an A/V sync setting in the TV menu, because its presence is what signals Bluetooth headphone support.

Do You Need Bluetooth, Or Will A Transmitter Do?

A quick answer before any menus: Bluetooth is the tidier setup, a transmitter is the one that works on almost any TV. Decide which route you’re on before you start tapping through settings, because the two paths barely overlap.

Go Bluetooth if your TV lists an audio output device menu and mentions headphones or wireless speakers in its sound settings.

Go transmitter if your TV’s audio menu only offers TV speakers, optical, HDMI, and a headphone jack. A transmitter wired into the optical port gives you wireless earbuds without the TV ever knowing.

One honest trade on transmitters: they add a device to manage and, on cheaper models, a slight lag you may notice on dialogue-heavy shows. The upside is that no software update can break the connection.

How To Pair Earbuds To A Bluetooth-Enabled TV

The general sequence on a supported TV runs through the sound menu, and Samsung’s support pages spell out the exact path by model year. Here’s the flow most people can follow.

1. Put the earbuds into pairing mode first. This is the mistake that sends people back to search. Samsung’s guidance for Galaxy Buds breaks down by generation: Buds, Buds+, Buds Live, and Buds Pro pair when you hold both touchpads for a few seconds; Buds2 and Buds2 Pro stay in the case while you touch-and-hold both touchpads until the case lights flash; Buds3 and Buds3 Pro want the lid closed and reopened, then a three-second press of the Connect button on the case.
2. Open the TV’s sound settings. On Samsung sets the menu moves with the model year, so match yours — 2023–2025: Settings > All Settings > Sound > Sound Output > Bluetooth Speaker List. 2022 adds a Menu button step first. 2018–2021 skips the All Settings layer. 2016 is furthest off the modern path: Settings > Sound > Expert Settings > Wireless Speaker Manager > Bluetooth Audio Devices.
3. Select Bluetooth Speaker List, then choose your earbuds from the scan results.
4. Switch the TV’s audio output to Bluetooth after pairing. This trips up a lot of people — connecting isn’t the same as routing sound, and the TV can stay on its speakers until you change the output setting.
5. Confirm it worked: the TV’s sound menu shows your earbuds as the active output, and audio moves to your ears the moment you back out of the settings screens.

If the earbuds never appear in the list, move them closer to the TV — within a few feet — and run Refresh or Scan again rather than restarting the TV. Distance is the most common culprit after pairing mode.

What If Your TV Has No Bluetooth Audio?

Use a TV-compatible wireless transmitter on the optical output terminal, and pair your earbuds directly to the transmitter instead of the TV. Sony’s support documentation notes that this route exists specifically for Android TV models that don’t support A2DP — the same situation you’ll find on older LED sets and budget models from every brand.

The wiring is simple: transmitter into the TV’s optical (Toslink) port, transmitter powered, earbuds paired to the transmitter over its own Bluetooth radio. TV volume stays as a master level; earbud volume handles the rest.

Before buying anything, run one sanity check. Put the earbuds in pairing mode, open the TV’s sound menu, and look for any option mentioning headphones, wireless speakers, or A/V sync. That menu item’s presence or absence is your real answer, and it costs nothing to check. When you’re ready to compare models built with low latency for TV dialogue, this roundup of earbuds for TV separates the sets that actually sync from the ones that lip-sync drift.