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The Wm-08 Or Bluetooth... Can You Tell The Difference?


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I was experimenting with Dan(MN)'s mod of mounting the WM-08 to a pair of good quality wired headphones, which works really well. I read the Equinox manual section about the WM 08 and saw that its latency is only 17ms whereas Low Latency Bluetooth is 40ms and normal Bluetooth is up to 100ms.

I have been using LL Bluetooth ear buds all Summer and Fall so I'm used to the way they respond, but when I tested my new WM 08 rig, I couldn't really tell any difference in response time/latency. I guess I was expecting there to be a noticible difference.

So my questions are, for those who use the WM 08 module, can you tell a difference as opposed to Bluetooth? Do you prefer to use the WM 08 setup and why?

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I've used the WM08 almost from day one. I had a pair of earphones made for me by Mal from Minelab Owners website. when i sold my CTX iI sold the head phones with it - Big mistake. I missed my superblues so got another pair from Mal. The build quality and Tones are so much richer, I'm not saying the bluetooth are poor they're not but I just prefer having phones that shut out all external noise etc.

you won't notice milliseconds of difference 🙂 

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I have used the Equinox with its onboard speaker, wired headphones plugged directly into the control pod, wired headphones plugged into the WM08, with the ML80 stock APTX low latency Bluetooth headphones, aftermarket APTX LL headphones and earbuds and with Bluetooth headphones that are not low latency. 
 

I have not heard or experienced  a latency difference between the onboard speaker, ML80s wired up and plugged into the control pod and the ML80s wired up and plugged into the WM08 module. I do get occasional audio dropouts using the WM08 when connection is momentarily lost. 

I can experience (hearing it, not sure) the lag using the ML 80s and other aftermarket BT APTX LL headphones wirelessly paired when I use the onboard pin point function. A fairly shallow coin sized target will sound and appear  using the pinpoint “speedometer” screen to be directly under the coil nut but when I check with a handheld pinpointer before recovery, the actual target is an inch or so away from the spot indicated by the Equinox onboard pinpoint function. I have recovered thousands of targets every year and have repeatedly experienced this using Bluetooth APTX LL devices. Using non APTX LL headphones, I have experienced even more of a discrepancy in the pinpointed targets actual location along with hearing some intermittent audio distortion/static especially on larger aluminum targets. 
 

For normal coin and jewelry hunting I just use BT APTX Low Latency gear. 

When I am after deep coins, deep relics and very small gold nuggets I use the WM08 module. 
 

 

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Yea I prefer the WM08 plugged into a good pair of headphones. The wireless headphones just have to much delay for my liking. Tried to use the Minelab supplied headphones about a week ago and it drove me nuts. It's almost like the audio blanks out at times.

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   I agree with all above!! Direct to the detector, or WM08! Not a big fan of the Nox headphones!

   I have my Nox with the Nox accessory wire($20) run up underneath to the bottom of the cuff with tiewraps! Than I can use whatever plug in headphones I wish to use without the cord in my way! (see pic)

   If not using wired (to detector), I use my WM08 in a waterproof phone arm band on my detecting arm! This gives it direct sight to the detector, with no dropouts! No hassles like the wireless headphones give me!!🍀👍👍

20211116_192023.jpg

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I prefer to use the WM08 module. It allows me to use some Grey Ghost wired headphones which I really enjoy.

The aptX wireless headphones (stock and aftermarket) just don't have the sound quality my wired phones do.

I do notice some lag with aptX that I don't hear when using WM08.

So count me as a WM08 module user.

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I can't tell the difference between WM08 and Headphones although you won't catch me using either 🙂 I'm a speaker person and with a wired speaker there is no such thing as lag.

I don't hunt where people are around so why do I care what noise comes out of my gear.....

I just bought one of those Equinox bumper bar things like the red one you've got on your Nox, only I ordered black.  I have a traditional cover for it which I never use as it muffles the speaker, so hopefully the silicone bumper bar thing works better for me as my Nox falls over a lot with the 6" coil on prospecting.

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I have yet used any headphones as I am just like my grandfather was, terrible ringing in the ears from work.

I like to hear the tones from the speaker because I hate having sweat pour out of my ears when I am done.

 

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42 minutes ago, Valens Legacy said:

I like to hear the tones from the speaker because I hate having sweat pour out of my ears when I am done.

 

    Caleb,

   Exactly why you see those waterproof/sweatproof earbuds in the picture! Only use the muffs when it's cold! So like hardly ever!! Also those allow me to wear my sun hat! They have been very good, albeit not the sound quality of my good wired headphones!!🥵👍👍

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When I first got the Equinox I tried ML80 vs. WM08, I thought I could detect a latency difference.  I haven't experimented since.

The #1 reason I like the WM08 is the freedom in choosing headphones & earbuds.  I really like the Sunray Pro Golds for their sound, snug but comfortable fit, and ambient sound muting (passive, not active).  In warm/hot weather, for comfort I switch to Bose earbuds (wired) into the WM08.

Swing speed obviously affects things.  After I've heard a target I use various methods and sweeps to pinpoint it, one of which is a short, quick swing with small amplitude (just a few inches right and left).  It's likely that is one instance when I noticed a difference back 3 years ago when I compared ML80 vs. WM08.

I did some back of envelope (BoE) calculations based upon recorded golf putter head speed I found in the internet.  It hinted that the difference between 17 ms and 40 ms should be noticeable.  I had (maybe still have) plans to do some photography tests as well.  Not sure it's going to matter much since ML is likely to go the popular route (see survey Steve did here a couple months ago) and nix proprietary wireless.  But if Bluetooth technology continues to improve, maybe we'll get the very low latency back.  Personally I've always preferred solutions that already exist not ones I have to hope for, search for, and then find.

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