How can I play one Spotify stream into both speakers and wired headphones simultaneously

minddoodle

I’m setting up a small research study in a hospital room where music is a key part of the environment. The idea is to run a single Spotify playlist from a tablet and have the audio play:

• Through a decent pair of powered speakers to fill the room
• Through wired headphones so the participant can listen closely at the same time

Key requirements:

• Both outputs must run off the same Spotify stream with no lag or sync issues
• Setup should be reliable and simple to operate (hospital environment)
• Budget for speakers + headphones is ~€500, with flexibility for any necessary interface/mixer
• We will buy a tablet from a separate budget (can use iPad or Android depending on compatibility)

Questions:

What would be the most straightforward way to set this up? I've asked chatGPT and it says get a mixer like the Behringer Xenyx 502 (around 60 euros).

Does this seem like a good solution? will i need special leads or jacks?

I had to get AI to help me write this question, as I have zero knowledge of these things, so I am very appreciative for any guidance,

Happy Saturday!

L

Deagol

That looks unnecessarily complicated to me. And I'm not certain that mixer would allow you to output to both master output and headphones at the same time.

Easier I think to use a Y splitter cable ( https://www.thomann.de/ie/pro_snake_tpy_2003_jbb.htm ). You might need some sort of USB-C to 3.5mm adapter depending on the output of the Tablet etc.

After that, a set of headphones and a set of active speakers (Logitech Speakers) and you should be good to go.

You can control the overall volume via the tablet and then adjust the volume of your speakers with their volume control. Can't see how you need more than that!

minddoodle

thank you so much for that, I really appreciate it.

I should have specified that I need to be able to control the volume on both the headphones and the speaker separately as the participant may want the headphones volume to be quite low, but we would need the speaker to still be playing at a decent volume.

Deagol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123791095#Comment_123791095

Just buy headphones with volume control built in. Then you can control both speakers and headphones independently

minddoodle

Ah ok, thank you for that.
🙏🏻