A2DP Stereo Bluetooth Support

{ Bluetooth audio (mono) is completely possible but has been crippled on purpose by apple. WHY???

No one here knows--we're all users like yourself. Apple is under no obligation to tell us why either. They obviously don't want it--and believe me, they've been hearing complaints since day one of the first generation iPhone.

If this is a must have feature for you don't buy the phone, or return it for one that has this feature. Apple is under no obligation to put this feature in, and they probably never will if it's not been put in up to now.

Wlell I am going to be very positive here. I am writing this post on my new iPhone 3G, while listening to some wonderull music (by Enigma) streamed to my Plantronics 590A Bluetooth headphones/headset via A2DP. Admittedly, I have to have the small round buetooth adapter plugged into the earpiece socket in order to do this and it is sitting in my right palm as I hold the phone with my left hand and type this with my right finger.

I have to thank Apple for producing such a fantastic device, I could not seriosly considered doing this with my trusty old Treo 650 and I can honesly say that I am even more impressed with the phone than I thought I was going to be! Yes, I know that some people have been suffering problems, like lag with typing (which for some reason I have never experienced) but I cannot praise the design of it enough.

Ok, so we don't have native A2DP right now, but the hardware and OS should cernly be capable of using this profile - just need the nice and very bright people at Apple to implement it in a firmware update (please!)

Do not let lack of natve A2DP put you off buying the phone now, you can do what I am doing, or similar to get it and you are unlikely to regret buying it.

Note: remember to submit your feedback to the Apple iPhone team - I have!

From all the forums, blogs I have visited I have read many comments about why A2DP was not enabled on the iPhone. Many believe that A2DP is a massive power eatter and hence Apple had not enabled this feature. Also, some had said that because Apple has not released a stereo Bluetooth headset --- it could be a feature that would be enabled when this product was ready for the market... either way if you need or wanted A2DP there are plenty of 3.5 mm Bluetooth adapters as well as 30 pin dock dongles (examples : 8bananas BD-906, iCombi, Sony, IO, Motorola...)...Of course it would be nice if APple enables this feature as part of their future firmware updates...

I think that your post is very valid and really hope that the right people in Apple read it and act on it FAST! I have ordered my iPhone 3G, but have not received it yet, so cannot definitely confirm whether or not A2DP profile is working or not, but looking at the posts in this forum, it is not looking good.

Here is some good news, regarding A2DP on the Intel MacBook under 10.5.4...
(this hopefully means that Apple will also be updating the iPhone 2.0 firmware to include A2DP)

1. Going to System Preferences, Bluetooth, clicking the ? icon to get the "Bluetooth Help", clicking on "See all topics", then "Bluetooth profiles supported by Apple Bluetooth software", you get a help page that includes:

Apple’s Bluetooth software supports the following profiles on client devices:

Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP): Controls stereo audio headphones.

Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP): Controls the buttons on headphones and other devices.

Dial-Up Networking Profile: Allows a mobile phone to act as a modem and connect to an Internet service provider (ISP) and the Internet.

File Transfer Profile (FTP): Allows a Bluetooth device to send and receive files from another device (on both client and server devices).

Hard Cable Replacement Profile (HCRP): Allows a Bluetooth device to connect and print to a wireless, Bluetooth enabled printer.

Headset Profile: Allows a Bluetooth device to use a wireless, Bluetooth enabled headset to send and receive audio.

Human Input Device (HID) Profile: Allows a Bluetooth device to use a wireless input device, such as a keyboard or mouse.

Object Push Profile: Allows a Bluetooth device to send files to a remote device (on both client and server devices).

Serial Port Profile: Enables incoming and outgoing connections to Bluetooth devices (on both client and server devices).

2. There seems to be some problems with their current implementation at the moment though, which I will make a post in the correct Mac forum about, but let me say that I am using a Plantronics Pulsar 590 stereo headset with A2DP and AVRCP on my Mac. It works great with iTunes (very good sound) and I can control iTunes with it too.

3. In spite of the so called "supported" profiles listed in the Apple help, which does not include the "Headphone" profile (as distinct to the Headset one), it is actually implemented so both profiles are added after I pair my "590Plantronics" (as it is recognized) with my Mac. The problem that I am having is actually with the Headset profile, where the Mac receives no sound from the microphone, even though it appears ok under System Preferences, Sound, Input as "590Plantronics" it receives no audio.

I know that the Mac stuff is slightly off topic, but in this case I am certain that it is warranted. Like you, I held off from buying an iPhone last year and still use my Treo 650 as a phone. It does not support A2DP, but I have the Pulsar 590A which has a bluetooth adapter that can stream any audio using A2DP, so I can plug it into my Treo and stream mp3 music from the included RealPlayer Palm software to my headset and automatically switch to voice when making or receiving a phone call. If, when my iPhone 3G finally arrives, I have the problem with A2DP, then I will be able to do the same until Apple fix it!

As a general comment, I would like to say that one thing that I have always like about Apple is the way that they are generally way ahead of the curve. Take USB as an example (where they initially took a lot of flack for implementing something that there was next to no peripherals for). Unfortunately, they appear to have "lost the plot" a bit with the iPhone.

If you look at the iPhone 3G marketing materials on the main Apple site you will see that under "High Technology" they list:

Multi-Touch
GPS
Accelerometer
Sensors
Keyboard

...but do not include "Advanced A2DP/AVRCP Bluetooth Audio" which really, really, should have been a priority from the first iPhone. Hopefully, they will listen to their users and put this right quickly?

It is the digital compression that you can hear in A2DP streamed music that I object to. Now matter how good the actual headphone or head-unit part of the chain is, it can not compensate for poor quality encoding.
It sounds like the results you get if you use the 128kbps import setting in iTunes.
Maybe I've been unlucky, but the A2DP kit I have experienced (my own ioPlay car stereo head-unit and a friend's Sony Ericsson headphones) is definitely not audiophile quality.
Let's hope the technology gets better, because I like the idea. But for the moment I have relegated my ioPlay to a simple hands-free unit and gone back to playing music through a wired connection.

Katherine,

This is a user forum. You probably won't get the real answer here.

To send your complaint to Apple, Inc., use this link: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Right, nobody here knows, but it is therapeutic to 'vent' about Apple's failure to enable A2DP. People have been complaining in this forum since the iPhone was new, so either Apple isn't listening or they don't care.

It seems improbable that the failure is due to a technical limitation or resource drain (Apple programmers or battery) or simply because it is less-than-perfect (despite Steve Jobs' reputation as a perfectionist). And it is 'sour grapes' to say you really don't want it anyway because A2DP has background noise (hiss) & dropouts or that BT headphones are second-rate. Exercising with BT headphones (Moto S9) is great but my iPod dongle (ugh) won't plug into my first generation iPhone (another puzzling decision by Apple).

At the risk of being too cynical, maybe Apple is happy with their cut of the accessory market. Or have they got a better idea for wireless connections? (drum roll)

I don't understand why everyone is bemoaning the lack of A2DP on the iPhone. It is my guess that Apple haven't bothered with it, because the sound quality is simply not good enough.
All the Bluetooth audio kit I have tried, sounds extremely quantised with very truncated bit depth. Not even good enough for the car, let alone headphones or through a HiFi.

The sound from a good quality A2DP bluetooth stereo headset is very comparable to the sound heard with the included wired headphones. The difference being that A2DP provides freedom to do things that wired headphones do not provide. Such as the ability to snowboard, rollerblade, jog, etc without having a wire moving all around. The Bluetooth chip in the iPhone 3G can support this. Apple just needs to enable it with a software update. Note: Several bluetooth headsets such as from Motorola and Oakley allow one to make and receive calls, not just listen to music.

I'd like to know why as well. The lack of this feature is so disappointing. Heck, I'd be fine if I could use my mono bluetooth earpiece. Apple purposely disabled the function. If you're using a bluetooth headset while making a call, you can switch to the ipod and listen to your music through the headset, but as soon as the call is ended the audio is cut from the bluetooth. Bluetooth audio (mono) is completely possible but has been crippled on purpose by apple. WHY???

So I tend to disagree with the majority. Don't get me wrong, A2DP is a nice feature but I had it on my Windows Mobile devices and rarely used it... here is why:

1. BT stereo headphones are not that great - I have tried behind the head, over the ear, and all of them are to bulky or to heavy, or have mediocre battery life.

2. Battery life - so now in addition to running the battery down on the iPhone/ipod/other brand phone to just play music, I increase my battery usage by running BT in a battery draining stereo processing mode. I also have to worry about keeping my battery charged on the A2DP headphones. If they battery dies on the headphones, and i don't have my wired buds with me, then I am SOL

3. Interference/Interupts - I have yet to use any combo of BT wireless where I didn't get some radio interference at some point, or get a song to skip even for a millisecond while running A2DP - there just seems to be so much going on with the processor that every now and then something has to give and there is a hiccup or some interference in the spectrum

Now in the defense of A2DP, excercising seems to be the one useful place for such functionality - no wire to get in the way, although getting an armband for the ipod/iphone seems to solve this issue.

So to each his own, but I went into this knowing I was losing A2DP and I don't miss it at all.

I think iPhone does. check out this http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/29/iphone-1-1-1-bug-unleashes-music-over-bluetoo th/

Well, I just re-read my post and realized that I did not get my description quite right about how I am typing and listening to music so thought I would do another quick post to correct that. I have my Bluetooth adapter in my left palm (not right) with the phone on it's side (landscape) and I find it quite quick to type with one finger - an extremely cleaver interface - well done Apple!

I have to say that I am even more excited with using this new technology than when I bought my first Mac soon after they first came out.

Well, yet another post, this time from my MacBook Pro, as I am at home now.

I would like to refer people to the wikipedia article on A2DP, as it is quite informative and lists some handhelds that support it natively (including the new Windoze Mobile)... come on Apple, you don't want Micro$oft to beat you with this bluetooth audio facility do you? 🙂

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2DP#AdvancedAudio_Distribution_Profile.28A2DP.29

My wife's phone is an IPAQ running Windows Mobile. It beats the heck out of the iPhone. Does everything the iPhone does and then some. A2DP works great on her's. The interface is not as spiffy and it isn't as sexy as an iPhone, but then again, it is about time I was the sexy one in the family!