A2DP Quality issue

I have the same problem. I don't think it's specific to listening in cars, though I do think that it is more noticeable in a car where you can generally hear audio very clearly.

See this blog post -- it also argues that the issue is with the lack of MP3/AAC support.

http://www.wirelessaudioblog.com/archives/532

It makes sense to me.

This seems like a huge deficiency. It basically means that A2DP is good for voice, but not for music. My guess is that apple will fix it at "some point", when the on earth will that be? Maybe we'll get lucky and it won't take as long as MMS did.

I really hope Apple will implement the MP3 codec. The dropouts and the poor audio quality is very unacceptable for such a great phone.

I upgraded to the 3GS and bought a A2DP carkit just to listen to my iPhone music in my car...

Apple needs to do something about this, this is just ridiculous. They should at least give you the option to increase/decrease quality, or switch between the sbc/mp3/aac codecs. The a2dp quality is utterly terrible, I don't know how anyone at apple could have let this one slide, as the iphone/ipods are MUSIC PLAYERS, quality should be a little important. Not to them I guess.

In iTunes 9.1 there is an option to "convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC'. Is there any chance this could increase the a2dp playback quality (maybe it would decrease stuttering?).

Does anyone have iPhone OS4 for developpers. Is there any improvement in A2DP?

A2DP has been a shortfall since 3.0. Still is at 3.1.3 and nobody can say for 4.0 as developers are not permitted to give insights.
* Lower audio quality DVR issue - I do have a great deal on the DVR issue on very low volume and quality, but I blame the cable company and the tuner vendor. Most of my recordings have lower quality unless purchased through iTunes.
* A2DP sound gaps is my main concern. If the audio is paused for more than a minute, I have to turn off my connection and deactivate the headset. Otherwise, there is no lipsync. This has happened to four headset models and no fixes as of yet.

Hey I know this is in the 3GS forum, but I wanted to say that I'm still having quality issues after upgrading to an iPhone 4. Problem is the same as it was with my old 3G and my wife's old 3GS, lack of bass, super distorted treble (especially cymbal crashes). A2DP receiver is the nav unit on my 2011 Kia Sorento.

I have, on about 2 or 3 occasions, been able to get PERFECT quality when I'm listening to my headphones and then switch over to Bluetooth without stopping the music. I did, however, get intermittent cutouts in those cases.

I take it back, it's the Sorento's fault. Yesterday I confirmed this by pairing my laptop to the Sorento and verifying the static was still present. I then paired my iPhone to the laptop and the audio was perfect quality.

A2DP audio problems seem to be difficult to track down because there are 2 devices involved and many people (read, me) don't have multiple A2DP sources and receivers to test.

{quote:title=TheBigYahi wrote:}I have, on about 2 or 3 occasions, been able to get PERFECT quality when I'm listening to my headphones and then switch over to Bluetooth without stopping the music. I did, however, get intermittent cutouts in those cases. {quote}

I have a new Genesis Coupe with Nav system. It supports A2DP and I'm running iOS 4.1 now. The steering wheel control of the music from the updated AVRCP is great, but the audio is still TERRIBLE quality! Like TheBigYahi I have occasionally connected to my car and had PERFECT quality A2DP audio, however when I get the good quality Audio I also get occasional skips.

I am also getting problems where the iPhone and Car "forget" or "miss" each other in pairing where the car says it cannot control the iPhone sometimes or where the iPhone says its streaming over A2DP but the car isn't getting any audio coming out of the speakers. A reboot of the car/phone/both seems to fix it.

The Bluetooth is SO CLOSE, but these quirks make it highly unusable as designed/intended.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to improve the A2DP quality on the iPhone?

I am having the exact same issue with the Iphone 4.1 and the 2011 genesis coupe. This is frustrating and I'm not sure what to do. I had perfect quality using a pioneer system in my last car so I know the problem is related to the infinity sound system.

I don't think that the poor sound quality issue is about codec support. Most Bluetooth Stereo devices only support SBC. Bit-rate is what makes the difference. Bluetooth theoretically supports up to 723Kbps and adjusts the bit-rate according to current conditions. Bandwidth is influenced by signal strength and interference. My theory is that iPhone tends to decrease the bit-rate and stick to the "safer", lower rate. The most noticeable and annoying indication of high compression rate is the distortion of trebles, especially cymbals.

Now, here's a hint: first, disable WiFi in you iPhone and then connect with a Bluetooth headset. Is the quality better? WiFi works in the 2.4GHz band - the same that BT happens to use, so they interfere with each other. I still need to perform some experiments but it does seem to make sense.