AirPod sound quality with iWatch S1

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AirPod sound quality with iWatch S1

Hi, I have been excited to start using AirPods while running and am finding reduced sound quality when playing music when paired to an iWatch series 1 vs. Bluetooth connection direct to an iPhone 8. The difference is drastic, sound quality with the iWatch Bluetooth connection reminds me of tinny, baseless, 128kbps mp3’s from 15+ years ago. Sound quality with the iPhone is reasonable for earbuds. Other posts I’ve found on this topic are inconclusive and non-technical.

Can can I force the songs on the iWatch series 1 to be higher bitrate? Or do the newer iWatches allow for better sound quality? If I had know this before purchasing the AirPods I would have gone a different route.

Appreciate any information on how to address this issue using AirPods with iWatch. Don’t want to have to bring my phone with me every time I go for a run/bike/etc.

Apple Watch Series 1, watchOS 5

Posted on Apr 8, 2019 10:02 PM

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Answer 1

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Aurilious Author

Level 1

14 points

Apr 15, 2019 5:06 PM in response to Aurilious

Seems I fixed my own problem, maybe this will help others.

Was having issues with the AirPods dropping the Bluetooth connection repeatedly every 5 seconds. ‘Forget this device’ selected on the iPhone Bluetooth settings, repaired the AirPods, now the Bluetooth connects without issue and the sound quality while listening to songs with the iwatch is now equal to being played from the phone.

Bluetooth still isn’t seamless/bug-free even with every product made by Apple running current software.

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AirPod sound quality with iWatch S1

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