Catalina and Sony WF-1000m3 - horribly clicky, stuttering sound

Question

Catalina and Sony WF-1000m3 - horribly clicky, stuttering sound

Hi,

I'm trying to use a pair of Sony WF-1000M3 earbuds with a brand-new iMac Pro running Catalina 10.15.6 and they are just about unusable.

Sound is clicky and keeps stuttering almost like when a headphone jack was loose. Every now and then it cuts out for a second, disconnects and reconnects. With my iPhone the headphones are rock-solid and sound gorgeous, so it appears to be a Mac Bluetooth issue.

The problem occurs each time I use the machine and is not resolved by turning Bluetooth on and off or by rebooting the Mac.

Here's what I've tried to try and fix the problem:

Disconnecting and re-pairing the headphones.
Removing the headphones from the Bluetooth preferences and then re-pairing.
Factory resetting the headphones using Sony's instructions, then re-pairing.
Checking the headphones are running the latest firmware (they are).
Resetting the Bluetooth module using the Bluetooth menu -> Debug option at top-right.
Removing all Bluetooth devices using the same menu.
Removing the Bluetooth preferences from both /Library and ~/Library then rebooting.
Resetting PRAM.

If it helps, the Mac's wifi is OFF and I am sitting right in front of the machine.

I think that's a pretty comprehensive set of actions, so I've run out of ideas...

...but if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Many thanks,

Mike.

iMac Pro

Posted on Aug 11, 2020 3:42 PM

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Answer 1

ryane77

Community Specialist

Aug 13, 2020 11:58 AM in response to Mike Richards2

Greetings Mike Richards2,

Thanks for reaching out to us with this trouble you're having with your Sony earbuds and your iMac Pro. Excellent troubleshooting you've done so far, so let's look into this a little more. To isolate this issue we'd like to have you boot the computer in safe mode using the steps here:

How to use safe mode on your Mac

If you don't experience this in safe mode, follow the guidance under "If the issue doesn't continue in safe mode".

Let us know the outcome, and we can go from there if needed.

Cheers!

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Answer 2

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Aug 13, 2020 2:37 PM in response to Mike Richards2

Hi again Mike Richards2,

Thanks for trying that for us. Since the issue persisted in safe mode, the next step will be to reinstall the macOS on the computer. This will give you a fresh install of the operating system, and help with this issue you're having. Follow the instructions here to perform this step:

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery

You will want to use the Option-Command-R key combination, as this will give you the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.

Let us know if this helps you.

Take care and be safe.

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Answer 3

Aug 13, 2020 1:54 PM in response to ryane77

Hi,

Many thanks for getting back to me.

I rebooted the Mac into Safe Mode and the WF-1000m3 earbuds are just as unusable as in normal mode. Playback is clicky and stutters in Safe Mode just as in normal mode.

I also dug up a pair of super-cheap Sony WI-C300 Bluetooth earbuds and tried them - they work beautifully with the Mac, no cutout or interruptions, but they're not as good a sound as the WF-1000m3 pair by a long way.

Hope this helps, please let me know what to try next.

Mike.

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Answer 4

Aug 13, 2020 4:01 PM in response to chuck_3rd

Hi,

I've just reinstalled Catalina using the instructions above and it has made no change - the headphones are still completely unusable on the iMac. Sorry, I was really hoping this was going to fix the problem.

If it is any help, we have three sets of Sony headphones in the house - all of which work perfectly with iPads and iPhones. On the Mac, using the Bluetooth menu at top-right I can see they all use different codecs for playback.

The WF-1000xm3 ear buds are using the AAC codec and are stuttering;
The cheap WI-C300s use SBC and don't cut out (but don't have great sound);
The WH-1000xm2 headphones connect using AptX and sound terrific with no dropout.

Hope this helps. New ideas are welcome.

Mike.

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Answer 5

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Aug 13, 2020 5:01 PM in response to Mike Richards2

Hello Mike,

We appreciate your assistance in working to find a resolution for this issue. This seems to be isolated to the model WF-1000xm3 earbuds, and may be a compatibility issue with macOS Catalina. We suggest contacting Sony directly to confirm this issue, and offer further guidance

Thanks!

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Catalina and Sony WF-1000m3 - horribly clicky, stuttering sound

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