Loud burst of noise between songs using bluetooth output

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Level 1

17 points

Loud burst of noise between songs using bluetooth output

I'm playing my music on a 15" MacBook Pro (Catalina v 10.15.7) and just connected to my new Sony STR-HD790 home theater via bluetooth. In between songs I will get a loud quick (< 1sec) burst of noise, sometimes two bursts. This happens every time I am between songs. I have not heard this when connected to bluetooth AfterShokz headphones or through the MacBook Pro internal speakers.

I see this question has been asked before by lukeGT on Feb 22, 2020 where his problem went away after connecting to another device and then back to his macBook pro. I connected my iPhone to the home stereo and all was good. I reconnected my MacBook Pro and I have the same noise burst problem.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 17, 2020 8:35 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

James-jrp

Level 1

9 points

Feb 28, 2021 1:27 PM in response to jimgr921

Resolved. I went to Bluetooth Preferences. Then clicked Advanced. I unclicked all three default options. Then clicked OK.

Seems the issue is between songs Bluetooth is looking for a keyboard, or mouse or trackpad, or trying to wake computer.

Since my MacBook has all three built in—they are not Bluetooth connected, I got the loud noise. Turning off all three solved the loud noise.

now let me get back to busting my playlist loud on my Sony receiver.

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Answer 2

Jeff_W.

Community Specialist

Nov 25, 2020 4:43 PM in response to jimgr921

Hi jimgr921!

It sounds like you’re hearing noise when your Mac is connected to your stereo via Bluetooth, and we're happy to help. To help isolate this issue further, please try connecting your Mac to your stereo after testing in safe mode and a new user account:

How to use safe mode on your Mac

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

Cheers!

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Answer 3

jimgr921 Author

Level 1

17 points

Nov 25, 2020 7:52 PM in response to Jeff_W.

I was able to create a new user but I can't login as the new user. My MacBook Pro is a corporate computer and requires Corporate dual authentication during the login process. I did try just the safe mode but that didn't change the behavior. I still have the loud burst of noise between songs.

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Answer 4

Dec 5, 2020 5:42 AM in response to jimgr921

I have this problem too. And I think that it only happens at the end of songs imported into Apple Music from my older Mac. It does not seem to happen with songs downloaded from iTunes with this computer. The problem only started in March or April of this year. I have a 2018 Mac with Catalina 10.15.7.

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Answer 5

9dotsen

Level 1

4 points

Jan 16, 2021 12:28 AM in response to jimgr921

Agree, have the same problem with my Macbook Air connected to the Denon amplifier. It seems that bursts happen when the track audio data is not yet started to be transferred, but some kind of audio transmission to the Bluetooth device already starts. Probably some preliminary data (non-audio) packages are interpreted by the Bluetooth device as audio data. But it happens with Macbook only, other devices (iPhone, Android, PC laptop) paired with Denon never fail.

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Answer 6

jimgr921 Author

Level 1

17 points

Mar 13, 2021 7:19 PM in response to James-jrp

I unchecked all three options (Bluetooth Setup Assistant: keyboard and mouse; and Bluetooth waking the computer) selected OK. I still had the problem. I rebooted my MacBook and tried again and the loud burst is still happening.

This problem is so bad, I can't use MacBook Pro Bluetooth to my home theater system. IPhone Bluetooth to my home theater system is not a problem.

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Answer 7

Mar 15, 2021 3:13 PM in response to jimgr921

In Music Preferences->Playback reduce the Crossfade between songs to the minimal setting. (Turn on crossfade if not on).

The problem is related to “dead air” time.

For the most part, I no longer encounter it. But a few songs in a playlist will still cause it sometimes. I suspect those songs have “dead air” time at their beginning. If I adjust the start time of the song I suspect it would not happen. But I haven’t tested this yet. It happens only with a few songs in my playlists now.

Good luck.

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Answer 8

Mar 15, 2021 5:04 PM in response to jimgr921

I unchecked the bluetooth options and it is still happening to me, too. It doesn't happen with my iPhone, it doesn't happen with my wife's 2011 MacBook, and it doesn't happen with my MacBook streaming to Sony headphones. Annoying.

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Answer 9

jimgr921 Author

Level 1

17 points

Mar 16, 2021 9:04 AM in response to James-jrp

I went to Music Preferences->Playback. I had to turn on Crossfade to reduce the time between songs to the lowest level. This did not fix the problem.

While I was in the Preferences, Notifications was checked for "When song changes". I unchecked this Notifications setting. This did not fix the problem either.

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