Bluetooth headphones stutter on Macos Monterey 12.0.1

I think you are into something… I have trackpad, keyboard, headphones, Handoff-Continuity (which are supposed to rely in part on Bluetooth) and some other devices.

When I turn on an Xbox controller (I’m in game development) often the keyboard starts misbehaving badly, keystrokes can be triggered in disorder, typed letters could appear seconds letter (massive lag), etc… as if the Bluetooth controller somehow hijacked a big chunk of the bandwidth. I end up connecting the keyboard via lightning sadly.

However, one way I can consistently make it stutter is when I execute code compilation which ramps up the CPU instantly, fans can kick in seconds later, temperature heats up… this can trigger the pause of audio playback (instead of stuttering) lately. Pause as in, music that was on a YouTube safari tab stops playing, I have to go there by hand and hit they play button again. I have no clue what’s actually going on.

Other times it just stutters to muteness. What a weird bug… it does sound Bluetooth interference though.

Monterey update has also caused my Sony XM4s to stutter while playing games on Steam. It wasn’t happening at all prior to this update.

⬆️ See my answer to fix that issue ⬆️

After several hours of continuous use, I can now say that resetting the Bluetooth module has definitely fixed the problem.

It seems to be device specific problem. With Intel MacBook pro I have the issue and with M1 Macbook Pro and iPhone there is no issues.

Well, but this sounds not like a MacOS problem - This should be related to your headphones. In my case I had this with several different headphones/AirPods, so it my suggestion is indeed the solving point :-).

You are welcome, I still wonder why Apple has no official info about that problem - As I mentioned, the problem was negated in the support chat.

Hopefully Apple will investigate this problem and takes it into account for the next update.

Thanks for the reply but it has not fixed the problem. Certain games on Steam change the controller settings (light changes colour) and from there, the stuttering begins. Games on Steam which don't alter the controller setting don't cause a problem. As soon as I boot up the controller on certain games the sound goes crazy stuttering. My Sony XM4 headphones and PS4 DualShock Controllers were working just fine until Monterey.

Having same issue since monterey update on Macbook Air M1. Already tried some solution from another discussion related to this. some people change the default value for something i don't familiar with, but i think it's not the solution we need. I think this is macOS issue. They need to fix it ASAP.

I've unchecked Airplay Receiver, turned off handoff and done everything that chat support has told me to do and my headphones are still stuttering. It's only happening with my mac - my Sony WH- 1000XM4 work fine with my iPhone. What'll happen is that after a couple minutes, my headphones will stutter and there will be an audio lag. Sometimes it'll go away on its own, but more often I have to disconnect and reconnect them. Afterward another 3 minutes, it just stutters again. Now it's just stuttering all the time, like the audio goes in and out every other second. No clue what to do at this point.

Also I forgot to mention, exactly like you say if I re-pair the headsets they work and sound fine for a while (can be minutes or 10s of minutes but eventually this issue starts), the stuttering is very mild and I only notice it when I play music as it sounds like the drummer is unable to keep the rhythm properly.

What I notice the most regardless of content though is the audio seems slightly downpitched, voice/spoken content sounds a bit like the classic downpitched sleepy/drunk effect.

I guess somethings up with the sample rate but I don’t know where to check it as the bluetooth explorer is no more.

I have a similar error, when there is the loading page of a game, I have a little latency and the voice changes (the game is League of legend). Even by deactivating the airplay receiver, nothing changes. Yes very frustrating especially that this error persists since the release of monterey ... The solution has not been found even after the first fix 12.1, I really hope that this problem will be solved during the next update. .. 🤞🏾

Well mattcjeller and if you would just read the whole thread especially page 1 exactly this recommendation is what I mentioned there 😂 - You didn't have to search elsewhere first.

It is also tagged as solving the problem... just read before you post/write...

Unfortunately makes no difference on WH-1000XM4 or WH-1000XM3, repairing the headphones seems to help but only for a few minutes until it starts getting choppy and people sound drunk on youtube.