Macbook Air Bluetooth Audio Stutter

Question

Level 1

126 points

Macbook Air Bluetooth Audio Stutter

I have a bluetooth stereo that I want to use with my new Macbook Air 11. I use the same stereo with my iPhone and iPad with no problems. The stereo pairs with my MBA no problem, but after about five minutes the sound begins to stutter. I turn off the bluetooth and restart it and the sound is fixed for another few minutes but then it starts to stutter again after a few minutes.

Has anyone had this problem?

MBA 2010 11", Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jan 29, 2011 1:41 PM

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Answer 1

mbigam

Level 1

0 points

Jan 30, 2011 2:47 PM in response to Hutch51

I have the same problem with my new mba 11".

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Answer 2

Casemon

Level 1

5 points

Feb 16, 2011 3:57 PM in response to Hutch51

Seeing the same thing here with the very excellent Foxl2 bluetooth speakers from Soundmatters.

Music plays great, then starts to crackle after 3-5min, and disconnecting then reconnecting the speakers (via the Bluetooth icon menu) 'fixes' it until it happens again.

Doesn't seem to happen when iPhone or iPad is the source 😐

Wish we knew why it was happening / possible fixes.

Anyone?

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Answer 3

Feb 16, 2011 11:52 PM in response to Casemon

Call Apple Support and create a trouble ticket. They may have a solution already, or have you try deleting the plist, etc. They will also put your issue with the other bluetooth complaints. Enough of them and it becomes a priority....

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Answer 4

Casemon

Level 1

5 points

Feb 25, 2011 8:19 AM in response to Casemon

Well, the stuttering has strangely gone away.

Have had the same speakers as before on & connected via bluetooth for a few days now (tho plugged in) and no stuttering!

Will post back if the stuttering returns, or find anything possibly related.

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Answer 5

Hutch51 Author

Level 1

126 points

Feb 25, 2011 10:45 AM in response to Casemon

Have you changed anything? I'm curious to know. I frequently use my bluetooth speakers when I'm working and don't generally have the patience to play with them every five minutes, so I haven't been able to really try to fix this.

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Answer 6

Casemon

Level 1

5 points

Feb 25, 2011 3:32 PM in response to Hutch51

I rebooted at some point and moved to another flat.

Maybe it has something to do with surrounding radio noise? No idea, but maybe check if it happens all over your place, or just in some areas.

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Answer 7

Apr 6, 2011 10:29 AM in response to Hutch51

I'm having the same problem with my MBA. I've some BT headphones and they work reliably with my iPhone, but the Air's sound stream gets stuttery after about five minutes seemingly without fail. Any PROTIPS out there?

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Answer 8

Apr 6, 2011 12:04 PM in response to Patrick Mcdavid

I believe I've found a solution: http://danwarne.com/fix-bluetooth-a2dp-audio-quality-mac-os/

This isn't an MBA thing per se, there's a defaults setting on mac os that lets the bluetooth audio bitpool (bitrate?) be veeery small. I followed this guy's instructions and bumped the min bitpool size up to like 48, and I've had half an hour of flawless audio over BT. Way better than it ever was! Try it out, run this in your terminal:

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Bitpool Min (editable)" 48

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Answer 9

toddlamp

Level 1

0 points

Jun 22, 2011 1:21 PM in response to Hutch51

I'm having the same problem on my MBA 11" and tried the bitpool fix with several different settings. I am still getting the stuttering. Why do I have to go into the terminal to change that value anyway? I thought there was a Bluetooth explorer option somewhere.

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Answer 10

JoeSpro

Level 1

0 points

Jun 21, 2012 4:25 AM in response to Patrick Mcdavid

This solved the issue! Simple - great, thank you! (Very surprised Apple set the default is set so low, BTW)

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Answer 11

mcburb

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Mar 29, 2013 2:23 PM in response to Patrick Mcdavid

Seems to have worked for me too! I tried 51 with my JBL BT speakers. Much better.

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Answer 12

CUI Kai

Level 1

0 points

Mar 14, 2015 7:53 AM in response to Patrick Mcdavid

Thank you very much. According to http://musings.silvertooth.us/2013/05/bluetooth-audio-and-os-x/ , it solve my problem.

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Answer 13

Dec 24, 2015 5:08 PM in response to Hutch51

I have the same problem on my MBA 2013 11". I had this problem ever since I got my macbook 2.5 years ago. I recently downgraded to Mavericks from El Capitan, and it seems to have gotten worse. I mean the stuttering music over bluetooth. The link someone posted above says the fix doesn't work on Mavericks. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks.

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