chattphotos
Level 4 (2,447 points)
Desktops

Q: AU Lab enhancement for bluetooth

Hey Audio buds,

 

I love the wireless freedom of Bluetooth but Apple doesn't give me any fine-grained codec control over bluetooth  (bitrate, quality, codec choices, etc.)

Seriously annoying when coming from the 3.5mm jack which seems to be given the absolute max of audio quality.

 

If I can coax my Creative WP-350 headphones into using the aptX codec, I can get a reasonable audio stream (for watching TV shows)

 

I have to use my wired headphones for Movies and when mixing audio.

 

But the question is, what is a good AU Lab configuration to remix, and enhance the sound coming over bluetooth ?

(I am using soundflower to route the audio into AU Lab and then out to my headphones)

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Aug 7, 2013 5:22 PM

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chattphotos

Q: AU Lab enhancement for bluetooth

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  • Helpful answers

  • by rideMTB,

    rideMTB rideMTB Aug 11, 2013 10:24 AM in response to chattphotos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 11, 2013 10:24 AM in response to chattphotos

    If your headphones support it, try turning on aptX in osx. Its pretty hidden.

     

    Turn on the aptX codec via Bluetooth Explorer -> Utilities -> Special Options

     

    That did the trick for me.

     

    The bluetooth explorer used to be available by pressing option then the bluetooth button, but now its bundled seperatly either with xcode or here : https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action?name=bluetooth%20explorer

     

    Bluetooth explorer also lets you change the bitpool of bluetooth which affects bitrate.

     

    See: http://bencollier.net/2011/04/improve-compressed-bluetooth-audio-on-mac/

  • by chattphotos,

    chattphotos chattphotos Aug 11, 2013 3:44 PM in response to rideMTB
    Level 4 (2,447 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 11, 2013 3:44 PM in response to rideMTB

    Thanks for the aptX codec in Bluetooth Explorer, this helps give some of the control back.

     

    Ran into a problem, so I removed/re-paired the mac and my headphones because they just wouldn't connect today. Once connected. I clicked on "use as audio device" and then my Mac crashed. Report below.

     

    Interval Since Last Panic Report:  3067642 sec

    Panics Since Last Report:          1

    Anonymous UUID:                    E70BC690-8298-2354-DFA5-D6480F25ED95

     

    Sun Aug 11 18:33:04 2013

    panic(cpu 6 caller 0xffffff800ffedd17): "OSObject::refcount: Attempting to retain a freed object"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-2050.24.15/libkern/c++/OSObject.cpp:148

    Backtrace (CPU 6), Frame : Return Address

    0xffffff81320abcc0 : 0xffffff800fc1d626

    0xffffff81320abd30 : 0xffffff800ffedd17

    0xffffff81320abd70 : 0xffffff800ffed317

    0xffffff81320abda0 : 0xffffff801002d7df

    0xffffff81320abe00 : 0xffffff8010032b14

    0xffffff81320abe20 : 0xffffff8010063d31

    0xffffff81320abe50 : 0xffffff800fc9424c

    0xffffff81320abe80 : 0xffffff800fc20b3d

    0xffffff81320abeb0 : 0xffffff800fc10448

    0xffffff81320abf00 : 0xffffff800fc1961b

    0xffffff81320abf70 : 0xffffff800fca6536

    0xffffff81320abfb0 : 0xffffff800fcce9e3

     

    BSD process name corresponding to current thread: SystemUIServer

     

    Mac OS version:

    12E55

     

    Kernel version:

    Darwin Kernel Version 12.4.0: Wed May  1 17:57:12 PDT 2013; root:xnu-2050.24.15~1/RELEASE_X86_64

    Kernel UUID: 896CB1E3-AB79-3DF1-B595-549DFFDF3D36

    Kernel slide:     0x000000000fa00000

    Kernel text base: 0xffffff800fc00000

    System model name: MacBookPro8,2 (Mac-94245A3940C91C80)

     

    System uptime in nanoseconds: 123652033114

    last loaded kext at 106377565834: com.apple.filesystems.smbfs    1.8.4 (addr 0xffffff7f9038c000, size 229376)

    loaded kexts:

    com.github.osxfuse.filesystems.osxfusefs    2.5.4

    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp    4.2.8

    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt    4.2.8

    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB    4.2.8

    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv    4.2.8

    com.intel.kext.intelhaxm    1.0.4

    com.radiosilenceapp.nke.PrivateEye    1

    com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower    1.6.6

    com.logmein.driver.LogMeInSoundDriver    1.0.2

    com.apple.filesystems.smbfs    1.8.4

    com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor    1.9.5d0

    com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothSCOAudioDriver    4.1.4f2

    com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothA2DPAudioDriver    4.1.4f2

    com.apple.filesystems.autofs    3.0

    com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager    4.1.4f2

    com.apple.driver.AppleTyMCEDriver    1.0.2d2

    com.apple.driver.AGPM    1

    Model: MacBookPro8,2, BootROM MBP81.0047.B27, 4 processors, Intel Core i7, 2.2 GHz, 8 GB, SMC 1.69f4

    Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000, Intel HD Graphics 3000, Built-In, 512 MB

    Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6750M, AMD Radeon HD 6750M, PCIe, 1024 MB

    Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x8634, 0x535550455254414C454E5430320000000000

    Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x8634, 0x535550455254414C454E5430320000000000

    AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0xD6), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.106.98.100.17)

    Bluetooth: Version 4.1.4f2 12041, 2 service, 18 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

    Network Service: Ethernet, Ethernet, en0

    Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en1

    Serial ATA Device: APPLE SSD TS128C, 121.33 GB

    USB Device: hub_device, 0x0424  (SMSC), 0x2513, 0xfd100000 / 2

    USB Device: IR Receiver, apple_vendor_id, 0x8242, 0xfd110000 / 3

    USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in), apple_vendor_id, 0x8509, 0xfa200000 / 3

    USB Device: hub_device, 0x0424  (SMSC), 0x2513, 0xfa100000 / 2

    USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad, apple_vendor_id, 0x0252, 0xfa120000 / 5

    USB Device: BRCM2070 Hub, 0x0a5c  (Broadcom Corp.), 0x4500, 0xfa110000 / 4

    USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, apple_vendor_id, 0x821a, 0xfa113000 / 7