Bluetooth audio lag

The storage of the Bluetooth audio values have been changed in Mavericks / Yosemite the defaults are now with a process called “Bluetoothaudiod”, you can change the defaults by using the following example:

Sudo defaults write bluetoothaudiod "Apple Bitpool Min" 50

Please see below all the parameters I have changed, to read the defaults please enter the following command in terminal:

sudo defaults read bluetoothaudiod

enter your password:

MacBook-Pro:~ Ciaran$ sudo defaults read bluetoothaudiod

{

"AAC Bitrate" = 320;

"AAC CBR" = 1;

"Apple Bitpool Max" = 64;

"Apple Bitpool Min" = 50;

"Apple Initial Bitpool" = 50;

"Disable AAC codec" = 0;

"Disable AptX codec" = 0;

"Disable HFP" = 0;

"Enable AptX codec" = 1;

These setting work well with my Bose Soundink OE headphones, please be careful entering the values as they are case sensitive, I really hope this helps some of you out there.

Cheers.

Guys, I had the exact same problem. I wasn't able to use my Logitech Boombox Bluetooth Speaker and Logitech Bluetooth music adapter. I tried to reset ''System Management Controller'' and the problem is solved. There are no more lag no delay or no stopping music.

If you have a portable as Macbook Pro, Air;

Turn it off, connect the charge adapter, on the built in keyboard press Left shift+Control+Option and the power button together for 3 seconds. Then release all the keys. Then turn on the computer.

If you have Mac Pro, Mac Mini etc.. ;

Shut it down, unplug the power cord. Wait 15-20 seconds. Attach the power cord. Wait 5 seconds. Turn on the computer.

I had the issue as well, then I tried something that worked for me.

I am using Beats headphones as well, via bluetooth on a Mac Pro (2013)

Open terminal

type in: sudo killall coreaudiod

enter your password

close terminal

problem fixed 🙂

reality is, coreaudiod is an issue with the last two OS's for Mac. No idea why, they say do a complete install again... where as I say, really Apple? How about a simple patch to fix your faulty coreaudiod?

doing the terminal tweak, your bluetooth sound issues will be resolved.

try running this in Terminal:

ps aux | grep bluetoothaudiod | grep -v grep | awk {'print $2'} | xargs sudo renice -10 -p

This command find the process ID of bluetoothaudiod, and then set its priority to -10 with renice. As bluetoothaudiod is run by root, and setting a negative priority value requires root privilege, we run it with sudo and thus it requires your password.

Upgrading to Yosemite 10.10.2 Beta release helped. My problem was with Logitech bluetooth receiver. Now it is not lagging anymore. Release isn't pubic yet, but it should be soon. I got it as I signed to beta program on the apple developer portal.

So what I can recommend is to wait for the next Yosemite update (10.10.2) or if you really need it now, sign in for beta release. Do not use any torrent links as suggested before in this forum thread or third party updates.

FIXED:

I had exactly this same issue, sound skipping and lagging while using bluetooth. It worked fine in Mavericks but broke after the Yosemite upgrade.

In my case, this was caused by Handoff being enabled. The mac sends bursts of bluetooth data to nearby iOS devices to support the feature, and my skips/lag coincided directly with these bursts. I confirmed this by monitoring the bluetooth data.

To disable Handoff, go to System Preferences... General... and uncheck "Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices" Restart your mac.

I hope this works for you to.

This really worked for me guys!

"Bluetooth—so simple and yet so troublesome. For a subsection of users, Yosemite is causing problems with Bluetooth accessories and connectivity. One solution proffered by iDigitalTimesis to disconnect all USB preferences, shut the Mac off for several minutes and then try again from the beginning. You may have to teach Yosemite about your Bluetooth accessories afresh instead of relying on what Mavericks has passed on.

Over on the official Apple forums, it looks like resetting your machine's PRAM (Parameter Random Access Memory) once or twice might fix the problem. PRAM is where all of the core information about your system is stored, and you reset it by booting up, then holding down the Cmd+Option+P+R keys right after you've hit the power button. When you hear the startup sound for the second time, you can let go."

Peace and love!

People, I can happily confirm that after 10.10.2 Beta5, and today's Stable release, the problem has dissapeared (at least, for me).

MBP Retina 13".

Hope that the problem has solved for you too.

If not, after the stable 10.10.2, perform a PRAM reset.

Greetings!

So, the story has an end for me. Further experiments and tests confirm that the solution for the ultra-destroyer noise is the following, try this:

1) Delete the device from the bluetooth screen (open preferences menu)

2) Reboot system and reset SMC; for iMac intel based: shutdown - disconnect energy cord from Mac (not only from power) wait 15 seconds or more (some sites say 3 minutes... I disconnected it for at least 5 minutes to be sure 😀 ) - reconnect and boot normally

3) On reboot, re-pair your device like is a new one (always in the bluetooth preferences).

After this (and after a week of tests) all seems returned to normality, with wifi on or off doesn't matter, I finally can watch a movie or listen to music for hours without risking my ears.

Hope someone find this useful.

I can confirm on restarting my Mac mini that the audio issue re-presents itself. However, after disabling and re-enabling the Wi-Fi, the problem disappears again for the entire session.

This pretty much confirms the Wi-Fi is the thing that's conflicting with Bluetooth. I will get a bug report off to Apple.

I have been having a similar problem for a while, since updating to Yosemite. I'm not sure if anyone else has already covered this but I now believe my lag / stuttering is partly caused by bluetooth signal strength. I was getting RSSI value of 72, which apparently is quite poor according to this link: http://www.cnet.com/au/how-to/how-to-check-bluetooth-connection-strength-in-os-x /

0 to -60 --> good

-61 to -70 --> OK

-71 to -90 --> poor

less than -90 --> bad

One thing I didn't realise is that you can check the signal strength for each device and other advanced options by holding the option button and clicking the bluetooth icon in the menu bar.

I moved my Bose Soundlink mini and the strength improved. Not an ideal solution as it worked fine before Yosemite but definitely an improvement.

Hope that helps

Ladies and gents, please do try this.

I've been having the same issue for months now. Tried every possible solution I could find, still to no end (as you probably have already, if you're still here). The crackling sound was never out of the 5 min range. Here is, however, what worked for me absolutely flawlessly for the past couple of hours.

Change the channel on your wifi router. You are probably getting interference.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth both occupy a section of the 2.4 GHz ISM band that is 83 MHz-wide. Bluetooth uses Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and is allowed to hop between 79 different 1 MHz-wide channels in this band.

Changing the setting depends on the model of the router - here is a link on how to scan and choose for channels, and hereis one on changing the channel.

I read through each and every one of your posts and I completely understand your despair, so I came back here to publish this. I hope it works at least for some of you as it does for me.

And thanks perry1023 from Reddit for his answer. 🙂

Thanks AlinM for pointing to a correct direction. Indeed it seems to be a Bluetooth and Wifi interference issue for me. Specially Bluetooth PAN interface in the MAC. Just deleting the Bluetooth PAN interface from the Network settings resolves the issue for me.

This link helped http://osxdaily.com/2015/02/18/remove-bluetooth-pan-wi-fi-conflict-os-x-yosemite /

Ok people. I've tried all the fixes suggested by you folks here. None worked. I contacted Apple care and they emailed me the following :

First, try the SMC and PRAM Resets:

SMC Reset (Macbook/Macbook Pro/Macbook Air):

1. Shutdown the Mac.

2. Connect the MagSafe Power Adapter (Charger).

3. Observe if the MagSafe Power Adapter (Charger) light is Orange or Green.

4. Locate the Shift, Control, Option, and Power keys.

5. Press and Release the Shift, Control, Option and Power keys on your computer. The Mac will not start up.

6. If your MagSafe Power Adapter Light (Charger) was Orange, you will see it turn Green, then back to Orange. If it was Green, you will see no change.

Then, PRAM Reset

1. Shutdown the Mac.

2. Locate the Command, Option, Letter P and Letter R keys on your keyboard.

3. Turn on the Mac, and immediately hold down all four keys at the same time.

4. You will hear the initial chime. Continue to hold the keys until you hear the chime a second time.

5. Let go of the keys when the second chime plays, and let the Mac start normally.

If the issue persists, try a test user account:

To do the Test User:

1. Go to System Preferences by clicking the Apple Menu.

2. Go to Users and Groups (Accounts in OS X Snow Leopard).

3. Click on the lock at the bottom of the window.

4. Click the at the bottom of the white box.

5. Set the account type to administrator, and set all of the settings to "test". This includes the full name, account name, password, etc...

6. Click the lock to lock the preference pane.

7. Click the Apple, then "Log Out ..." and log out.

8. Click the test user, and sign in. You can skip any setup at this time

9. Try to test out the bluetooth audio connection and see if the issue persists here.

I tried this out a couple of times (not the test user thing) and the issue was resolved.

Cheers!

Change the channel on your wifi router. You are probably getting interference.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth both occupy a section of the 2.4 GHz ISM band that is 83 MHz-wide. Bluetooth uses Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and is allowed to hop between 79 different 1 MHz-wide channels in this band.

That did the trick. Thank You!