Bluetooth audio lag

So is Apple going to do ANYTHING about this?? It's been months that people have been reporting this and still no word... I've tried every fix in the book and I can only get the sound to stop stuttering for - if I'm lucky - an hour at a time. This is infuriating... I just got a new speaker and was hoping to use it with my MacBook, but now it doesn't look like that'll be possible.

I just joined the beta program and upgrading to 10.10.2 didn't fix my audio skipping/lagging at all... how do I get out of the beta program?? I know I can't downgrade now but I just want to go back to getting the stable releases from here on out.

I have this problem too...ever since upgrading to the malware that is OSX Yosemite

iTunes as my music player has been made redundant.

music skips and lags on bluetooth speakers.

quite disgusted that Apple has neither officially recognised this nor rectified it.

i have tried resetting PRAM. i have tried reformatting. neither have worked. i refuse to use a Beta update.

if Apple can't be bothered...then neither can i....

I too am having issues with the speaker lag. I have a Bose SoundLink 3, and on my iPad Air 2 the youtube videos and Amazon streaming works just fine. Love it. Sadly, on my MacBook Air 2012 there is a half-second delay, which makes it fine for music/Pandora, but useless for video (youtube, Amazon, or iTunes). I'm glad to hear that the speaker lag seems to be fixed from most reports on this thread. I'm too scared to do the beta testing, so it looks like my ONLY option is to wait until the 10.10.2 is available?

Thanks so much for sharing this fix. I'm not able to jump into the beta program right now, but it's really good to hear that there is a fix on the way.

I can't figure out why the Apple tech (who allegedly corresponded with the relevant engineering team) told me that Yosemite's BT works fine, and that my headphones will need to be updated to be compatible. If Apple is aware of the issue and has in fact already solved it, why on earth would they risk frustrating/alienating users by telling them that Apple won't be doing anything further to fix the problem? I would have been thrilled if when I called in I had been told that the issue has already been fixed and will be rolled out with 10.10.2!

Just an update: Besides the delay on my laptop Mac Air, there is a slight quarter-second delay on my iPad Air 2 when watching movies. I posted earlier that there wasn't a delay. But now that I've been using it a lot for the last couple of days, the delay on my iPad Air 2 goes in and out. The delay isn't as bad as my laptop air, but it's a delay nonetheless that makes it difficult to watch a movie. So, that's annoying. I'm beginning to think that the technology just isn't up to speed yet to for a perfect bluetooth speaker if the new 10.10.2 doesn't ultimately do the trick. I'm going to take the plunge and sign up for the beta version and report back my experience.

did not work for me. I even did a complete clean install of Yosemite (nothing passed on from mavericks here) and there is still bluetooth lag.

Quite incredible that such a big, big problem is still not fixed. Same for the WiFi problems which were carried on from mavericks.

I'm still having occasional popping and skipping issues, but for the most part it's working a LOT better. I'd say it's mostly usable.

EDIT: Issues are fading in and out... one minute the audio is skipping every few seconds, the next it's mostly reliable. Still pretty bad. I spoke too soon... again. Apple, fix this.

I've waited for this update for months hoping it will solve this very very annoying problem... now the lag has disappeared, but after 5-10 min I've a loud buzz sound that make your head explode. This is very frustrating, I hate the idea that something that was functional now it totally unusable. Apple software quality has gone down straight in the last few years, this is totally absurd.

I don't have the time and the will to do a downgrade to Mavericks (where all works properly), this is not a solution, this is a failure. Hope I'll find a solution maybe with the help of this community, for now I've totally useless (after months!) bluetooth headphones and I hate it.

iMac late 2009. Philips SHB9100
I will never update anything anymore if these are the results.

@Griso21, I had the same experience with the loud buzzing noise, which I would describe as a static pop that lasted 1-2 seconds. It was much louder than the volume of the video I was watching, and it was definitely an unsafe volume. The static noise repeated every time I got a new mail message—in lieu of the normal mail sound (and at a much, much higher volume). I disconnected and reconnected the headphones and it hasn't happened since. But if it does happen again I will switch back to using my PC (which has served me well these last many months) for watching video.

On a related note, I have no idea why AppleCare has been claiming (as recently as mid-January, when the beta of 10.10.2 was already out) that this was a manufacturer problem and that Apple would not be supporting/fixing it. Even responses from the engineering team took this tack: "The manufacturer would be responsible in releasing updates to become compatible with the latest version of Apple’s operating system." If they'd already fixed (or as @ozseth astutely pointed out, "improved") this issue, why were they still claiming that they would not do so? I can only hope that their claims that they won't be issuing further fixes to Bluetooth on iOS 8 (which no longer pairs with many car stereos, including mine) are similarly untrue. Either way, what a frustrating ride this has been.

Thanks mate, I will try to disconnect - reconnect my headphones later, and I let you know if this fixed out the problem.

I have investigated after your post and I have also noticed that the problem of the "destroying-ear-buzzing-noise" happens when some other sound (in this case a "download complete" notification) plays while I'm watching a movie. This for the records.

I think is very ridiculous that after months this problem is still annoying so many people, and I'm wondering how is it possible that a big company that made quality software for years isn't capable of solving a problem that isn't here in the old releases of OSX(same story on the iPad about this, but this is another long story OT.) New releases don't have to improve things usually? Also, after 4 (FOUR!) months of 10.2.2 beta testing, how is it possible that a problem so huge has not been solved yet completely?

I think Apple is understimating this problem that affected quite all of the users with a bluetooth sound-something. Not everyone has another computer or the time to downgrade to older OSX or the time to try a thousand fix that doesn't fix anything.

In the future I hope that if an OSX update doesn't work properly on a system, it simply will not install and let you use your device like always without problems. I would be so happy if someone told me about this problem BEFORE installing Yosemite (my bad, I will not do it anymore)

Update:

Above was my early impression, until my system went to sleep and after wakeup showed again some lagging on youtube videos. I don't have any clue if sleep/wakeup was the triggering reason, but it is still happening. Though less frequent, still disappointing.

Tried to unpair-pair the headphones, disabled all other sounds (notification, etc.) but the buzzing-noise problem happens again after a while. So frustrating, I don't know what to do anymore, I think I will surrender to this total absurd problem. It's also unsafe for my ear cause it's very loud. It was ironically better with the lag, at least I can regulate it with VLC.

So, in the end, to watch a movie with my headphones (after months of waiting for a fix) I need to use Windows. It seems like a f. joke, but it's the real thing.

I'm so annoyed and angry. If anyone has ideas, they're welcome. I'm very, very disappointed at this time.

I'm still having the same static popping noise explosions described by Griso21 and Cappellin. The noise is deafeningly loud—it's at max volume, regardless of what level the volume control is set to. Definitely a safety hazard. How frustrating that Apple has swapped one bad issue for another. Hoping for a fix soon, before I go deaf. I have tried unpairing/repairing, etc. and welcome anyone else's suggestions. I'm using Creative headphones.

I have a brand new MacBook Pro with 10.10.2 -- has Bluetooth lagging issues when surfing the web. Seems like wifi interferes with the Bluetooth. Music is unplayable on bluetooth speakers as it skips and stutters too much, unless all the computer is doing is playing music.

I also have a Mac Mini with 10.10.2, and while it doesn't have skipping problems with Bluetooth, it has a disconnection problem where after a while a white buzz noise (very loud) occurs and you have to turn off the bluetooth speakers and repair/reconnect them.

iPhone/iPad doesn't seem to have Bluetooth problems.

Good to see Apple really works hard to repair fixes for it's expensive hardware. i.e. they don't seem to care.