Q: Bluetooth audio lag

I'm on a MacBook Pro mid 2010 with Yosemite 10.10.1

I have a Rockbox #3 connected via bluetooth. It's a great wireless bluetooth speaker if you ask me. When I play music in VLC and leave my MacBook alone it works with no stuttering. But when I do something else on my MacBook the audio is stuttering. Especially when I am downloading or streaming I can't even make out wich song is playing. That's how bad it sounds. So I see a connection between the stuttering and network activity.

I tried several things that are posted here but nothing works. Should I update to 10.10.2?

updated today with the beta, the lag issue seems to be fixed, so thank you and i hope others mange to get it fixed, i just signed up to the beta updates, google it if you want to try. dont forget to back you laptop up first just incase it makes it worse or it dont work at all

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?

I can confirm: after update to the last beta version, the audio lag disappeared !
Looks like they fixed it, finally.

Waiting for the stable release of 10.10.2 to fix my bluetooth issue fingers crossed!!

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.

I have noticed a slight improvement (I think) by unselecting the three checkbox options in Bluetooth Advanced settings:

System Preferences > Bluetooth > Advanced --- then unselect the three checkboxes.

No restart was needed.

Just a quick update. I've played with 10.10.2 now for about two days, and for several hours with my bluetooth speaker. (It fixed the WiFi issue for me as others have reported here.) The new update very much improved the bluetooth audio lag. There's pretty much no lag at all with youtube, but there is still an ever-so-slight lag with hulu and amazon...ever-so-slight. I've watched and tinkered for hours on hulu and amazon, and it still isn't perfect, and I'm not going to settle for almost-perfect. So I'm downgrading back to my older OS because everything on it worked, and I'm returning my speakers, as I bought them with the intention of movie watching. Best of luck to everyone!

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 doesn't work for me...as i don't have Handoff...which is only available for post 2011 Macs.

However, I can well believe that the problem relates to Handoff, as this was a new feature they added (to Yosemite) that is different from Mavericks (the last time my bluetooth speakers worked).

I know Apple don't read this...why would they care about their customers!..but to continually deny there is a problem when the forums are full of it and to still have that same problem 3 months later is completely unacceptable.

I wish I'd read this post before purchasing a set of bluetooth headsets today.  With my Mid 2010 iMac the sound starts off fine, but minute by minute the lag gets so bad they are all but useless

Waiting for the stable release of 10.10.2 to fix my bluetooth issue fingers crossed!! I have a 2011 Macbook Pro with no hand off severe Bluetooth glitches since Yosemite. Mavericks no issues.

I signed up for the beta program and updated, and this FIXED my problem. Thanks!
(Macbook white late 2011)

The 10.10.2 beta hasn't consistently fixed the problem for me... very annoying. Sometimes there's still noticeable skipping and lag.