10.10.3 Bluetooth sound clipping

The following solved my problem:

It's an issue with the amount of power/bandwidth supplied to the BluetoothAudioAgent, the daemon in charge of streaming. Apparently most people have had success by entering the following command in terminal.app:

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Bitpool Min (editable)" -int 40

Source: http://lifehacker.com/fix-your-bluetooth-audio-in-yosemite-with-this-terminal-16 70380974

The source article lists Yosemite as the specific OS this applies to, but I know that this fix also works back to Mavericks and (possibly) Snow Leopard (untested).

I am having this exact issue at the moment and entered that command with non-noticeable results. I'm going to reboot the machine and see if that takes the new settings into account. But it seems like this command is the way that the wide majority of people have resolved this issue.

EDIT: Just rebooted, the audio quality is significantly better. No noticeable choppiness whatsoever (knock on wood). It appears that the command I posted above does seem to resolve the issue.

EDIT 2 (2015-8-24): The above command does help in many cases and produces noticeable quality improvements. Unfortunately, however, Yosemite is very moody with regard to bluetooth audio. The problem compounds itself when in proximity of other bluetooth devices. To expand on my previous answer above, I highly recommend entering the following additional commands to increase other bluetooth audio parameters:

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Bitpool Max (editable)" 80

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

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Initial Bitpool (editable)" 40

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Initial Bitpool Min (editable)" 40

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Negotiated Bitpool" 58

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Negotiated Bitpool Max" 58

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Negotiated Bitpool Min" 48

EDIT 3 (2015-9-08): Alright. I'm sorry I keep updating this answer, but I keep finding more information about this issue (since improving bluetooth audio on Yosemite is a long-term effort, apparently). I've found several sources that cut straight to the mustard and set everything to 80 which appears to be the maximum allowable value for Bitpool settings. If the above settings don't work well enough for you, try the "All In™" approach.

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Bitpool Max (editable)" 80

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Bitpool Min (editable)" 80

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Initial Bitpool (editable)" 80

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Apple Initial Bitpool Min (editable)" 80

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Negotiated Bitpool" 80

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Negotiated Bitpool Max" 80

defaults write com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent "Negotiated Bitpool Min" 80

To see your current defaults:

defaults read com.apple.BluetoothAudioAgent

Edit 4 (2016-07-14): One more (hopefully last) edit. Make sure that you restart the bluetoothaudiod (or coreaudiod) service after making changes to these settings.

sudo killall bluetoothaudiod

Or, if you are on El Capitan:

sudo killall coreaudiod

Credit for this goes to the multiple wise nerds below who suggested it. (Thank you!)

Source: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/167245/yosemite-bluetooth-audio-is-chop py-skips

I am also experiencing this same problem with my Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0 headphones after updating to version 10.10.3.

My Specs:

Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)

Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB

512GB SSD

Same as the person above, I am only experiencing the distortion while using the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0 headphones on my MacBook Pro via bluetooth.

With the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless, you have the option to go wired or wireless.

If I connect my headphones via a wired connection, the sound comes through crystal clear.

Steps I did to try to fix the problem:

- Removed the device from my Bluetooth list and paired the device again.

- Removed the com.apple.Bluetooth.plist file from /Library/Preferences and com.apple.BluetoothFileExchange.plist from /Users/username/Library/Preferences. Rebooted and paired my device once more. These steps did not fix the problem.

- Reset PRAM and SMC.

All of the above steps did not fix my problem

I am frequently using the Momentum Wireless 2.0 headphones with my iPad and iPhone and have had not had any issues with these devices. These devices were also updated to the latest OS version.

I have another pair of wireless headphones, the JayBird BlueBuds X. I have not had any problems with them after the update.

I am at a loss at this point.

After the update to 10.10.3 I have also this problem with my Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0 headphones. Previously, the sound was perfect.

My Specs:

MacPro 6,1

Processor 3.5GHz 6-Core

Memory 64GB

Graphics dual FirePro D700

512GB SSD

I have even reinstalled OSX from scratch, but that didn't fix the problem. On my Macbook Pro with 10.10.2 and iOS devices, everything works fine.

I have the same problem on MacBook Air (Early 2014 1,4 GHz Intel Core i5 4GB 256SSD). Bluetooth headset is useless piece of plastic after 10.10.3 update.

I have the same problem as well. I had been very pleased with my Sennheiser Momentum M2 AEBT headphones but after the 10.10.3 update I hear frequent crackling sounds that ruin the sound quality. I am certain it has to do with the OS update and not the headphones themselves.

Like the OP I have tried unpairing/pairing, changing Audio MIDI settings etc. but the problem persists. If I connect with the wire the problem goes away so I think the problem is with 10.10.3 BlueTooth.

I haven't solved the problem but I discovered a program called Bluetooth Explorer by Apple -- it is available with XCode. I have version 4.3.0. After playing around with the settings, I couldn't get it to work perfectly but I think it improved things. But I could be imagining it since the problem is still there.

Anyway, here are my current settings:

Thanks Sanjaya, but this does not work for me.

I tried many conifigurations in Bluetooth Explorer - sound still clipping, rapidly mute, then going back in few seconds (like connection lost, but the BT and headset is OK).

I think at this point, I would prefer to rollback to 10.10.2, until this gets squared away. Unfortunately I didn't have time machine configured before I upgraded.

Anyone have the steps to perform the downgrade from 10.10.3 to 10.10.2?

Where to get the the official 10.10.2 iso?

Thanks.

I've managed to get back to 10.10.2 and audio is great while using my Momentum Wireless headphones.

The only issue I have now is that my new P2715Q 27" monitor is not working under 10.10.2. The 10.10.3 upgrade probably fixes some sort of problem with my 4K monitor. The new monitor works if I disconnect my main monitor which is a Thunderbolt Display.

Now I'm stuck again... either I have a working bluetooth connection with my headphones and have my second 4K monitor not work or I get back to 10.10.3 in order to have my new monitor working side by side with my Thunderbolt Display.

Not good Apple!

Hey, buddy, would you please tell me how you get back to 10.10.2? i had enough of 10.10.3 bluetooth issue``````

thanks!

Same here! Talked to Apple Support, we hope for a fix on 10.10.4.

Send bug report to Apple and to Sennheiser to get this fixed quicker!

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

http://sv-se.sennheiser.com/service-support-contact

The issue lies with the Sennheiser Momentum wireless headphones. Contact Sennheiser support.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/11/sennheiser-momentum-wireless-headphones-bluet ooth-issues/

http://gizmodo.com/sennheisers-new-wireless-headphones-only-work-well-with-17028 79729

Hey, thanks for posting this. I've contacted Sennheiser support to help me resolve this issue.

The strange thing, though, is that it worked fine in OS X 10.10.2 so I was fairly certain that the problem lay with Apple. But from what you posted, that may not be the case. Let's see what Sennheiser says.

Thanks again.