Bose Quietcomfort 35, poor quality audio on MacBook Pro

Hi,

the solution to this is very easy:

go into System Preferences "Sound" and SWITCH "INPUT" to "INTERNAL MICROPHONE", don´t use the QC35 as microphone, just as speakers - if you want to make a call or so do vice versa - but for listening to music or movie you don´t really need the mic, do you?

For me there is no relation to the Settings. (Yes, switching on the microphone on the mac does result in noise because you then add the microphone noise. My issue is not regarding microphone noise.)

The issue I am having is that the sound is pretty obviously low quality regardless (I am pretty sure it is not even in stereo) when connected to the MacBook. (I am playing an audio file that is on the computer, so this has nothing to do with the quality of streaming etc.)

When playing the SAME audio from the iPhone, the sound is in stereo and much higher quality.

Hi Vice97,

I recently had the same problem with my QC35 !

Here is how i solved the problem :

• Downloaded last version of Bluetooth Explorer from the Apple Developer platform, it is in "additionnal xcode" section
• On Bluetooth Explorer i enabled AAC connection (Apple's equivalent to APTX connection)

To see which connection standard is used when you headset is paired you have to press Shift + ALT (options) and click on the bluetooth icon on your mac and then when you go on your headset you'll see info like RSSI, CODEC etc. and you'll see if it uses SBC (poor quality) or AAC

• Once all of this is done, you disconnect every bluetooth device connected to you macbook and then you reconnect your headset in the first place, it should be in AAC mode !
• Reconnect every device you have in bluetooth
• Enjoy the amazing sound of QC35 🙂

If you have any question don't hesitate to ask !

Best from Paris,

I discovered the same issue with ElCapitain on a "Macbook Pro (Early 2013)", while the connection to my iPhone 6 works really fine. The strange thing is: unless the settings dialog is open and has full focus, the sound is great. When i close the settings dialog or focus another window like my web browser, the sound is broken again as long as the settings dialog isn't focused with the mouse or cmd-tab keys. It doesnt matter if the bluetooth panel is displayed in settings dialog or another settings panel or the main window of system settings.

I know this sounds weird, but it is reproducible at any time! The distance between me and the Macbook is 30 cm.

It seems that the bluetooth connection is more powerful when settings dialog is displayed and focused.

Rather than turning off dictation (which I use for "hey Siri" commands), you can go to <<Keyboard Settings>>, then <<Dictation>> and click on the Drop Down below the microphone icon and select <<Internal Microphone>> rather than Bose.

This was the best solution for me.

I had the exact same problem as you, and nothing worked for me. I tried turning off dictation in System Preferences (go to Keyboard settings) and that fixed the problem. Hope this helps!

Where exactly can I download Bluetooth Explorer? I can't find it.

This was the best answer! It solved my audio quality problem! However, I still want to use the dictation at the same time.

flopi_marcus: Can you provide the link to download the Bluetooth Explorer file? Thanks

TrangJuli - that link looks like spam or worse... I would not recommend trying any such link