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[Q] Bluetooth car audio sounds bad

I have a car stereo that supports streaming Bluetooth audio, my MyTouch 3G Slide sounded great with Pandora (on high quality) or playing MP3's but on the MyTouch 4G there is definitely something 'wrong.'
The audio sounds slightly distorted on both Pandora and MP3s, mostly on high sounds. reducing the phone media volume does not help, it sounds like a bandwidth issue (such as an A2DP audio profile not being set to the right bandwidth or sampling rate).
Anyone else try this out yet?
EDIT: I found this could be because of the A2DP 'bitpool' setting being too low? Similar issue on the Evo.

Really, no feedback?

I have tried it but my bluetooth adapter i think is messed up I have the alpine one on my evo and my mytouch it only plays through 1 speaker

Whatnissan said:
I have tried it but my bluetooth adapter i think is messed up I have the alpine one on my evo and my mytouch it only plays through 1 speaker
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I stream daily music over bluetooth to my Madzda 2010 (built in bluetooth) and except some static crackling once in a while it sounds great. I had a N1 before and the sound is even better I think. I think there was a special issue with Pandora and other "internet radios" and the newer Android versions. I think that Google changed something to keep it compatible or so. Not an expert in that.

mine sounds as good as my vibrant did... have you tested a bluetooth headset for calling or audio to compare? maybe a hardware issue if it sounds bad there too...

I picked up a second Mytouch 4g for comparison - no change on the bluetooth audio, both have the same issue with high end audio crackling via car audio (plugging in the analog cable sounds fine on both).
Interesting side note, the LCD on Mytouch #1 had a slightly pinkish hue whereas Mytouch #2 was what I would call normal tint. The pinkish hue was particularly noticable on white fonts or backgrounds which appeared off-white, or Grays which appeared slightly pink.
So I'm keeping phone #2; the bluetooth issue is most likely software related. If that is the case, I hope it will be fixed with an eventual root mod.

I just wanted to add that the myTouch 4G I just got is working fine when using PowerAMP to my Mustang with SYNC. No crackling or other issues at any volume I could stand. I did notice that the stock music app wouldn't respond to AVRCP commands unless it was brought into focus, which was kind of lame and why I went to PowerAMP.

Cyanogenmod resolves this issue
In my particular situation, with a Nissan OEM radio supporting bluetooth streaming audio, switching to the latest Cyanogenmod Nightly build fixes my audio quality issue. No more audio that sounds bandwidth limited, something resembling a 64kbps MP3.

USB Audio - doesn't work properly on S7 Edge

My car head unit (a Kenwood DDX4016DAB) supports USB sound input via AOA 2.0.
Much to my frustration, I've discovered that my old LG G3 hooks up to it perfectly, and plays music, phone sounds etc. through it very nicely.
My shiny new S7 Edge however does not. Whilst it does connect to the head unit (and the relevant line in Developer Options shows that the USB mode is "USB Audio"), the sound quality is distorted and muffled. I'm at a complete loss as to why this might be - save that Samsung clearly has some not-too-clever audio software which might be interfering with the AOA output. Does anyone have any smart ideas?
I've had to fall back to bluetooth in the meantime - but the sound quality of bluetooth just isn't that great.
Many thanks in advance.

An update:
The June update package for the s7 edge seems to have partially fixed the problem. The sound now outputs without distortion, although the playback controls on the radio itself (play/pause; back/next) do not work - this includes control by steering wheel. The playback controls did work with LG G3, so this is an s7 issue.

Bluetooth Music Quality

How the does bluetooth sound for you guys? Mine seems to be worse after the B29 update (not for certain that's when it degraded). I have a decent car stereo setup, but bluetooth distorts and crackles in the mids and highs. It's not unlistenable, but I thought my stereo was on the fritz until I used my 3.5mm input from the headphone jack, which sounds just fine. It can't be that the DAC is that much better, as my other phones sounds fine and this used to.
Do you have any thoughts or experience with something besides a small bluetooth speaker?

And I have tried playing with the Dolby settings. They make no difference with the distortion.

After some perfunctory tests I have noted that Bluetooth audio seems to introduce a significant amount of extra noise at high volumes. Aside from the additional background noise I have not noticed distortions with Bluetooth yet. I have only checked this on B29.

PiArc said:
After some perfunctory tests I have noted that Bluetooth audio seems to introduce a significant amount of extra noise at high volumes. Aside from the additional background noise I have not noticed distortions with Bluetooth yet. I have only checked this on B29.
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Just something to try...I have a BT device hooked to my AVR, and when I stream through that, if I have the volume on my phone up it sounds horrible. If I stream through it with the volume up just 1 click of the volume button, it sounds good. I increase volume at the AVR instead of the phone.

Through Bluetooth hands free working flawlessly to my.(A2017G version)
I'm having 2 LG 1100/2 Sony SBH 80 and 2 SBH 20.
Haven't try it with external speakers(since I don't own any kind) and on my car I'm using the handsfree and not connected to the car audio system.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have a A2017G on B05 and a somewhat cheap aukey BT headset: it seems to sound fine for me, no crackling or hissing. Have you tried it on different devices to compare?

A2017U on B29, using Jaybirds Bluebuds X, the sound its great, no distortion or cracking.
I use the Bluetooth on my car stereo too and the sound is excellent. No dolby, but the equalizer works fine.

Did you verify that all your bluetooth devices supports aptx? if not then you will lose sound quality :S
idk, i dont like bluetooth audio streaming... even with aptx. Its not bad but if you want to steam flac music it will still limit the quality. Somehow if i stream the music via bluetooths aptx it sound flat not dynmic and
voluminous.

I haven't tried it with the volume just below full. I'll give it a shot in the morning on my commute.
Other devices (S5 and 6P) sound just fine when paired to my headed unit, so it's likely something with my Axon 7.
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Quick test with the volume just under full seemed better. I'll know more after a drive tomorrow. Thanks everyone.

yamils said:
A2017U on B29, using Jaybirds Bluebuds X, the sound its great, no distortion or cracking.
I use the Bluetooth on my car stereo too and the sound is excellent. No dolby, but the equalizer works fine.
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EQ on on your car stereo or phone? I don't know of an EQ on the phone (maybe I've overlooked something).

admrusty said:
EQ on on your car stereo or phone? I don't know of an EQ on the phone (maybe I've overlooked something).
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On the phone. I meant to say that it's not using the HiFi audio, but the Dolby eq it's fine on Bluetooth. Sorry for the confusion.

I think it sounds about 95% better just one click below full volume. I never would have thought that digital Bluetooth volume would have been the problem, having always set it to 100% with every other device. Thankfully, Tasker makes for a quick fix.
Thanks for the tips and feedback, everyone.

Really, really poor bluetooth audio quality?

On my G6, I have really terrible audio quality over Bluetooth connections, I've had two separate G6s, of different colors, received weeks apart, and they both suck for Bluetooth audio, especially my Sony car stereo, and LG Tone Free... can anybody else report on their experience? Does your LS993 sound awful on your Bluetooth devices?

Have a fairly new G6 bluetooth og Bose earpiece working very well, also on 2010 F150 pick up and 2012 Buick no audio issues. Audio has been fine so far.

Mine also is pretty poor. The volume level is about half the level of the satellite radio or fm stations in my car

Hello all.
I had G2 in the past and I use to listen music in my car, using Bluetooth connection to Pioneer head unit. I have Spotify premium account and I have my Playlist downloaded with the best quality. However once I got G6 a week ago I noticed that audio quality from the g6 with the same songs, same Playlist, same Spotify account, is not as good as it was with g2. So I did a short research and found a thread in the net where people reported the same problem.
A guy from the thread suggested to disconnect all other Bluetooth devices from the phone (like smart watch or band) and actually that solved my problem. I have MiBand2. Once I disconnected it the audio quality became as good as before.
So guys, if you have a smart watch, try to remove it and check the quality again. I hope that helps.

I went a couple of months with no issues on my Kia Optima, then suddenly, I started getting really bad aliasing on the highs. As said above, I turned off my Huwaei watch and the sound was normal again. After a bit, I turned my watch back on, and it remained fine.
I had it happen once again many weeks later; and again, a quick off - wait - on, cycle with the watch fixed it. So whatever it is, seems to be a bandwith allocation issue with the bluetooth software. From March '17 thorugh almost Sept '17 and I've only had to do this twice? I think I can live with this.

Hey heres something for you to try..
Download WiFi Scanner from App Store.. Look at your 2.4ghz networks.. then keep in mind your cordless phones, IP Cams, Walkie Talkies, baby monitors in your area.. You may be a victim of signal interference.
Bluetooth operates on the 2.4ghz spectrum along with a TON of other devices now available.
Your sony stereo may be the culprit.. if is an aftermarket "Xplod" deck
Im an audiophile, and my G6 runs better than my Samsungs.. (also no issues with the "preventative volume warning"
What you also may have is an app that is causing the volume to lower...
For example.. when i stream the music player with the stock app, sometimes Snapchat notification sounds cause the rest of the volume to be lower..
Google Maps is another one that can hijack the sound but you can control in settings.
For using music try a different app ( i use Maple Player) and it works great ..
Based on your experiences i think its something outside causing the problem to be honest. but thats ALOT of trial and error to deal with.. if worse comes to worse- you can always get an aux jack bluetooth adapter for your car stereo if it IS the stereos bluetooth receiver .

Question GSMARENA Nothing Phone Review Audio Issues

So GSMArena spent a bit of time on their detailed review saying that there is something VERY wrong w the audio quality of the Phone 1, in regards to using wired or wireless headphones. They stated that the Phone 1 had a "disastrous frequency response" and also that "it's not the only issue either - stereo crosstalk is so high (-3.9dB compared to -85dB or lower for just about every phone) that the phone's stereo effect is severely compromised." They did just update their review after the most recent firmware update and stated the audio was still NOT fixed. Can someone comment as to if they've had audio issues with the Phone 1, or that they noticed audio quality sucks? I'm thinking about purchasing but I use my phone for 2 hours a day in the gym streaming Bluetooth audio and obviously this would be a deal breaker if the Phone 1 has ****ty audio quality compared to every other phone. Thanks in advance.

One of the speakers is just the call speaker, so the stereo speakers are kind of bad, but otherwise they sound fine. With BT headphones I didn't have any issues (other than not being able to choose codec, but that has been fixed in the latest update).

ErChisus said:
One of the speakers is just the call speaker, so the stereo speakers are kind of bad, but otherwise they sound fine. With BT headphones I didn't have any issues (other than not being able to choose codec, but that has been fixed in the latest update).
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Sorry I didn't clarify. They weren't talking about the external speakers. They were talking about audio quality measured via wired and wireless headphones/earbuds.

xphyle1971 said:
Sorry I didn't clarify. They weren't talking about the external speakers. They were talking about audio quality measured via wired and wireless headphones/earbuds.
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I cannot report on wired as I don't have a usb-c to 3.5 jack converter, but no issues with wireless.

I have tested mine with a bluetooth headphone and with an usb wire with the same headphone, I didn't heard to must difference with my iPhone 12 mini ( I just play a movie with song and speech )
I'm not an pro audiophile so maybe I'm wrong

xphyle1971 said:
Sorry I didn't clarify. They weren't talking about the external speakers. They were talking about audio quality measured via wired and wireless headphones/earbuds.
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I've tried both and had no problems with either wired or wireless headphones. The only thing I noticed was that I used an adapter that allows you to charge your cell phone and connect headphones. As soon as I let the device charge, no sound came through the headphones. I didn't have this problem with my pixel 5.