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I got a pair of Plantronics bluetooth headphones. Work great with my iPhone. Sounds terrible with my Mac, cuts out, sounds choppy, sounds mono to me. A co-worker tells me he has the same problem.
BTW, I'm on Leopard, patched up.
So question is: What is the deal? Is it fixable?
275
In case anyone ends up here, like me, experiencing this problem on a more recent Mac OS (in my case Sierra): None of the other solutions here worked for me. Sierra doesn't give the option to connect in headset or headphones mode, and the bitpool setting made no difference.
I finally figured it out: Going to sound preferences and manually changing the sound input device back to Internal Microphone seemed to switch my headset into headphone mode, making the sound quality worlds better.
Note that you can also do this faster by option-clicking on the volume icon in the menu bar.
Hope that helps someone out there.
linesarefuzzy
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 2 851
18This should be higher up. Apparently this is the only way to turn off A2DP in Sierra. – Adam Shiemke – 2017-01-05T21:51:12.333
2I realised the same thing. It's worth pointing out that this appears to do what it says, and uses the computer's internal microphone – meaning that the microphone may catch more background sounds that you would like. – Henrik N – 2017-01-10T15:04:41.847
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! - This solved my problem right away. Thanks for adding your insight to this old thread :) – Michael Romrell – 2017-03-06T19:25:03.980
1In my case, re-pairing the bluetooth headphone helped. – Bhargav Nanekalva – 2017-05-02T12:32:27.280
Dammit. I was working this for hours. Thanks. – Malvolio – 2017-05-15T23:39:01.537
This works! BUT it then quickly switches input device BACK to my bluetook device :( – Omar – 2017-06-13T15:33:48.713
OMG thank you so much! I was losing my mind. – GantMan – 2017-08-31T20:07:44.897
23This solution worked but every time I turned off and reconnected my headphones the sound input got set back to the headphones. After playing around in the Audio MIDI Setup tool I found a way to fix this by creating an "Aggregate Device" using the plus button in the bottom left. Select only the built in microphone for your new aggregate device and then set the aggregate device as your sound input. The aggregate device will remain selected as the sound input device when connecting your headphones, even after rebooting. – CrimsonChris – 2017-09-23T03:43:47.067
This solution doesn't work for users who do not have a built in mic to switch input to, for ex. Mac Pros and Mac Minis – c.dunlap – 2017-10-19T19:44:51.367
1Had the same issue on High Sierra, was listening to music and suddenly the headphones sounded like they were coming through a tin can on a string ... – Doug Watkins – 2018-03-21T16:04:17.773
If you re-pair, you should see the device as Output Device, below Internal Speakers. I only saw it as an Input Device. If it's not there as an Output Device too, switching the mic won't help, it still sounds bad. – VladFr – 2018-04-05T12:42:48.717
2
Those without a built-in mic may benefit by installing Loopback or similar in order to create a virtual audio device.
– Chris – 2018-07-23T21:23:31.9606This should be the selected answer. Still a problem in August 2018. – Greg Hilston – 2018-08-10T18:46:33.943
1Just dropping you another thank you. Got a new MBP and my noise cancelling headphones would always drop into a mode where it amplifies outside sounds and mixes it into the audio. I had given up and just used my phone for all audio playback with my headphones. Apparently using the headphone mic as the active mic kept it turned on all the time, so it was always in that "allow ambient noise" mode. – daybreaker – 2018-10-02T15:48:39.877
3No longer worked for me after upgrading to Mojave (10.14). – Martijn – 2018-10-09T13:39:31.910
Using an aggregate device in the MIDI tool does "work", but completely disables the system volume control, for me. Not sure why. (High Sierra) – dzajic – 2018-10-12T14:50:04.343
This saved me. I was going crazy with my Bose headset with noise cancelling. The only annoying thing is that I cannot use the mic because of this issue. – Omar Bahareth – 2018-12-24T10:59:02.500
In addition, for me it works only when I spoke so it received sound from the internal microphone. – Ahmad F – 2019-02-19T09:38:29.063
Still have the problem with Mac OS Mojave and this solution worked ! Thx – Marc – 2019-05-07T13:54:43.333
Worked for me on Mac OS Mojave – Ibrahim Azhar Armar – 2019-06-25T12:37:17.057
This is the right solution; worked for me on Mac OS Sierra, after you change the setting and reconnect the headphones you should be able to adjust the individual sliders for the headphones rather than just the master volume. – Rudolf Olah – 2019-06-26T23:43:32.463
1And STILL a problem July 2019, 10.14.15 - and a problem because I can't use the built in mic, which limits how far I can get from my laptop during meetings. Is there any fix for this in sight? What causes such horrible sound when the headphone mic is used? – Mattynabib – 2019-07-25T17:49:23.627
Worked again today, Oct 9th, 2019, running macOS Mojave 10.14.6.... annoying but happy to have good audio! – David Lozzi – 2019-10-09T12:49:44.087
Quit any apps that use your Bluetooth headphones' built-in microphone, then try your audio again. In my case, it was an unused google hangouts window. The reason why this happens is If you listen to music or other audio via Bluetooth headphones, and then you open an app that uses the Bluetooth headphones' built-in microphone, the audio quality and volume are reduced. You might also hear static or popping sounds. This happens because Bluetooth has two modes: one for listening to higher-quality audio, and another for both listening and speaking through the microphone. – Gray Ayer – 2019-10-10T17:54:51.220
Awesome, I confirm this is the same on MacOS Mojave as of 10/10/19 on MacBook Pro (15 inch, 2018). This solution is still valid! thanks so much – sla3k – 2019-10-11T04:38:40.633
Thank you so much! I spend many hours trying to resolve this issue (mbp 13, macOS Mojave 10.14.6 + Bowers & Wilkins PX). Thanks to you now everything works well. – Tomasz Szuba – 2019-11-13T14:11:22.627
5
Make sure that when you pair the headset you select "use as wireless headphones" (or similar) instead of "use as headset". The headset profile was designed for phone calls, and you should only use it if you're pairing a headset that does not support A2DP.
Your Plantronics headset probably supports both (if it has a microphone) because some devices switch between the two profiles for music-listening and call-taking.
s4y
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 3 469
2I don't see any affordances to choosing "headphones" vs "headset" in macOS. – Merchako – 2018-12-12T00:30:06.720
3
I have a Motorola A2DP headset and on occasion with it pairs in headset mode with my MacBookPro it's very staticy and the sound is sub-par. Usually, by disabling bluetooth and then turning it back on and resyncing everything it works fine again.
It's pretty rare that it ends up with bad sound, but I get the feeling that Apple has pretty crappy bluetooth drivers.
Adam
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 596
3
Try the method explained by Casey Liss in this post at Casey's Tumblelog. It tweaks the bitpool setting which makes all the difference in the world.
UPDATE:
The above blog post points to an article on Scott Dier's blog that no longer exists. However, it can be found on The Wayback Machine here, and it says:
OSX, Snow Leopard, a2dp
So you'd figure with Snow Leopard that sound quality with some a2dp headsets would be better — turns out it isn't. I was able to 'fix' my sound quality with a Motorola S9 by going to Bluetooth Explorer (option-click on bluetooth to find it) and going into Utilities->Special Options. I changed the bitpool minimum to 40 and the sound quality is MUCH better. Sounds like its a problem with negotiation between this headset and OS X. If you set the value too high OS X will let you know that the headset rejected the codec settings. I'd figure that 40 is ok for me, but might not be ok for others — use this at your own risk.
Posted by Scott Dier at 11:39 AM (Wednesday, October 7, 2009)
peroty
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 577
Dead link sadly :( – Tiago – 2018-10-10T15:17:22.533
1
Here's a recent post that should help: https://www.areilly.com/2017/07/29/enabling-aac-and-aptx-over-bluetooth-on-macos/
– dzajic – 2018-10-12T14:40:12.153Followed these instructions and got noticeably better sound quality. Thanks! – Hassan – 2011-11-09T13:29:21.050
1
Ok You are on Leopard which supports A2DP, as opposed to non-stereo on Tiger so that should not be the problem.
Some headphones have a headset mode and get connected in that mode incorrectly and sound awful, so you should endure that your headphones are not being connected in headset mode.
You should also try your headphones with another computer to ensure that you bluetooth adapter is not faulty.
Bruce McLeod
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 5 490
The headphones work fine with the iPhone, and most Macs have built-in Bluetooth, so testing with another system shouldn't be a problem. – Andrew Scagnelli – 2009-07-29T17:31:51.400
0
While I tried a lot of these options that everyone is presenting as solutions, I ended up fixing my headphones a different way. I went to system preferences on Mac and then went to Bluetooth. From there I right clicked on the device (Beats Solo3 Wireless) that was having issues and clicked "remove". After I did that, I reconnected them and now they work fine. My initial problem with the headphones wasn't on an individual platform rather a problem on all platforms within my mac, which includes Spotify, Youtube, FaceTime and anything else you can think of. This will give you another option to try and I hope it helps.
Joshua Stanzikle
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 1
0
I was having the same issue with a pair of Coby E7 bluetooth headphones where they sounded muffled. I went to system preferences and realized that while the audio was playing through the headphones they weren't listed under Audio -> Output as the output source.
I decided to try and disconnect the headphones by going to System Preferences -> Bluetooth and clicked the "X" button to remove them. I rebooted the headphones and repaired them and the issue is resolved and now the headphones are listed as the output source under sound.
Hope this helps.
Kelly Andrew Park
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 1
0
The top answer by linesarefuzzy worked partly for me. In addition to switching to internal microphone, I also had to disable dictating (otherwise it had no effect).
To disable dictating, go to: System preferences -> Keyboard -> Dictating, and switch dictating to off.
Audunnw
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 1
0
If you have SoundFlower installed, try uninstalling it. That solved this for me.
Use the SoundFlower uninstaller script located in the original SoundFlower install .dmg file.
Dom Martin
Posted 2009-07-24T15:22:19.293
Reputation: 1
What is the model? Does it support A2DP? What software are you testing with? Do you have friends that have Macs you can duplicate this on? – Michael Glenn – 2009-07-24T16:51:01.233
If you care about sound quality, go wired – InterLinked – 2017-02-25T21:33:19.913
Try updating your audio codecs by running:
sudo defaults write bluetoothaudiod "Enable AptX codec" -bool trueandsudo defaults write bluetoothaudiod "Enable AAC codec" -bool true– marcelosalloum – 2019-04-13T20:26:13.590For me this happens when I connect a magic mouse! – Diar Selimi – 2019-09-16T08:49:39.330