Bluetooth AAC on Apple Silicon Macs

[Citizen45]

The Apple Silicon Macs all support Bluetooth 5.0.

However I cannot find anywhere that shows whether they support AAC over Bluetooth?

Using my AirPods, I find the sound quality is better when connected to my iPhone as opposed to my MacBook.

Is there a way to enable AAC on Apple Silicon MacBooks? Or is it not supported at all?

 

[ondioline]

Yes you can force a codec with Bluetooth Explorer:

How to Enable the Optimal Audio Codec for Your Bluetooth Headphones in macOS

How good your digital music sounds often comes down to which file format it's encoded in. Be that as it may, every Mac audio setup is only as...

www.macrumors.com

 

[Citizen45]

Yes you can force a codec with Bluetooth Explorer:

How to Enable the Optimal Audio Codec for Your Bluetooth Headphones in macOS

How good your digital music sounds often comes down to which file format it's encoded in. Be that as it may, every Mac audio setup is only as...

www.macrumors.com

Thanks.

It’s pretty dumb that I have to download a whole new app just to turn on AAC.

It should be on by default just like on iPhones. Literally no reason for it not to be.

 

[fakestrawberryflavor]

On the MacBooks, What format does it come over if Not AAC? This has to be why I thought the AirPods Max sucked and I sold them.

 

[GumaRodak]

There is easy terminal command to enable aac codec, or atleast was on intel macs

sudo defaults write bluetoothaudiod "Enable AAC codec" -bool true

Check what is active
sudo domain read bluetoothaudiod

Restart computer and device after command set

Similar it is with aptx codec

 

[BrianBaughn]

There

Thanks.

It’s pretty dumb that I have to download a whole new app just to turn on AAC.

It should be on by default just like on iPhones. Literally no reason for it not to be.

As per the linked post you don't have to download anything.

Regarding what is "default"…maybe it's an energy usage thing. Does battery life go down when using AAC?

 

[ianeiloart]

There is easy terminal command to enable aac codec, or atleast was on intel macs

sudo defaults write bluetoothaudiod "Enable AAC codec" -bool true

Check what is active
sudo domain read bluetoothaudiod

Restart computer and device after command set

Similar it is with aptx codec

I think that's:
sudo defaults read bluetoothaudiod
But I have nothing to read there.
Has all this gone away with Sonoma?

Also, option-clicking Bluetooth in the control centre doesn't display the audio encoding. At least not for my FIIO BTR15

Also, there doesn't seem to be a Bluetooth explorer in XCode 14 or 15 additional tools.
There is, however, a packet logger, which shows the encoding. And I'm playing audio through FIIO BTR15 dac/amp, which is driving a pair of analogue headphones. And my encoding is AAC.

 

[MrGunny94]

Since the new OS came out I can't also be able to see it with Option on Bluetooth settings which is quite annoying, if anyone finds a different way through the CLI let me know.