Stuttering audio with BT audio

[Belgatom]

I have been running a MBP 2017 with Ventura as a desktop replacement.
Keyboard is worn out, screen has a crack but in clamshell mode, this is a great machine.
I was using a pair of cheat BT earbuds with no problem.

I bought an Macbook Air M1 2020.
Everytime I use BT earbuds, the sound gets very choppy. Sometimes just a glitch, sometimes unbearable.
I have bough a new pair of BT earbuds (Soundcore Liberty 4 NC) - same problem.
I have tried many of the solutions as turing of handoff. Reset the Bluetooth. Paired and repaired. But to no avail.
I see a lot of people with this problem and no solutions.

I can't believe that Mac with its " It just works" motto, can't handle BT audio properly.

(I didn't buy airpods as I read that Airpods users are having same problems)

Is there really no solution for this?

 

[BrianBaughn]

My Mac Studio M1 wouldn't reliably connect to my Keychron keyboard via Bluetooth when I got the keyboard in December. I haven't tested it lately as I prefer to have it connected via USB.

So…your issue doesn't surprise me. Hopefully someone can help.

 

[streetfunk]

I bought an Macbook Air M1 2020.
Everytime I use BT earbuds, the sound gets very choppy.

i use a 2020 M1air in my kitchen. Now with BT speakers.
it works for me.
But if i had the MB on sleep, or after long pauses i have to disconnect, and reconnect.
If i open my kicthen cabinet, and the door would slightly hide the main speaker, has the BT troubles to cconnect, while doing sayed fresh connect. So for me, it has to be a "free sight" connection

 

[Belgatom]

Thanks for the replies. I found something in the M1 thread. Tried that just now for a couple of songs and seemed ok. Will try to watch something tonight on the MBA and see if that did it.

I found the cause and solution to the Bluetooth audio glitch -- Submitted both consumer feedback to apple, and formal developer bug report (FB8943911). I noticed the issue happened every time the "Location Services" icon appeared in the menu bar (which I've enabled in Privacy settings).

So I played around with turning off various Location services under System Services > "Details" button, and pinned it down to "Wi-Fi Networking" causing the problem! In fact, you can uncheck that, wait a few seconds and then reenable, and the dropout happens again instantly. "Wi-Fi Calling" also seems to trigger it (but I didn't have that checked initially.) None of the other options (Time Zone, Find my Mac, etc.) seemed to cause the issue. So I left Wi-Fi Networking unchecked and the sporadic audio glitches seems to have ceased.

I don't use Bluetooth for mouse or trackpad, but wonder if this may be the cause of those issues too. Give this a try and hope it helps you and others...

Oh and here's the exact path to the problem settings: System Prefs > Security & Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Details > uncheck Wi-Fi Networking / Wi-Fi Calling.

 

[teknodude]

I have run into this issue on a M1 Air with Big Sur. My Samsung Buds Plus had no issues, but AKG Y600NC would randomly stutter. The initial pairing was fine until I needed to auto reconnect any time later. This would always cause sound stutter no matter what setting I messed with. There were some online posts about MacOs not recognizing BT codecs correctly like SBC vs AAC, but I couldn't get feedback from the console that made sense to me.
Eventually I discovered a workaround. Once auto connected, go to bluetooth options and disconnect/reconnect the device. This seemed to resolve the stutter until I needed to reconnect at which point I just rinse and repeat the process.

I recently upgraded to Ventura and bluetooth seems to be working fine without needing that workaround.

 

[Belgatom]

So last night, I implemented the location thing abouve and decided to use the BT audio as much as possible. Listened to some differen music with different tonalities as I noticed that if the volume went up or the sound changed dramatically, it would start. Listened to Pretty Hate Machine by NIN and spent some time listening to Nick Drake. Everything sounded great, no glitches.

After that, watched another Star Trek Voyager (rewatch) with some explosions and again, nothing went wrong.

Still worried it will come back as some people tried this solution and after a while the problem came back.

Appreciate the answer Tecnodude but really hope I don't have to do that. It will be a last resort. I might borrow some AP from someone if it comes back and see if this sorts it out.

The BT codecs do sound interesting so might have a look at that.

(nice forum here btw, might hang around)

 

[Belgatom]

and it's back.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Perhaps an alternate method is in the cards for you…like a Bluetooth transmitter plugged into the headphone jack.

 

[Belgatom]

if I can't get it fixed, yes that is one option. But still, did not expect such an essential functionality to give me that much problems.