Bluetooth audio quality has been compromised

[SONICMILLER]

Since the new lollipop update... The Bluetooth audio quality has suffered tremendously.... It's interesting because I did some testing and the Bluetooth works great on an Apt-x device such as a Sony hi-res reciver like always.... However in my car which using the dice/audiovox mediabridge.... The audio quality via Bluetooth has really suffered... It now sounds like I am listening to music through a hollow pvc tube... Through the headphones jack it is excellent but to avoid wearing out the jack I want to use Bluetooth.... Before the update the audio quality via Bluetooth in my car was almost cd level quality....

On another note... I tested it in my girlfriend's dodge dart.... It works and sounds much better than before the update...it used to skip parts of the song and also play the song in a lower key.... Now it works great in her car but not mine....and mine has much much much better speakers and before it was nearly flawless...totally understand that it's hard to make sure that every minor change is compatible with every single device out there but yeah... This one is pretty annoy...

[SONICMILLER]

Interesting... I also noticed the same problem when my Z3 Tablet Compact got updated as well...

[SONICMILLER]

Also, This morning I tried my tablet again.... it was updated again two days ago.... when i connected to the mediabridge it seems that it connects under the Headset setting.... maybe this is why it doesn't sound good....

[Rickard]

You mean bluetooth headset profile (HSP)? It doesn't stream music over the HSP or HFP profiles so it should not be related.

I have forwarded this internally but i'm afraid i don't have any new information yet.

[SONICMILLER]

thanks for the help.... Interstingly, I found a way that helps my walkman nwz-a17 sound better.... In the settings menu you can somewhat force Different connection types.... you can set it to try and force apt-x or ldac... also it can be forced into SBC (Sound Quality) or SBC (Connection) .... I found when i forced my walkman into SBC (Sound Quality) it sounds signifcantly better.... So maybe its a matter of how the phone is handling the connection type within SBC

[Rickard]

I received information that there's been no changes made in the SBC codec in the update. But our developers are looking into it to see if it's something that can be improved from our end.

[SONICMILLER]

thank you... problem still exists in build number 23.1.A.1.28 it is nice to know that the developers are working on it....

[PatrikS]

I have a similar problem, all bluetooth devices i hook up my Z3 with has intermittent static clicks and the sound is not what it was since the last update.

This applies for a 2010 Nissan Murano and a Jawbone Jambox as well. Its really tiresome... 

[Rickard]

@SONICMILLER

I'm afraid i don't expect to get any more feedback from our developers in this case and as i understand it, it may not be possible to improve this from our end. You may need to wait for future Android updates or updates to the firmware in your Mediabridge.

@PatrikS

In some cases, bluetooth may interfere with WiFi on some devices. If you have WiFi enabled, try turning it off and see if it helps.

If that's not the cause of the issue, could you also test your phone with one of our bluetooth devices to check if it's a compatibility issue or something wrong with the bluetooth function in your phone?

[SONICMILLER]

so this may be a issue on google's side of android software.... ahhh well hopefully they will fix this issue as well... thank you though...

[SONICMILLER]

To clarify this issue is still occuring in the 232 firmware version... but it may still be a Google issue rather than a sony one....