Note 4 Bluetooth "skipping" audio.

[sparksd]

Re: Note 4 Bluetooth "skipping" audio.

Appreciate this feedback very much, these were the headphones I was going to try.

This issue aside, I really like the JayBird BlueBuds.

 

[Greg Swan]

Re: Note 4 Bluetooth "skipping" audio.

I do get the skipping issue when using an inexpensive (e.g., $40) pair of BT headphones when doing yardwork. Specifically, I have noticed I only encounter this when a piece of metal (like the handlebar on a lawnmower) crosses between my phone and the headphones. I'm thinking this is what is causing the problem, at least for me, and that perhaps it is amplified because I'm using a cheap pair of headphones. When I'm just cutting the grass going straight and not turning my lawnmower (where the handle would interfere with the signal) I don't experience this. Anyone else notice something similar?

What you describe doesn't sound like the problem discussed in this thread. Instead, it sounds just like plain old bluetooth and the way it works. Bluetooth works much better if the signal has stuff to bounce off of like walls. When you're outside in an open area, your Note 4 and headphones will need a straight line of sight. If you carry the phone in your pocket, you probably don't always have straight line of site. If you put the Note 4 on a table outside but metal or some other obstacle blocks the signal, you'll have problems too. Maybe put the phone in an arm band on the same side as the receiver for your headphones? BTW, the Note 4 doesn't have as strong a bluetooth signal as my old Galaxy S3. The Note 4 has to be in the same room with me, whereas I could roam the house at will with the S3. So, if you used to be able to mow the lawn no problem with your old phone and now there are problems with the Note 4, I bet it's the lesser signal. I don't know if the low signal is caused by lower signal power or antenna diferences or the metal they used in the new build or what, but it's definitely less. If you have a cell phone case on the Note 4, you also might try it without. Your case may be partially interfering with the signal.

 

[jamesm79]

Does anyone know how to permanently shut off the auto-play for the media player that automatically turns on in the car via bluetooth?

 

[atakin77]

Re: Note 4 Bluetooth "skipping" audio.

What you describe doesn't sound like the problem discussed in this thread. Instead, it sounds just like plain old bluetooth and the way it works. Bluetooth works much better if the signal has stuff to bounce off of like walls. When you're outside in an open area, your Note 4 and headphones will need a straight line of sight. If you carry the phone in your pocket, you probably don't always have straight line of site. If you put the Note 4 on a table outside but metal or some other obstacle blocks the signal, you'll have problems too. Maybe put the phone in an arm band on the same side as the receiver for your headphones? BTW, the Note 4 doesn't have as strong a bluetooth signal as my old Galaxy S3. The Note 4 has to be in the same room with me, whereas I could roam the house at will with the S3. So, if you used to be able to mow the lawn no problem with your old phone and now there are problems with the Note 4, I bet it's the lesser signal. I don't know if the low signal is caused by lower signal power or antenna diferences or the metal they used in the new build or what, but it's definitely less. If you have a cell phone case on the Note 4, you also might try it without. Your case may be partially interfering with the signal.

Thanks for this feedback. I've only recently started using Bluetooth headphones when cutting the grass so I don't have much to compare to. I do carry it in my pocket but didn't think this could be the cause since the distance between the phone and headphones is only a couple of feet. I did notice my wife's S5 had less skipping than the Note so maybe the strength of the radio is a factor. I will try removing the case and see if that helps...

 

[rogee54]

I just took back a Rocketfish mini receiver to Best Buy because of all the skipping and hiccups or whatever you want to call them.
I was streaming music from my Droid Maxx to an great old stereo from Pandora and Amazon through the Bluetooth receiver into the stereo using RCA plugins. The songs were pausing , skipping and all the things that i see people complain about. I tried many of the fixes that people suggested by changing things on my phone all for not. Just for the heck of it , I disconnected to the stereo just using the cables directly to my phone to the stereo AUX ports and bingo. Everything played perfect. No skips nothing. I keyed in on one song and played it through the bluetooth and it skipped. Without the bluetooth, perfect. The moral of the story is . Don't blame your phone because it's the bluetooth receiver that is the problem and i'm sure the are aware of it . They are the new Volkswagen of the day. They have flawed equipment and know it. I just play my stereo now and have to keep my phone wired to the stereo. I hope you guys can do the same with your problems...

 

[sparksd]

I just took back a Rocketfish mini receiver to Best Buy because of all the skipping and hiccups or whatever you want to call them.
I was streaming music from my Droid Maxx to an great old stereo from Pandora and Amazon through the Bluetooth receiver into the stereo using RCA plugins. The songs were pausing , skipping and all the things that i see people complain about. I tried many of the fixes that people suggested by changing things on my phone all for not. Just for the heck of it , I disconnected to the stereo just using the cables directly to my phone to the stereo AUX ports and bingo. Everything played perfect. No skips nothing. I keyed in on one song and played it through the bluetooth and it skipped. Without the bluetooth, perfect. The moral of the story is . Don't blame your phone because it's the bluetooth receiver that is the problem and i'm sure the are aware of it . They are the new Volkswagen of the day. They have flawed equipment and know it. I just play my stereo now and have to keep my phone wired to the stereo. I hope you guys can do the same with your problems...

Except that my phone is the only Bluetooth transmitter I am using that has this problem with every receiver (in my case, different earbuds/headphones). These same receivers work without a problem with other Bluetooth transmitters. It is the phone that is the problem.

 

[Maximus314]

I use Samsung Galaxy S5 duos (Android 4.4) and LG Tone Infinim
When a screen is turned off I get around 3 to 5 skips/glitches per song.
When a screen is on I get a smooth playback so I tried using RedEye Stay Awake (free) and it solved my problem by keeping the screen on (dim brightness)
I was almost happy, but the battery life was considerably lower with such solution.
Nevertheless I bought the paid version of RedEye Stay Awake (~$1) and guess what?
Even when it is not activated - only sitting in notifications - it still solves my bluetooth audio problem!
I think that it prevents Android from deep sleep or something like that so looks like It is no longer necessary to keep the screen turned on.
Hope this information will be helpful.

 

[sparksd]

I use Samsung Galaxy S5 duos (Android 4.4) and LG Tone Infinim
When a screen is turned off I get around 3 to 5 skips/glitches per song.
When a screen is on I get a smooth playback so I tried using RedEye Stay Awake (free) and it solved my problem by keeping the screen on (dim brightness)
I was almost happy, but the battery life was considerably lower with such solution.
Nevertheless I bought the paid version of RedEye Stay Awake (~$1) and guess what?
Even when it is not activated - only sitting in notifications - it still solves my bluetooth audio problem!
I think that it prevents Android from deep sleep or something like that so looks like It is no longer necessary to keep the screen turned on.
Hope this information will be helpful.

Interesting, thanks for the info. How is your battery usage though if your phone never sleeps now?

 

[nahoku]

I honestly think it's a hardware problem. I wish I was still in my engineering lab, I would love to run my phone across some of our RF Analyzers. I think there's either ground loops, poor grounding, or interference form all the radios in the phone. Could even be the NFC coil sitting on the battery. I was almost tempted to pull the NFC circuit off one of my batteries to see what happens, but the fact that I hardly ever use Bluetooth stopped me! If any engineers are here in the forum, how about running a few RF tests, enabling/disabling other radios etc, to see what you see?

I know some of you can "bandaid" the problem by apparently keeping the CPU awake/running (screen on or whatevers), but I think it's not really the solution. I think it's hardware, and that's why an OS update has not fixed this rather important issue. Hopefully, they don't send out a bandaid fix to spike the CPU or something. I would hate to see that too!

 

[Maximus314]

Interesting, thanks for the info. How is your battery usage though if your phone never sleeps now?

The strange thing is that as far as I can see there is no noticeable battery life decrease with such method.
I use my phone for a streaming of music for about 4-6 hours a day + Viber + YouTube over 3G and WiFi + some GPS navigation and it always has enough charge to work till the evening.
Only the icon of RedEye is always sitting in notifications with a status "DISABLED - click to enable" - I can live with it

 

[home44]

I had the snapdragon Note 4 & had this problem but since I got the Note 4 Exynos I haven't had this problem.

Maybe coincidence, I don't know. But it went away with Exynos.

 

[Astral69]

Haaa and now i know to chose Exynos over Snap' for N4. Im moving from LG G4

 

[bluetoo]

Note 3 Bluetooth "skipping" audio on screen off SOLVED!

I signed up here just to say I had the same problem on my rooted Note 3 (SM-N9005), KK 4.4.2.

I decided to take a look at my Snapdragon's speed at its most dormant.
After installing 'No-frills CPU Control' from the Play Store and raised the slowest frequency from 300Mhz to 652Mhz (see attached screen), I haven't had an ounce of skipping. The additional battery drain has been negligible.
As the above comment mentioned their success in using an Exynos, I'd say Samsung and the like are dropping the Snapdragon speeds too low in order to claim better battery life; this is however having a detrimental effect on BT when the screen's off.

Anyway, this is the experience I've been having and it's paid off! Give the CPU a nudge and let me know how you get on.

 

[sparksd]

Re: Note 3 Bluetooth "skipping" audio on screen off SOLVED!

I signed up here just to say I had the same problem on my rooted Note 3 (SM-N9005), KK 4.4.2.

I decided to take a look at my Snapdragon's speed at its most dormant.
After installing 'No-frills CPU Control' from the Play Store and raised the slowest frequency from 300Mhz to 652Mhz (see attached screen), I haven't had an ounce of skipping. The additional battery drain has been negligible.
As the above comment mentioned their success in using an Exynos, I'd say Samsung and the like are dropping the Snapdragon speeds too low in order to claim better battery life; this is however having a detrimental effect on BT when the screen's off.

Anyway, this is the experience I've been having and it's paid off! Give the CPU a nudge and let me know how you get on.

The only problem is that you do have to be rooted. But as you say, it does appear that the CPU cycle is the key.

 

[John Korn]

I am using a Bose SoundLink Mini. I'm sure it's the phone and Bluetooth. It worked great on my old Note. Also if I turn off BT and just let the tiny speaker on the phone disappoint me it plays with no skips so it's the BT on the phone, I'm sure. Has anyone tried different audio players on the Note 4?

 

[sparksd]

I am using a Bose SoundLink Mini. I'm sure it's the phone and Bluetooth. It worked great on my old Note. Also if I turn off BT and just let the tiny speaker on the phone disappoint me it plays with no skips so it's the BT on the phone, I'm sure. Has anyone tried different audio players on the Note 4?

Yes. I use Poweramp and it skips over Bluetooth.

 

[sparksd]

Another experiment -- I received a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver dongle from the manufacturer for evaluation:

Amazon.com: Bluetooth 2-in-1 Adapter, TaoTronics Wireless Audio Transmitter/Receiver Dongle (Stereo Music, Aluminum Alloy, Play while Charging) for Headphone, Speaker, TV, PC, Laptop, Tablets, iPod: Car Electronics

I connected it to the headphone output of my Note 4 and paired it with my BlueBud earbuds, ones that I have the skipping issue with on the Note 4. Played music for some time with the screen off and didn't have a single skip.

 

[Juan Savage]

Re: Note 4 Bluetooth "skipping" audio.

My Note 4 doesn't skip on my Kenwood car stereo, but did with four different home receiver dongles. The good ones with Aptx skipped less.

I didn't notice it with my Bluetooth headphones, except once.

A good workaround for home stereo is Chromecast audio.

You'd think Samsung engineers, having designed so many phones would have figured this out.

 

[Brian Jones10]

Re: Note 4 Bluetooth "skipping" audio.

I have the issues with my Note 4 and the BOSE soundlink III. I actually sent the speaker in for repair thinking it was the speaker. With the phone screen on it seems to not skip but definitely dose it when the screen is off. This sucks and makes me want to switch phones!!! I have tried all the options listed here. Will the update correct this annoying issue???

 

[sparksd]

Re: Note 4 Bluetooth "skipping" audio.

I have the issues with my Note 4 and the BOSE soundlink III. I actually sent the speaker in for repair thinking it was the speaker. With the phone screen on it seems to not skip but definitely dose it when the screen is off. This sucks and makes me want to switch phones!!! I have tried all the options listed here. Will the update correct this annoying issue???

What update? And the answer is really, who knows?