4.2.2 Bluetooth Audio Sound Quality

[APeX3181]

I finally installed the 4.2.2 update last night and my only disappointment so far is the sound quality over bluetooth audio.

I can only describe the sound as "tinny" and "crackly". There is a noticable degrade in quality. This issue has been reported for the past few months on 4.2 and unfortunately, it has not been fixed yet.

If you're having the same issue, you should star this issue with Google:
Issue 39632 - android - Bluetooth sound quality suffer after upgrade to 4.2 with Galaxy Nexus - Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project - Google Project Hosting

 

[Jet300]

Oh god. How could they possibly make it worse than it was?

 

[APeX3181]

I've noticed with Android sometimes and "upgrade" is actually a "downgrade".

 

[mechler]

Upgraded my Galaxy Nexus yesterday. Bluetooth MUCH better than with 4.1.2.....

 

[APeX3181]

Have you listened to Bluetooth audio? My Bluetooth phone does sound better, but BT audio for music is just plain bad.

 

[Umass021]

I have had no issues so far with bluetooth on 4.2.2 or 4.1.1 using my Bose Series 2 headset.

Sent from my A500 using Android Central Forums

 

[michaelrager]

Since upgrading to 4.2.2, I cannot turn bluetooth on. Any recommendations? Thanks!
Rooted stock btw.

 

[johnnnyo]

I have Bluetooth connection but now I have no audio when trying to place a call. I have audio during the call but not initiating the call. :-( I Can't believe how bad the audio was before the 4.2.2 update and now no audio. Any suggestions? Not rooted.

 

[Mike L2D]

Registered here just to confirm exactly as you said. I upgraded a few hours ago now and I'm a big audiophile. Music Quality across Bluetooth is now unbearable. The static scratchy playback is driving me insane and is no longer an option for me at this point in time.

I've waited so long for this update. I'm horrified that I may be stuck with it until Google rolls out a fix and then it passes through Verizon. -.- Starred the topic.

 

[smeghead4269]

I had the exact same problem with the 4.2.2 update. High frequency sounds, like cymbal crashes, became very crackly. Fortunately there is a way to fix it:

Fix for poor A2DP quality on 4.2.2 - xda-developers

The catch is you have to be rooted to do it, so if you're unable or unwilling to root you may be stuck until Google issues a fix. But I gave it a shot and I can confirm it works.

 

[samkatz]

BT *call* quality stunk before the upgrade,, stinks now. I'm out of this phone when my contract expires.

 

[APeX3181]

I never worry too much about BT call quality...was never able to judge what was good or bad considering so many factors play into that...such as background noice, BT headseat quality, etc. But the BT "audio" quality is definitely a problem. Not to mention also all of the other bluetooth related problems people have reported with pairing issues, connection drops. I've experienced some of these as well.

And unfortunately, 4.2.2. has been out for a few months and Google has not acknowledged this problem. Could be we never see a fix for this unless we root and fix it ourselves.

 

[Mike L2D]

I meant tt reply in this earlier. I did the above and can also now confirm that this works.

Disappointing I had to go through all that to just replace those two little bits. You figure that they could figure out a small fix to push that. I might push this into an APK for people to dl/use if they have root.

 

[seventy4burban]

Since updating 4.2.2 I was using Bluetooth to play music in the car and it sounded no different gt than 4.1.1. Even then I've never seemed to have problems with audio quality.

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