8.1: Bluetooth Music Cracking/Skipping

[Jay Eff]

For those who had the specific bluetooth problems of music skipping/cracking during playback as discussed in this post: https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=786143&p=5744493&viewfull=1#post5744493

I'm wondering whether 8.1 cleared up any of those symptoms in light of this XDA post from October about Realtime CPU scheduling: www.xda-developers.com/android-oreo-bluetooth-audio-real-time-cpu-scheduling/

Quick recap of my situation is this:
My car can connect to my Pixel for phone function only. In order to play music via bluetooth, I have a music-only dongle that connects via BT to the Pixel and via the AUX jack in the car. Thus, in order to have both phone and music car functionality, the Pixel is connected to two BT receivers (car head unit and dongle) when I'm driving. This is the only setup possible for phone+music in this particular car and the setup worked perfectly and seamlessly with my Droid Turbo. However, with my Pixel, I get the music skipping.

I have noticed that when the skipping starts, if I press the power button and wake up the phone, the skipping stops. I am convinced that there is some background process that the Pixel is performing and it is interfering with BT music streaming. The only thing that resolves it completely is disconnecting the BT from the car's head unit, but, then I lose phone functionality.

I appreciate your responses -- thank you!

 

[matty032]

8.1 Stable cleared up the issues from 8.1 DP2. I had to set the AVRCP to 1.6, and I cleared the cache for bluetooth app, and bluetooth MIDI app. Works flawless now in both my Ford Explorer 2015, and Ford Escape 2014.

 

[hannsoft]

Jay you described my situation and experience EXACTLY, right down to the make and model of my former phone. Following this thread with interest.

 

[hannsoft]

For those who had the specific bluetooth problems of music skipping/cracking during playback as discussed in this post: https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=786143&p=5744493&viewfull=1#post5744493

I'm wondering whether 8.1 cleared up any of those symptoms in light of this XDA post from October about Realtime CPU scheduling: www.xda-developers.com/android-oreo-bluetooth-audio-real-time-cpu-scheduling/

Quick recap of my situation is this:
My car can connect to my Pixel for phone function only. In order to play music via bluetooth, I have a music-only dongle that connects via BT to the Pixel and via the AUX jack in the car. Thus, in order to have both phone and music car functionality, the Pixel is connected to two BT receivers (car head unit and dongle) when I'm driving. This is the only setup possible for phone+music in this particular car and the setup worked perfectly and seamlessly with my Droid Turbo. However, with my Pixel, I get the music skipping.

I have noticed that when the skipping starts, if I press the power button and wake up the phone, the skipping stops. I am convinced that there is some background process that the Pixel is performing and it is interfering with BT music streaming. The only thing that resolves it completely is disconnecting the BT from the car's head unit, but, then I lose phone functionality.

I appreciate your responses -- thank you!

Jay, with my 8.1 installation on my Pixel XL 128 this problem finally appears to be fixed. Only took a year huh!

 

[Jay Eff]

Thank you for the replies. I received my 8.1 update this morning and am eager to test it. I'll post my findings soon.

 

[Jay Eff]

First try was a strike -- still getting the issues. I tried to start from a blank slate -- "forgetting" all BT devices and clearing cache, etc. from BT under Apps/System.

I used all default settings. Skipping occurred. So, I tried different AVRCP settings. They didn't seem to have an effect. I also tried restarting the phone after each AVRCP change.

FWIW: The head unit is on a 2011 Carrera running PCM 3.0. The music dongle is running BT 4.0.

Bottom Line: no change in my situation, as far as I can tell. I'll try monkeying with some of the BT settings to see if anything stabilizes.

 

[hannsoft]

Ugh. I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe my report was premature too, since my test was only about a half hour long. In the past I would have heard the skipping after only about 5 minutes, so I got happy fast. Could very well still be there with more testing. I'll report back after the weekend.

 

[hannsoft]

Continued my testing last night. Sad to day, I was wrong. The pauses are still there. Don't know why I didn't get them the night before, but they're there now. I'll have to continue to not be able to use my phone with my car. Shame. Google really blew it with Bluetooth implementation on the original Pixels.