Why do my bluetooth headphones ONLY pair with my phone?

[Alexander Bolinsky]

Happy New Year, everyone!

I posted this to the Accessories forum a few days ago but haven't gotten any responses, so I thought I'd try to reach a more general audience.

I am experiencing a mysterious issue with regards to Bluetooth. I recently got a pair of Nakamichi Bluetooth headphones, and I paired them easily with my Galaxy S4 as soon as I got them. In the same day I was able to pair it with my macbook air, but that evening the headphones were not discoverable by any of the macbooks in my house or by my PS3.

I have consulted the manual for the headphones but it is completely useless and there is little documentation out there that I can find of a similar problem.

I have spent many hours troubleshooting the connection between my phone and macbook air (mid 2012 running yosemite) and followed every piece of advice I could find on forums and from a very technically knowledgeable apple genius friend - including resetting the pram and smc, restarting, shutting down, messing with Wi-Fi, making a new user, deleting and re-adding a new bluetooth PAN connection, etc. to no avail. It is unlikely an issue with Yosemite because the headphones were not discoverable by an older macbook running 10.6.8.

Anyway, I feel that the above is relevant because the problem seems to be narrowed to two sources. Either I have a defective headset, which I am skeptical about because it connects perfectly well with my phone, or my phone is somehow "hogging" the connection. Would it be possible for my phone to be interfering with the pairing process of the headphones?

I have made sure to unpair the headphones and turn Bluetooth off on my phone before attempting to pair the headphones with anything else.

This is a real mystery, but hopefully I can gain some insight into what is going on.

Best,

Alex

 

[extraclass]

Bluetooth devices will only pair with a certain number of other devices. It is possible your headset has been paired with more than its limit or your phone has reached its limit! You may have to unpair something!

 

[yorj]

I also bought a pair of Nakamichi bluetooth headphones, the BTHP06 model. Through trial and error, I learned a couple of things. The headphones can only be paired with one device. I originally paired it with my iPhone 6. Then, when I wanted to pair it with my Nexus 4, I found that there was no way to enter pairing mode using the headphone power or volume buttons. You have to go to the device you originally paired with your headphones (in your case, your Galaxy S4), and go into bluetooth settings and forget the connection to the Nakamichi headphones. Then, power down the headphones. When you power the headphones on, the Nakamichi unit will enter bluetooth pairing mode and will be discovered by your audio source device, whether that's your S4 again, your MacBook, or another device. And then you can connect the headphones with a single device of your choice. BTW, for the price, I've found the BTHP06 headphones to be pretty good.

 

[RajuAndroider]

If you are not able to figure out how to 'delete pairings' or make your headset enter 'discoverable' mode again try factory resetting your headset. Normally a very long press of the power button (lasting about 5-7 second) should do it.