I will die on the hill that Bluetooth always has and always will suck ass. Pairing sucks. Latency sucks. Random-ass disconnects suck. Fuck Bluetooth in the neck sideways with a rusty screwdriver.
The bluetooth antennas on your devices have sucked. I have no problems with my pixel 7 pro. Pairs quickly, play music from across the house, through walls and floors even. Previous phones of mine would lose connection to my bluetooth headphones if my.phone was on the wrong hip, obviously an antenna issue.
Until we can finally kill HSP/HFP, I'm never gonna be happy with Bluetooth. Using a headset mic shouldn't blast you back to the telephone era.
What’s hsp/hfp?
It's the Handset Protocol/Handsfree Protocol that was developed for simultaneous sending and receiving of voice data. They're the only protocols that support sending and receiving voice at the same time, and they do that by sending mono telephone quality audio and receiving mono telephone quality audio.
It's why most gaming headsets, even ones with Bluetooth, include a small RF dongle separately. Bluetooth is technically incapable of high-quality audio when recording.
3.5mm gang
I mean my AirPods are fantastic. I think they’re great at playing my podcasts and I’ve not had any problems with random disconnects. Granted I’ve only ever used them with my phone but still.
Exactly. I just click a button on my laptop and it pairs. Start playing a video on my phone? It instantly jumps to my phone. No lag, no pairing waiting. Didn’t want that? Click the “connect” button on the laptop bc it just noticed that it jumped to my phone. My Apple TV notices when the AirPods are around. Did I ever have to pair them to the Apple TV? No! They’re connected to my account and can see the other devices easily.
This shit right here is why people buy Apple. You sell your soul to the devil and get convenience in return.
Don't get me wrong - both my work laptop and my gaming PC run Linux. But my phone is still an iPhone and if I ever have need for a personal laptop again, it's gonna be a Macbook Air again.
Apple uses a modified version of Bluetooth
Edit: for Apple-only version
No one uses standard bluetooth. I'm pretty sure it can only transfer files in its base form
That's absolutely not true. Bluetooth has many "profiles" which define different capabilities. Here's a list of them. These are all defined in the official bluetooth standards.
Maybe you were thinking of the "core specification" which defines the underlying protocol but doesn't define the profiles? But that's just the way they broke up the spec documents. The profiles are still official parts of bluetooth.
Apple's proprietary extensions for audio are not part of any official specification though.
Shiny new AirPods + shiny new iPhone = minimal issues. Certainly preferable to cords for many, even if no dongle were required for many corded headphones.
In fact AirPods + iPhones have been all but rock solid for years, at least since first gen kinks were worked out… so five years worth of high reliability.
My AirPod Pros have also worked perfectly on my Linux PCs - just as solid as connecting to an Apple device.
That is great to hear. Do you still have to pay the Apple tax if you want the full experience of say using your computer with the AirPods, getting a phone call which pauses your music and having them automatically switch over to the phone until you end the call?
I just want a headset that doesn’t descend into hissing at me in mono over a crackly 1940s phoneline whenever I dare to use the microphone.
Both of my Galaxy Buds sporadically losing signal when I have my phone in a pocket.
The phone has to go in the hat. It says so in the manual.
Check what BT profile your OS is switching the headset to (and what your headset can actually support). I use HSP/HFP with mSBC codec and it keeps pretty OK sound while in "headset mode"
Will this centimeter level tracking only work for paired devices or will retailers be tracking us even more closely now.
Anyone know what kind location accuracy Bluetooth 5 currently has?
According to the below two articles. It's 1-5 meters in optimal conditions. And some of it may require additional hardware for tracking.
yes yes yes but... will I finally be able to boot my wife off the bathroom speaker so I can play my music without running around the house naked yelling at her to disconnect?!
improves device pairing
V6 seems a little soon for this unnecessary feature. Maybe push it back a few versions.
Why would you need centimeter-level accuracy?
So you know which sofa cushion the EarPod is under
Ask JD Vance?
Very nice for home automation- have your music and lights follow you around the house for example. Check out Room Assistant
Does it improve the bandwidth so higher quality codecs can be used without having to switch between good quality sound and shitty mics to shitty sound and good mics? I mean seriously, we're in 2024 and we still can't have quality parity with a wired headset when using Bluetooth because the bandwidth sucks so much ass that better codecs just can't be used. Bluetooth can die in a fucking fire.
For desktop you can get headphones with a wireless dongle that doesn't have to adhere to Bluetooth limitations and in fact most of them also have Bluetooth for phone use
My 300$ earbuds can play two sources at once. But an uncompressed signal? Fuck yourself.
No phone aux jack conspiracy has re-entered the conversation
audio latency when
When you read the article:
We also get latency improvements through Isochronous Adaptation Layer (ISOAL) Enhancement. This allows the Bluetooth device to cut larger data frames into smaller chunks while ensuring its timing information remains accurate. This would help reduce latency and potentially make Bluetooth audio devices a viable solution for wireless audio, especially in gaming.
That was unnecessarily snarky, but I couldn't help myself. I don't even know what any of that means or if it will actually actually reduce audio latency.
The "especially in gaming" bit is encouraging. That might mean they are finally, after 26 years, addressing the demand for good quality, low latency, multichannel, full duplex audio...
...but I won't hold my breath. They seem to think gaming means playing on hardware like this.
Bet any money that it will still cut out and have latency issues
I mean, yes, depending on the signal strength and interference. Can't have tiny, efficient, powerful, reliable and wireless all. There are gonna be compromises.
Any decent earphones will offer different codec and encoding support for high quality, good connection, or best latency.
Who are you, mr Bluetooth??
Just kidding I hear ya, it just sucks from a UX standpoint but the world ain't magic. I just wish we kept aux jacks at the very least smh
I will die on the hill that Bluetooth always has and always will suck ass. Pairing sucks. Latency sucks. Random-ass disconnects suck. Fuck Bluetooth in the neck sideways with a rusty screwdriver.
The bluetooth antennas on your devices have sucked. I have no problems with my pixel 7 pro. Pairs quickly, play music from across the house, through walls and floors even. Previous phones of mine would lose connection to my bluetooth headphones if my.phone was on the wrong hip, obviously an antenna issue.
Until we can finally kill HSP/HFP, I'm never gonna be happy with Bluetooth. Using a headset mic shouldn't blast you back to the telephone era.
What’s hsp/hfp?
It's the Handset Protocol/Handsfree Protocol that was developed for simultaneous sending and receiving of voice data. They're the only protocols that support sending and receiving voice at the same time, and they do that by sending mono telephone quality audio and receiving mono telephone quality audio.
It's why most gaming headsets, even ones with Bluetooth, include a small RF dongle separately. Bluetooth is technically incapable of high-quality audio when recording.
3.5mm gang
I mean my AirPods are fantastic. I think they’re great at playing my podcasts and I’ve not had any problems with random disconnects. Granted I’ve only ever used them with my phone but still.
Exactly. I just click a button on my laptop and it pairs. Start playing a video on my phone? It instantly jumps to my phone. No lag, no pairing waiting. Didn’t want that? Click the “connect” button on the laptop bc it just noticed that it jumped to my phone. My Apple TV notices when the AirPods are around. Did I ever have to pair them to the Apple TV? No! They’re connected to my account and can see the other devices easily.
This shit right here is why people buy Apple. You sell your soul to the devil and get convenience in return.
Don't get me wrong - both my work laptop and my gaming PC run Linux. But my phone is still an iPhone and if I ever have need for a personal laptop again, it's gonna be a Macbook Air again.
Apple uses a modified version of Bluetooth
Edit: for Apple-only version
No one uses standard bluetooth. I'm pretty sure it can only transfer files in its base form
That's absolutely not true. Bluetooth has many "profiles" which define different capabilities. Here's a list of them. These are all defined in the official bluetooth standards.
Maybe you were thinking of the "core specification" which defines the underlying protocol but doesn't define the profiles? But that's just the way they broke up the spec documents. The profiles are still official parts of bluetooth.
Apple's proprietary extensions for audio are not part of any official specification though.
Shiny new AirPods + shiny new iPhone = minimal issues. Certainly preferable to cords for many, even if no dongle were required for many corded headphones.
In fact AirPods + iPhones have been all but rock solid for years, at least since first gen kinks were worked out… so five years worth of high reliability.
My AirPod Pros have also worked perfectly on my Linux PCs - just as solid as connecting to an Apple device.
That is great to hear. Do you still have to pay the Apple tax if you want the full experience of say using your computer with the AirPods, getting a phone call which pauses your music and having them automatically switch over to the phone until you end the call?
I just want a headset that doesn’t descend into hissing at me in mono over a crackly 1940s phoneline whenever I dare to use the microphone.
Both of my Galaxy Buds sporadically losing signal when I have my phone in a pocket.
The phone has to go in the hat. It says so in the manual.
Check what BT profile your OS is switching the headset to (and what your headset can actually support). I use HSP/HFP with mSBC codec and it keeps pretty OK sound while in "headset mode"
Will this centimeter level tracking only work for paired devices or will retailers be tracking us even more closely now.
Anyone know what kind location accuracy Bluetooth 5 currently has?
According to the below two articles. It's 1-5 meters in optimal conditions. And some of it may require additional hardware for tracking.
https://www.u-blox.com/en/technologies/bluetooth-indoor-positioning
https://www.inpixon.com/technology/standards/bluetooth-low-energy
I thought we were still in 4…
yes yes yes but... will I finally be able to boot my wife off the bathroom speaker so I can play my music without running around the house naked yelling at her to disconnect?!
V6 seems a little soon for this unnecessary feature. Maybe push it back a few versions.
Why would you need centimeter-level accuracy?
So you know which sofa cushion the EarPod is under
Ask JD Vance?
Very nice for home automation- have your music and lights follow you around the house for example. Check out Room Assistant
Does it improve the bandwidth so higher quality codecs can be used without having to switch between good quality sound and shitty mics to shitty sound and good mics? I mean seriously, we're in 2024 and we still can't have quality parity with a wired headset when using Bluetooth because the bandwidth sucks so much ass that better codecs just can't be used. Bluetooth can die in a fucking fire.
For desktop you can get headphones with a wireless dongle that doesn't have to adhere to Bluetooth limitations and in fact most of them also have Bluetooth for phone use
My 300$ earbuds can play two sources at once. But an uncompressed signal? Fuck yourself.
No phone aux jack conspiracy has re-entered the conversation
audio latency when
When you read the article:
That was unnecessarily snarky, but I couldn't help myself. I don't even know what any of that means or if it will actually actually reduce audio latency.
The "especially in gaming" bit is encouraging. That might mean they are finally, after 26 years, addressing the demand for good quality, low latency, multichannel, full duplex audio...
...but I won't hold my breath. They seem to think gaming means playing on hardware like this.
Bet any money that it will still cut out and have latency issues
I mean, yes, depending on the signal strength and interference. Can't have tiny, efficient, powerful, reliable and wireless all. There are gonna be compromises.
Any decent earphones will offer different codec and encoding support for high quality, good connection, or best latency.
Who are you, mr Bluetooth??
Just kidding I hear ya, it just sucks from a UX standpoint but the world ain't magic. I just wish we kept aux jacks at the very least smh