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Bluetooth headsets on Desktops and Laptops are a mess

16 points by sharno ↗ HN
So Bluetooth headsets are still horrible when connected to a Desktop or Laptop. Other than an Apple headset to an Apple device, everything else is still in a horrible condition. I just realized that before buying a headset you need to check if supports all the codecs you need:

Sony devices => LDAC, AAC

Apple => AAC

Android => AptX, LDAC

Windows => AptX, AAC

And don't forget about the Bluetooth profiles on windows for A2DP (better sound quality, no mic) vs HSP/HFP (with mic but much worse quality). And Windows cannot yet use a mic with a stereo sound quality even on Bluetooth 5 and Windows 11.

You also need to be sure that your Desktop/Laptop should have a compatible/modern Bluetooth (5 vs 4 vs older) transmitter to use any good quality codec that's mentioned up here.

Such a mess!

19 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 37.6 ms ] thread
john_the_writer
See I don't personally understand bluetooth headsets. The laptop/desktop is within arms reach, a wired headset has never failed me.

I've been using the same headset for 15 years, and not once has it not connected, or run out of batteries. I've never had an issue with it selecting my phone instead of the laptop. I've never had pairing issues.

I will admit that when I get up and walk around the office/apartment I lose connection (because I take off my headset), but honestly that's not really a problem, because I don't find it helpful to listen to music when I'm in a meeting, or getting coffee.

john_the_writer
Same for mouse and keyboard too. I understand the desire to want wireless for these even less. At least with earphones, there could be a use at a distance. A mouse/keyboard more than 2 meters (5feet) is just silly.. you can't see the screen.
eternityforest
It's about the cable clutter on the desk, and even more importantly, in bags if things are portable.

Plus, the limited number of USB ports. Without wireless, some things will involve digging out a hub.

usrn
I use mine in another room. This way I only need a cable for HDMI.
rektide
I was like you once & disdained progress, insisted the virtues I knew were the good ones & that cables just made better connectors than wireless.

It's been ~6 years since I was that person. Speaking only for myself: I was an idiot. Close minded & foolish, presumptuous. It's so nice not having cables. There's so little practical trouble I encounter with bluetooth. Battery life is great. Connecting is not a problem. Many hesdsets maintain multiple simultaneous connections; a sweet upgrade. Pairing is easy.

Fear is an easy sell. But Im glad I eventually tried a cheap headset, decided to explore elsewhere. Problems are rare. Not having cables, bring able to leave my phone plugged in while walking around, & so many other circumstances: the physical freedom is wonderful.

john_the_writer
Tis not fear.. I've bluetooth for my IPhone.

Hell about 12 years ago I was writing bluetooth drivers for pumping trucks and PocketPC devices.

It's just practicality for a desktop I am tethered to the chair when I use my desktop. There is little point IMHO in asserting I could use the device if I were more than a few meters from it.

I have zero (and I mean zero) battery life issues. You've never had a connection issue? I mean in 15 years I have never spent more than 5 seconds connecting. And can you honestly say you've never run low on batteries? Never.. not once.

jjeaff
I have wired headphones. However, I also have a lot of other things like lights, a mic on a boom arm, wireless mouse and keyboard, etc.

If I had not had lots of trouble with my previous Bluetooth headphones, I definitely would still go wireless. there are just too many things for the cable to get tangled in, including me and the arms and wheels of my chair, the boom arm...

Also, I have a one year old that gets positively giddy every time he rips my headphone jack out of my amp and gets a reaction out of me.

darkteflon
I’m exactly the same. Bought a $40 Moukey 8-input mixer from Amazon, plugged everything in - PC, two Macs and a PS5, along with a pair of Sennheiser open-backed headphones.

No futzing with connection switching, volumes are per-device so it’s set and forget, and you can even have multiple sources at the same time if you want (surprisingly useful). This is a domain where a wired setup makes perfect sense imo. It’s just painless.

When I’m out and about, AirPods all the way.

karmakaze
I did try wireless earphones during commutes and the freedom was indeed wonderful. I did miss better sound quality and having more choice of earphones so went back to wired. I had taken the step to wear noise-cancelling wireless headphones (with no signal) overtop my wired earbuds. And now I don't commute. For virtual work meetings etc, wireless is convenient and good enough.

I have a very simple metric for gauging how good my music setup is: how many hours I can enjoy listening to music in one session. Without good quality sources, DACs, analog, and transducers it's much less than an hour. On the other end it can be many hours where I don't know where the time flew.

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rektide
It's stunning how obfuscated everything is. Linux (not Android) is the only OS that will readily show you ehat codec is being used, and definitely definitely the only OS that'll let you chamge codecs.

It'a hard for consumers to assess & make decisions & to demamd improvement when the OS itself refuses to report on the status wont tell you whats happening. But that's the world: consumerized well into the point of ignorance. We are unable to push for better because we cant even see that we are operating in sunstandard shitty modes.

poopooracoocoo
While Android shows you which codec and even lets you pick, Android doesn't let you customise output and input devices so you can't avoid the low quality hands-free profile like you can on desktop operating systems. Windows doesn't show you what codec is being used. You have to buy Bluetooth Tweaker. Windows 11 was a step down in my experience and also broke compatibility with a lot of Chinese headsets.

Just the other day I browsed through the PipeWire and PulseAudio repos. They do heaps of work to make Bluetooth work a lot better than it would usually. And yet we still see how rough Bluetooth is. There's no way for individuals or open source contributors to even contact the Bluetooth SIG. But yes, the situation on Linux is better than on other operating systems.

https://medium.marco.zone/apple-implemented-the-biggest-impr... is a great article that talks about the limitations I mentioned earlier.

poopooracoocoo
And people don't even know about the issue mentioned in this post until after they've bought it. They don't know where the issue lies. They don't know what AptX is, let alone AptX Voice.
svennek
I trick I learned recently is using what is called a "usb bluetooth transmitter" - I bought one for using my Oneplus headset (sorry, dont remember the name of them) with my linux laptop after fighting the Bluetooth-stack for a few days.

This tiny dongle worked at once (presenting a "soundcard" over usb to the computer) and has been rock solid ever since...

yunohn
> And don't forget about the Bluetooth profiles on windows for A2DP (better sound quality, no mic) vs HSP/HFP (with mic but much worse quality).

This is a Bluetooth issue - affects all OSes including MacOS and Linux.

Even the famed AirPods have this issue - try playing Spotify in the middle of a Zoom/Meet call. You have to toggle mic off to use the higher quality profile.

Kaze404
I've been using a pair of Bluetooth headsets on Linux since 2018 with zero issues other than the expected ones (A2DP and slight latency). Since then I've used it on my laptop (integrated Bluetooth) and on my desktop (through USB dongles).
etempleton
Bluetooth has been a mess from the beginning. My first experiences with Bluetooth was it not working at all. It has since gotten much better, but it can still be finicky and compromised.

Device manufacturers such as Apple, Sony and others have actually done a pretty good job working around some of the limitations, but there are still moments of frustration, particularly with Bluetooth audio.

Anunayj
Gosh I wish it was possible to use HSP without the lower sound quality wirelessly. I really like bluetooth over a special USB dongle that clogs up one of my USB ports.