Audio Crackling over Bluetooth

[FurryWrecker911]

Preamble: I had an Iphone 7 for about a year and had my music downloaded onto it to listen in my car while driving about over Bluetooth. Worked flawlessly. I then traded it in for a Note 9 after missing the customization of Android. Synced the phone up to the car aaaaaand it crackles at higher frequency notes, especially during voice sections in songs. Thought it was my Sync2 head unit being quirky, and then I tried it with my roommate's UE speaker... and it's still cracking.

I've already scoured forum after forum from times long gone, and I can't find any answers that have worked. I've tried everything short of factory resetting the phone. Re-pairing the device, turning it off and back on, trying multiple music apps, removing objects in the vicinity that could cause interference (which I found out my Drive Safe and Save beacon amplifies the crackles substantially when it turns on. It also runs off of the phone's Bluetooth), and trying to mess with the developer options. Side note: The developer options for bluetooth reset themselves to default within a minute or two? Really?

Listening to music through the phone's speakers or through headphones is fine. It's just on Bluetooth where things go awry.

 

[olbriar]

Have you tried a BT connection to another device to see if the problem is phone specific? It might well be there there is something in your auto that is causing the interference with your phone and it's BT connection. I can't imagine what would cause the problem and have not duplicated the problem with your iphone. If you have the chance, you might also try a BT connection from another Android device with your auto. I wish I had more to offer. If we can isolate the problem perhaps we can find a solution.

 

[FurryWrecker911]

Have you tried a BT connection to another device to see if the problem is phone specific?

Yup! Hooked up my phone to my roommate's portable speaker and it does it on there too. I can borrow his S9 as well as grab my old M7 and try syncing them to the car tomorrow after work and see how that goes.

 

[olbriar]

It sounds like it's your phone or your tunes. If you have some wired headphones, see if your music still crackles. Another test would be to download a new song and see if it is also distorted.

 

[FurryWrecker911]

About a month later and a few road trips done and I've narrowed it down to my State Farm beacon being the cause. I also found out the tweeters in my car are outright trash as is, but at least the crackling stopped. Every time the beacon detects movement it connects to my phone and the audio quality of my music dies with it causing bass to become muffled and high frequency notes to choke on themselves. I guess the phone can't handle being connected to two Bluetooth things at once?

 

[puppykickr]

About a month later and a few road trips done and I've narrowed it down to my State Farm beacon being the cause. I also found out the tweeters in my car are outright trash as is, but at least the crackling stopped. Every time the beacon detects movement it connects to my phone and the audio quality of my music dies with it causing bass to become muffled and high frequency notes to choke on themselves. I guess the phone can't handle being connected to two Bluetooth things at once?

No, it is just RF (radio frewuency) interference.

I thought something else when reading this thread, until you found the actual culprit.

Believe it or not, the very same thing happened to me even through a wired connection (headphone jack to input of portable stereo).

Turns out it was interference wheneer the phone pinged off the tower, which was too distant to get a decent signal- so the phone ramps up the RF power to make that connection- and voila!
horrible sounds over the radio.