[Q] Nexus 5 Car Bluetooth Audio Streaming Quality

Aftershok · Apr 21, 2014

Hi, bought a Nexus 5 a few days ago, which is now running AOKP on stock kernel . Coming from a One M7 that was running Cyanogenmod 10.2.

I've noticed over the past couple days that the quality of the audio streaming via bluetooth to my car's stereo is comparatively much worse than my old One. In particular, I often get these very stringent, distorted high frequencies, especially when the music grows more complex. I don't recall any of this strange artifacting with my One. Could it have something to do with the better audio hardware of the One (superior DAC, amping, etc)? I don't know how much of an effect those would have on bluetooth streaming, though. Could it be the ROM I'm using has unoptimized bluetooth? Has anyone else noticed this?

I'm using the Google Music app if that helps anyone. Thanks in advance for the help.

raptir · Apr 21, 2014

The DAC and amplifier in the phone are not involved in the Bluetooth streaming process. Bluetooth is a digital signal so the digital-to-analog conversion is handled at the receiver end. The M7 does support Apt-X, which could have explained the quality difference assuming your car stereo also supports it (unlikely). You did say you were running Cyanogenmod though, and Apt-X is proprietary and thus I do not think it is supported in CM.

There could be an issue with the ROM. I know that CM11 is having some bluetooth audio issues, so AOKP may be as well. I would say a good first step would be to try stock and see if that resolves the problem.

Lastly, are you using the streaming functionality of Play Music? They did at one point change the streaming options so that it defaults to "Normal" quality instead of high. If you go to Play Music -> Settings -> Mobile Network Stream Quality, make sure High is selected.

Aftershok · Apr 21, 2014

Thanks for the tips. I tried adjusting the quality like you suggested, but I actually didn't notice any difference. I'm going to assume for now that this is a ROM issue and try stock when I get home.

Aftershok · Apr 21, 2014

I went through the arduous process of flashing a stock rom back onto the phone and tested the audio; there was no difference. I paired my old M7 to the car and played the same songs in comparison, and there was no question that it sounded much better. I think it bears repeating that the M7 is running 4.3.x, would that make a difference?

The issue comes up with upper treble frequencies, where it begins to sound very compressed and distorted, much like white noise. To eliminate all doubt, I played some CD's with the same songs, and they sounded crisp and fine.

Any additional help with this would be greatly appreciated. Streaming bluetooth audio in the car is very important to me and the inability to do so at a level of quality I would consider acceptable makes me rather inclined to return the phone. Is this a potential fix upcoming in 4.4.3? Thanks in advance.

El Daddy · Apr 21, 2014

I can confirm similar issues. My setup isn't going to win an high-fidelity awards, but I'm using a BT to FM converter. I do notice some clipping at high frequencies. For comparison, my N4 didn't have the clipping issue my N5 has, but the N5 sounds significantly brighter than the N4. The N4 was always a bit muddy on BT.

It could be an issue where the gain is too high by default. I'm not sure about AOKP but CM has the DSP manager built in, and you can adjust output for BT. Maybe play around with those settings?

Aftershok · Apr 22, 2014

I'll flash CM11 and see what results I get, thanks for the heads up.

abra5umente · Apr 22, 2014

I have the exact same issue. Will be following. I've found that the issue doesn't occur on anything CM based, probably because they use CAF drivers not AOSP. I'm currently running PA with Franco.

I have found a fix for 4.3 but I don't think it applies to kitkat.

http://xdaforums.com/nexus-4/general/android-4-3-bluetooth-audio-quality-fix-t2386032

Sent from my Paranoid, ARTified and Francoed Nexus 5 via XDA Premium

burakthepascal · Apr 22, 2014

hi everyone. i have a fiat bravo,and it only supports incoming and outgoing calls,what i ld like to do is , listen to pandora or youtube thru that connection. Because some of applications such as sygic etc transfers the sound to the car stereo,but youtube and etc doesnt. is there any solutions for that?

abra5umente · Apr 22, 2014

burakthepascal said:
hi everyone. i have a fiat bravo,and it only supports incoming and outgoing calls,what i ld like to do is , listen to pandora or youtube thru that connection. Because some of applications such as sygic etc transfers the sound to the car stereo,but youtube and etc doesnt. is there any solutions for that?

That's a bit OT for this topic, but in short, unless your car supports A2DP you can't listen to music over that connection.

Sent from my Paranoid, ARTified and Francoed Nexus 5 via XDA Premium

Aftershok · Apr 22, 2014

abra5umente said:
I have the exact same issue. Will be following. I've found that the issue doesn't occur on anything CM based, probably because they use CAF drivers not AOSP. I'm currently running PA with Franco.

I have found a fix for 4.3 but I don't think it applies to kitkat.

http://xdaforums.com/nexus-4/general/android-4-3-bluetooth-audio-quality-fix-t2386032

Sent from my Paranoid, ARTified and Francoed Nexus 5 via XDA Premium

Interesting how you state that you don't perceive any issues with CM-based roms. I flashed 4.4.2 AOKP onto my M7 (which is coming from CM10.2) to test what the audio sounds like on it with KK, and I can confirm that the audio has the same issues the Nexus 5 has. With all the variables removed and with two different devices running the same ROM, I come to the conclusion that this is a software issue. I'm going to flash the latest CM onto the M7 later today to see if that resolves anything.

To say the least, this is frustrating, but good to see that there was a fix identified for 4.3. Hopefully that will trickle over to 4.4 soon enough.

abra5umente · Apr 22, 2014

Aftershok said:
Interesting how you state that you don't perceive any issues with CM-based roms. I flashed 4.4.2 AOKP onto my M7 (which is coming from CM10.2) to test what the audio sounds like on it with KK, and I can confirm that the audio has the same issues the Nexus 5 has. With all the variables removed and with two different devices running the same ROM, I come to the conclusion that this is a software issue. I'm going to flash the latest CM onto the M7 later today to see if that resolves anything.

To say the least, this is frustrating, but good to see that there was a fix identified for 4.3. Hopefully that will trickle over to 4.4 soon enough.

I had a look in that folder and it has stuff to do with A2DP in there, so that's helpful. Might have a look now. I'll report back here with my findings.

Sent from my Paranoid, ARTified and Francoed Nexus 5 via XDA Premium

---------- Post added at 11:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:05 PM ----------

In fact, if you're flashing CM, can you have a look at that folder and screen shot it for me so I can see if the files are the same?

Sent from my Paranoid, ARTified and Francoed Nexus 5 via XDA Premium

Aftershok · Apr 22, 2014

abra5umente said:
I had a look in that folder and it has stuff to do with A2DP in there, so that's helpful. Might have a look now. I'll report back here with my findings.

Sent from my Paranoid, ARTified and Francoed Nexus 5 via XDA Premium

---------- Post added at 11:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:05 PM ----------

In fact, if you're flashing CM, can you have a look at that folder and screen shot it for me so I can see if the files are the same?

Sent from my Paranoid, ARTified and Francoed Nexus 5 via XDA Premium

Thanks for your help. Can you be more specific as to which folder you're referring to? I'm fairly green when it comes to the nuts and bolts of this stuff, but I think I can handle a screenshot.

abra5umente · Apr 22, 2014

Aftershok said:
Thanks for your help. Can you be more specific as to which folder you're referring to? I'm fairly green when it comes to the nuts and bolts of this stuff, but I think I can handle a screenshot.

If you go to system/lib/hw there should be a lot of files in there which tell the hardware how to work with the software. There should be one in there which is called audio.a2dp.default.so

To do this, you'll need a root browser or something which allows you to view root files.

Aftershok · Apr 22, 2014

abra5umente said:
If you go to system/lib/hw there should be a lot of files in there which tell the hardware how to work with the software. There should be one in there which is called audio.a2dp.default.so

To do this, you'll need a root browser or something which allows you to view root files.

Does this help? I've attached two screenshots. I can't open the file itself.

abra5umente · Apr 22, 2014

Aftershok said:
Does this help? I've attached two screenshots. I can't open the file itself.

Yeah, you can't open them in Android.

I wonder if they're the same files, seeing as CM uses CAF not AOSP drivers...

Aftershok · Apr 22, 2014

abra5umente said:
Yeah, you can't open them in Android.

I wonder if they're the same files, seeing as CM uses CAF not AOSP drivers...

I wanted to confirm that I don't perceive a huge difference with the CM rom, if at all. The signal has a hard time keeping the highs clean and sounds very strident at times.

Liskrig · Apr 22, 2014

Did you have the DSP Manager (in CM) set up on the One?

I have both the One and N5... I immediately noticed a difference in A2DP quality with DSP Manager on/off.

random0munky · May 15, 2014

Wanted to come in here and also state that the bluetooth audio for the Nexus 5 can be improved quite a bit. I actually miss the audio quality of my iphone 4 with both the audio out via headphone jack as well as the bluetooth audio out.

Running purity rom + elemental x kernel

jj71787 · May 15, 2014

Is bluetooth the only way to play music in the car through your phone.

USB won't work? I tried it in my car and it didn't work but when I googled it some people say different radios might work.

[Q] Nexus 5 Car Bluetooth Audio Streaming Quality

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