NOT SOLVED: Glitching / skipping / stuttering / popping when connected to bluetooth

[neuracnu]

Hi folks,

I'm running into a painfully frustrating problem.

I'm using the Spotify app on my Android Pixel 5 phone (running Android 11, latest updates) and connecting the phone via Bluetooth (aptx) to an Aluratek ABCD54F bluetooth receiver (within a foot or two of one another, no obstructions).

Spotify audio playback, when pushed through the Aluratek ABCD54F, has started generating sporadic glitching, skipping, stuttering, popping and micro-pauses in the resulting audio. The frequency of these errors varies, sometimes as frequently as one or two per second, sometimes one every few seconds, and sometimes only one error every 30-45 seconds. It makes the service basically impossible to listen to. I've been using this hardware setup for over a year and it seems like this only started happening in the last few months.

Listen to the attached audio file for an example of what this sounds like.

None of the other media applications on my phone have this problem when playing back audio through the Aluratek ABCD54F. Local media played back with VLC, YouTube, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, web browsers, locally-recorded video playback: these all sound fine. Spotify is the only app that's giving me this trouble. I am solidly connected to my home wifi at the time with no connection problems.

The phone's bluetooth connection to other devices works just fine (Shure bluetooth earphones and my car's bluetooth audio adapter). 

Things I've tried that DO NOT FIX THE PROBLEM:

• placing the phone next to the bluetooth receiver (they literally sit a foot apart from one another, but moving it closer does not help)
• playback from the phone via the battery
• playback from the phone plugged into power
• clearing the Spotify app cache
• reinstalling the Spotify app
• reinstalling the Spotify app (after removing cache and all local settings manually)
• turning on data-saver options
• turning off data-saver options
• turning on auto-quality-adjustments
• turning off auto-quality-adjustments
• NEW: removing the saved bluetooth connection to the Aluratek ABCD54F and re-adding it
• NEW: using a different phone to connect to the same Bluetooth receiver and speaker (on the same paid Spotify account)
• NEW: using the phone's "Reset Wi-Fi, mobile and Bluetooth" option to wipe all existing network settings
• NEW: trying a different speaker (a JBL Boombox 2)

Things that seem to work just fine:

• Connecting to the Aluratek ABCD54F and speaker and playing audio from apps besides Spotify.
• Connecting to the Aluratek ABCD54F and speaker and playing audio from other devices (laptops).
• Connecting to the Aluratec ABCD54F and speaker from a different phone, using a new (unpaid) Spotify account, but using all the same Spotify and Bluetooth configuration options as the phones that did not work (which were using paid Spotify accounts).

I've also asked Aluratek if this is a problem they've heard of, and they've said no; the bluetooth receiver is a pretty simple device, and one they rarely see problems with, and have heard no iss

Plan: Premium

Country: United States

Device: Pixel 5

Operating System: Android 11

[neuracnu]

I experienced exactly this problem: glitching on any bluetooth audio device when streaming Spotify over wifi, on a Pixel 3a XL). Wired headphones are fine; bluetooth audio + cellular is fine.

This seems to have fixed it for me:

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/71338593/issues-with-audio-and-bluetooth-since-installing-android-11?hl=en&msgid=92616510

TL/DR:

1. Enable Developer Mode, then go into Developer Settings.

2. Set "Bluetooth AVRCP-Version" to 1.6

3. Set "Bluetooth MAP-Version" to 1.4

4. Restart the phone

I've been listening for about an hour, no glitches whatsoever.

[neuracnu]

Update 2: AAC codec seems to work fine. Tried it for a few hours now and no problem.

To change the Bluetooth codec you need to activate developer options, go to the network section and it should be there.

I hope it eventually gets fixed so I can use Spotify with the LDAC codec for better quality.

[Jeremy]

Hi @tkil,

Thank you for your reply.

It's really nice of you to share what worked for you and we're happy to see that if works as it should.

Let us know if we can help you with anything else 🙂

Take care!

[johnwarmour]

I've been able to replicate symptoms in this thread for my Pixel 5a on multiple bluetooth devices. As has already been mentioned, even with downloaded music I can reliably induce skipping by turning wifi on, stop skipping by turning wifi off. I did try @tkil 's bluetooth protocol tweaks over the last hour and it may have improved the issue? But still getting some skipping. For now, will just turn off wifi when listening to spotify. +1 on appreciation for @neuracnu 's fantastic bug report and followup.

[MafeG]

Hi @johnwarmour,

Thank you for posting on this thread. 

Could you try connecting to a different WIFI network and check if there's a change? Alternatively, you can use cellular data. 

Also, does the same happen if you connect to your Bluetooth devices with different devices such as a computer? 

Keep us posted.

[johnwarmour]

I've been able to replicate the problem across 3 different wifi networks. As previously mentioned, it does not occur if you switch to cellular data.

If I use the bluetooth devices with Spotify on different devices, there is no skipping. Thus far I've tried with Macbook Pro, iPhone, two Windows 10 desktops, and a Linux laptop. It only occurs on my Pixel 5a.

It seems to only happen with Spotify app while using bluetooth on my Pixel 5a while on wifi, regardless of whether the playback is from downloaded or streamed content.

[Kiril]

Hi there @johnwarmour,

Thank you for keeping in touch and sharing more info on the topic. 

We're receiving intermittent reports of this behavior and it seems to happen almost exclusively on Google Pixel devices. This leads us to believe that there appears to be a rare issue when three of it's systems interact with one another - Bluetooth, WiFi connectivity and reading the Spotify app's APK.

We suggest you to keep an eye out for future updates of the app, but we can't give you a specific timeframe for when this issue will be fixed, as the root cause is difficult to pinpoint. For now, we can also recommend you contacting the device manufacturer for further help.

Hope it gets sorted out soon. If you need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[Thetstaller]

I'm having the exact same issue. Glitchy sound on wifi and fixes immediately as soon as I turn it off, even midway through a song and without pausing. And it's a problem exclusively of the Spotify app on the phone. It doesn't happen with any other app, like YouTube. And it doesn't happen with any other device using the same Bluetooth headphones, like Spotify on my computer. But I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S20FE, not a pixel phone. I'm guessing no one as found a solution yet?

[Alex]

Hey @Thetstaller,

Thanks for your post.

Can you let us know a bit more about your setup? We'll do our best to help out.

Looking forward to your reply.

[CarlosDiaz]

I am having the exact same problem. Pixel 5, most recent Spotify app, listening through Jabra Elite Active 75t on Bluetooth. It happens both when wifi is enabled and disabled. Extremely frustrating. 

[Eni]

Hi there @CarlosDiaz, 

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community.

Could you let us know which troubleshooting steps you've already tried? That way we can avoid any repeating steps. 

On another note, would you mind letting us know if this only happens with your earbuds or with other Bluetooth devices as well?

Lastly, sending us the exact operating system and Spotify version of your phone would come in handy. 

We'll be on the lookout.

[dantefsl]

After thorough research, I've found that, if you happen to have a device affected by this and you do not have access to developer options like shown in the answers above (e.g. Samsung S20FE, one of the most popular smartphones on the planet), there is not solution but give up using the spotify product (a product designed to play music), until it's capable of... playing music.

I've tried everything.

[Niggel1]

Hey everyone,

I'm experiencing the same on my Pixel 5 (Android 12). Everything is up to date, I'm using the Sennheiser CX 400BT TW headphones. Music playback is stuttering without any reason from time to time. The same happens when no BT device is connected and I'm just using the phone's speakers.

I think this could be a Spotify Android app related issue as this doesn't happen in other music players (YouTube, Audible, Blinkist etc.).

Any suggestions or does anyone know if this is a known behavior?

Cheers,

Niclas

[Eni]

Hey there @Niggel1, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this. 

Could you let us know if this happens across devices or only on your Pixel phone?

On another note, would you mind letting us know if this started happening after a specific event such as an update either of Spotify or the OS of your phone?

Lastly, let us know which troubleshooting steps you've already tried.

Keep us posted.

[lukeevason]

I'm glad I'm not the only one acing these issue! I use Jaybird Vista Bluetooth earphones with the Pixel 5 and have the same stuttering issues no matter if I'm on WiFi, cellular, or airplane mode... very frustrating! There's no consistency either, sometimes it skips constantly and sometimes it can go a few songs before stuttering. Happens with my large speakers too, the common denominator seems to be my Pixel 5.

It's so bad I'm considering buying an iPhone

[alicebe]

Well I have a UE BOOM 2 and a Samsung Galaxy 21 and the same thing happens all the time with Spotify. Not with BBC sounds or any other app. And only from my phone, the speaker works fine from any other device. Please help me from not throwing my phone out of my car window..

[tkil]

@Kiril -- Thank you for the update from 2021-12-28. As it's been a few months, any updates?

From what I've read here, I'd guess that the Pixel's RF module might take longer to switch between wifi and bluetooth modes (specifically, RF power levels) -- long enough that Spotify might not buffer far enough forward to cover the gap. If other apps buffer more data, it would explain why those apps don't glitch in the same situation. It also explains why wired headphones or internal speakers aren't problematic even on wifi, since it's not demanding the module switch back and forth between wifi and bluetooth.

(Why "RF power levels"? The rather odd finding above, where moving farther away from the wifi base station made the problem less severe. Wifi routers are very "loud" radios (up to 4W EIRP), compared to bluetooth devices (max 0.1W, as low as 1mW, so anywhere from 1.5 to 3.5 orders of  magnitude). If Pixels are set up to have a single RF module for both systems, they have to turn the gain up and down quite a bit to avoid burning it out when listening close to the wifi base station.  Farther away from the base station, the power level is more similar to that of the bluetooth device, so it doesn't have to change the gain as much -- and if the time it takes to change the gain is related to how large the change is, it would match the behavior observed.)

@alicebe -- Could you verify that your phone + wifi + spotify works for anything other than bluetooth audio output? That is, if you switch to cellular, or to airplane mode + downloads, does it go away? Does it also go away if you use wifi + spotify + internal speaker (or wired headphone)? Does it also go away if you use any other audio app with wifi + bluetooth? It does sound like you have the same problem, but it's interesting that you might be the first Galaxy user reporting this specific combination. (But it might also mean that it's a low-level system issue, and since Pixels get new Android releases sooner than 3rd-party phones, maybe the problem is spreading?)

@CarlosDiaz, @Niggel1 , @lukeevason -- For whatever it's worth, this thread is probably more focused on the scenario where only *both* wifi and bluetooth are in use; any other combo seems to work fine (e.g., wifi + wired, wifi + internal speaker, cellular + anything). If it's failing for both bluetooth and not-bluetooth; or in all of wifi, cellular, and airplane modes, then that sounds like a distinctly different problem, and you might want to start a new thread to discuss it more specifically.

[sweevol]

Had a similar issue with a OnePlus Nord 2, also streaming to a bluetooth device over wifi. 

Applied the AVRCP and MAP version @tkil listed, and so far it seems to have fixed it for me as well. Been listening for about two hours, so far no glitching / stuttering anymore. 

Thanks!

[AndreasSandberg]

Facing the same issue on my brand new Samsung S21 (android 12), however since this i a work phone (locked down due to enterprise policies) I can't set the bluetooth settings under development mode. Pity this only affects Spotify. 

[AndresM]

Hey @AndreasSandberg,

Thanks for posting on the Community. 

In this case, we recommend that you check if you have the Samsung Device Care app installed (Settings > Device Care). If so, adjust the settings in order to exclude Spotify from any optimization that may affect its behavior. Since the Device Care app optimizes the device's performance by managing tasks and clearing cache and info, its functions may generate conflicts with Spotify. 

Keep us in the loop.

[AndreasSandberg]

Hi Andres and thanks for your reply. 

Unfortunately exclusion of the Spotify app does not resolve the issue. The only thing thats seems to help is disabling Wifi (which in turn is quite frustrating). When Wifi is enabled I get frequent cuts (once every 5 - 10 seconds) which makes it more or less impossible to listen to any music. For me this issue is exclusively bound to one specific Bluetooth speaker - ultimate ears Boom 3, when using other speakers the issue is not that common (I've even replaced the speaker in the store before I realized this issue is specific to Spotify streaming).

[AndresM]

Hey @AndreasSandberg,

Thanks for your reply.

Just to confirm, is this happening with any WiFi network you use? Also, tell us if the network you mainly use is public or private.

Lastly, we suggest that you log out everywhere. You'll find this option by scrolling down here. Afterwards, restart your phone, unpair and pair it again with your speaker, and tell us if the issue persists.

We'll be standing by.