4 ms·

Rant: Why Bluetooth Sucks [video]

18 points by ducktective 6y ago

bigbubba 6y ago
Maybe it's because I use a 5GHz wifi network, but I've never had issues with my Bluetooth headphones disconnecting when I walk to another room. I seem to get maybe 50 feet out of it, give or take a few?
taytus 6y ago
Terrible acting, even worse mustache.
- gouggoug 6y ago
  I have to say your profile made me laugh: "Important: If you are looking at this profile because you thought something I posted was Wrong, dismissive, disrespectful, douchebaggish, what have you, I would really like to hear from you so that I could understand how you got that impression. I won't get mad, I won't "retaliate" I just want to hear what you have to say. It is important to me to communicate clearly and if something I said struck you that way then I failed and I would like to correct it."
tacker2000 6y ago
Very low quality submission, sorry. 1) The information density in videos is always very low 2) The guy is just annoying 3) Not knowledgeable or digging deeper: 2,4GHz? Yes because it’s one of the unregulated bands worldwide, thats not a coincidence. 4) I can acknowledge that BT has its problems but this is just unscientific clickbait
- vlovich123 6y ago
  I concur. He rants about things that aren’t actually issues, and is simply wrong on some of the things that are. For example, WiFi has transitioned to 5ghz and will be moving to 6 so the coex story solves itself and isn’t the biggest problem. Your device isn’t in discovery mode all the time because, unlike your router, it’s not plugged in always. Unless you want a standby time of an hour instead of a day, you can’t always be in discovery. Additionally it’s a UX and security thing - currently people expect that pairing also connects. If you make the device always discoverable the complexity of negotiating that goes up. Multipoint BT audio works so poorly that AirPods went with a totally different UX solution that works way better. Unfortunately the author is wrong in the substance enough that the condescending lecturing style makes it even more of a turnoff. I just hope people don’t take this too seriously but it does speak that the BT engineers driving the standards need to do a better job focusing on issues that end users have. The challenge is that the bulk of these (excluding Google and Apple) are chip designers looking to sell more chips so they’re incentivized to solve different problems.
- etrautmann 6y ago
  Yep, I was hoping for some technical info as to why implementations of the BT protocol are so bad on many devices. I've heard rumors of the firmware stacks being horrifying, but no firsthand experience.
grishka 6y ago
I'll never understand those people who say that Bluetooth is "The Future" and the headphone jacks need to go because they're "old". From an engineering point of view, Bluetooth is just such a ridiculously complicated, Rube Goldberg-esque way of sending audio one meter away. There's a lot of software involved on both sides, whereas with wired there's none. There's so many more points where everything could go wrong. By the way, this video includes a paid promotion. Install this extension[1] to skip these automatically. [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-youtube/mnjggcdmjocbbbhaepdhchncahnbgone https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-y...
- Spartan-S63 6y ago
  Curious as to how Apple implements their Bluetooth stack because I’ve never had issues the end user devices with the Apple wireless chips in them. Their implementation seems to just work for me. I know the Bluetooth spec and most implementations are messy and spaghetti-ish, but I feel like whatever Apple is doing works really well.
- bigbubba 6y ago
  The heavy coiled cable on my sennheiser headphones has killed the sound jacks on two laptops, I believe due to the strain the weight of the cable puts on the jack when the cable is unsupported. I expect a slim headphone cable wouldn't have this problem, but I switched to bluetooth instead because of this. It also makes me less likely to accidentally pull my laptop off a table. I agree that 'it's old' is a shitty reason to dismiss something though. I've had somebody suggest I replace my USB intellimouse because it's so old, but that's just not going to happen. It still works great.
- xtracto 6y ago
  I remember reading an article some time ago on how bluetooth audio transmission works. I was surprised to learn that audio is actually compressed (in A2DP and HFS/HFP mode) so for audio some file formats it will effectively be compressing the stream a second time, reducing its quality.
  - 6y ago
benmller313 6y ago
Is this a standup comedy routine?
cocoa19 6y ago
Pairing is so painful, that I use two headphones. Wireless headphones for TV, wired headphones for everything else (cellphone calls, laptop, desktop computer). I'm considering buying one of those multi-point bluetooth headphones, but I'm not very convinced it will be less painful than my current setup.
plasma 6y ago
Anyone use Windows 10 and have constant audio headphone issues? I've got bluetooth headphones, every day I need to fight Windows because they can become idle and the microphone or headset becomes mute. I need to turn them off/on to fix. I've checked every possible power-save setting and turned it off etc.
anko 6y ago
Besides the ridiculous ranting, a lot of the problems aren't bluetooth per se, see Apple's W1 implementation. With Airpods Pro and an iPhone I get near instant setup, great range, etc.

18 points by ducktective 6y ago

Maybe it's because I use a 5GHz wifi network, but I've never had issues with my Bluetooth headphones disconnecting when I walk to another room. I seem to get maybe 50 feet out of it, give or take a few?

taytus 6y ago

Terrible acting, even worse mustache.

gouggoug 6y ago
I have to say your profile made me laugh: "Important: If you are looking at this profile because you thought something I posted was Wrong, dismissive, disrespectful, douchebaggish, what have you, I would really like to hear from you so that I could understand how you got that impression. I won't get mad, I won't "retaliate" I just want to hear what you have to say. It is important to me to communicate clearly and if something I said struck you that way then I failed and I would like to correct it."

tacker2000 6y ago

Very low quality submission, sorry. 1) The information density in videos is always very low 2) The guy is just annoying 3) Not knowledgeable or digging deeper: 2,4GHz? Yes because it’s one of the unregulated bands worldwide, thats not a coincidence. 4) I can acknowledge that BT has its problems but this is just unscientific clickbait

vlovich123 6y ago
I concur. He rants about things that aren’t actually issues, and is simply wrong on some of the things that are. For example, WiFi has transitioned to 5ghz and will be moving to 6 so the coex story solves itself and isn’t the biggest problem. Your device isn’t in discovery mode all the time because, unlike your router, it’s not plugged in always. Unless you want a standby time of an hour instead of a day, you can’t always be in discovery. Additionally it’s a UX and security thing - currently people expect that pairing also connects. If you make the device always discoverable the complexity of negotiating that goes up. Multipoint BT audio works so poorly that AirPods went with a totally different UX solution that works way better. Unfortunately the author is wrong in the substance enough that the condescending lecturing style makes it even more of a turnoff. I just hope people don’t take this too seriously but it does speak that the BT engineers driving the standards need to do a better job focusing on issues that end users have. The challenge is that the bulk of these (excluding Google and Apple) are chip designers looking to sell more chips so they’re incentivized to solve different problems.
etrautmann 6y ago
Yep, I was hoping for some technical info as to why implementations of the BT protocol are so bad on many devices. I've heard rumors of the firmware stacks being horrifying, but no firsthand experience.

grishka 6y ago

I'll never understand those people who say that Bluetooth is "The Future" and the headphone jacks need to go because they're "old". From an engineering point of view, Bluetooth is just such a ridiculously complicated, Rube Goldberg-esque way of sending audio one meter away. There's a lot of software involved on both sides, whereas with wired there's none. There's so many more points where everything could go wrong. By the way, this video includes a paid promotion. Install this extension[1] to skip these automatically. [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-youtube/mnjggcdmjocbbbhaepdhchncahnbgone https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-y...

Spartan-S63 6y ago
Curious as to how Apple implements their Bluetooth stack because I’ve never had issues the end user devices with the Apple wireless chips in them. Their implementation seems to just work for me. I know the Bluetooth spec and most implementations are messy and spaghetti-ish, but I feel like whatever Apple is doing works really well.
bigbubba 6y ago
The heavy coiled cable on my sennheiser headphones has killed the sound jacks on two laptops, I believe due to the strain the weight of the cable puts on the jack when the cable is unsupported. I expect a slim headphone cable wouldn't have this problem, but I switched to bluetooth instead because of this. It also makes me less likely to accidentally pull my laptop off a table. I agree that 'it's old' is a shitty reason to dismiss something though. I've had somebody suggest I replace my USB intellimouse because it's so old, but that's just not going to happen. It still works great.
xtracto 6y ago
I remember reading an article some time ago on how bluetooth audio transmission works. I was surprised to learn that audio is actually compressed (in A2DP and HFS/HFP mode) so for audio some file formats it will effectively be compressing the stream a second time, reducing its quality.
- 6y ago

benmller313 6y ago

Is this a standup comedy routine?

cocoa19 6y ago

Pairing is so painful, that I use two headphones. Wireless headphones for TV, wired headphones for everything else (cellphone calls, laptop, desktop computer). I'm considering buying one of those multi-point bluetooth headphones, but I'm not very convinced it will be less painful than my current setup.

plasma 6y ago

Anyone use Windows 10 and have constant audio headphone issues? I've got bluetooth headphones, every day I need to fight Windows because they can become idle and the microphone or headset becomes mute. I need to turn them off/on to fix. I've checked every possible power-save setting and turned it off etc.

anko 6y ago

Besides the ridiculous ranting, a lot of the problems aren't bluetooth per se, see Apple's W1 implementation. With Airpods Pro and an iPhone I get near instant setup, great range, etc.