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WH-1000XM3: frequent audio cuts

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junoder
Member

WH-1000XM3: frequent audio cuts

When listening to music, audio cuts off multiple times for a few seconds and then works again for something like 3–15 minutes and then it randomly cuts off again. This happens with absolutely no visible changes. Nothing physically moves and still it can happen, while transmitter and headphones distance is less than 1 meter. (I don't know if WiFi traffic or something like that might interfere.) In any case, this happens way too often and with the same exact setup, on Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless there is no problem. The audio never cuts off with those headphones. Of course I tried already SBC and AAC (in the Headphones app, "Priority on stable connection" and "Priority on sound quality"). No difference.

 

I'm not yet sure how much this problem occurs when playing from iPhone and iPad, however it certainly happens very often when playing from Windows 10. So, what can I try to get rid of the audio cutting off problem? As said, the particular BT dongle works fine with Sennheiser, however does anyone have experience on solving the audio cutting problem by changing BT dongle to some specific model?

 

It seems it's very difficult to find out what codec Windows 10 is using to re-encode for the Bluetooth transmission stream. I read https://habr.com/en/post/456182/ for lots of good information and found that https://www.bluetoothgoodies.com/tweaker/ would let me know the codec in use. But none of that helps me solve the audio cutting off problem.

6 REPLIES 6
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junoder
Member

https://helpguide.sony.net/mdr/wh1000xm3/v1/en/contents/TP0001703090.html didn't help: there are no obstacles (and Sennheiser didn't have problems..), the Bluetooth is already just 60cm apart from the headset. Microwave was definitely not used in this apartment (distance to nearest microwave is at least 7 m). No strong antennas I'm aware of, WiFi router is of course in the same room but it's pretty much impossible to get rid of that. "Use this headset at least 10 m (30 feet) away from the Wi-Fi device." basically means the headset is unusable in most typical rooms.

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junoder
Member

After two weeks of use, it seems the audio cuts are related to my computer (Windows 10, a new good computer with a generic BT4.0 dongle). It is a software problem of some kind. Not due to interference mid air. What happens is clearly audio sources some times "break", audio starts to stutter. On some programs, sometime, if video is playing, that may also start playing very slowly.

 

This is some bug with some driver or something. As I mentioned the same setup works fine with Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless.

 

Would be great if someone knows a fix for this.

 

Edit: I wrote too early. It does randomly cut audio with other sources too. Cuts even my iPhone is 30cm away from the headphones and there should be nothing special going on (phone is just playing music while screen is off). Seemingly random cuts.

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ryan7727
Member

I think Sony have just released a Firmware upgrade on 27th August, specifically for Windows10 related problems. Try logging into the app and it should be available to download?

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junoder
Member

ryan7727: what's your firmware version? Mine is (according to "Music Center" and "Headphones" apps) 4.1.1. In the Headphones app, I don't find any means to upgrade, it doesn't offer an upgrade for me.

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ryan7727
Member

My version is 1.3.0. I'm seeing this by pressing the 3 dots at the top right of the screen, then "WF-1000XM3 Version". Although if you are seeing 4.1.1 we may not be referring to the same thing!

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ryan7727
Member

Apologies, just realised I'm talking about WF-1000XM3 and this thread is about the WH. Sorry for the confusion.