Bluetooth Music quality degraded from my Samsung S8 with Fitbit app installed

[JosephW]

Hello,

I've had Jaybird X3 Bluetooth earbuds paired with my S8 for over a month and the sound quality was pretty good.

Then I installed the Ionic and Fitbit app.  The music sound quality through my Jaybird earbuds was instantly degraded.

I unpaired the Ionic from my phone and rebooted, no change in music quality.

I uninstalled the Fitbit app and rebooted, BOOM!  music sounded great again.

I reinstalled the Fitbit app but didn't pair the Ionic and BOOM, audio quality crappy again.

Anyone else?

[dermbrian]

I just listened to some music from my phone itself through my stereo and it sounds "thinner" than what I'm used to.  I don't think the Ionic supports APT-X, where my Samsung phone and stereo do.  So maybe the Fitbit app interferes with that codec?  I'll be interested in seeing more about this.

[JosephW]

I'm certain my jaybird X3s don't support APT-X either...

Its like the Fitbit app is doing something to Bluetooth on the phone that ends up reducing sound quality/bandwidth/processor time to a Bluetooth device that plays audio.

Interestingly enough, I had the same problem with the Microsoft Band app on my S7 and S8.  My bet is its a Samsung customization thing with Samsung's SoundAlive software they embed in their custom Android build that conflicts with fitness/wearable software.

I may end up trying a Samsung band ...

[winb83]

This has been a problem with Samsung phones since the S5. It might effect other Android phones too. If you have a Fitbit paired to the phone and Bluetooth headphones it lowers the bitrate on the audio to the headphones. I've also noticed it when I have Bluetooth headphones paired and I get in my car with my car's Bluetooth system. When I turn off my headphones the audio quality jumps back to normal.

There's only 2 ways around it. 

1.) It doesn't effect AptX Bluetooth headphones. Only A2DP.

2.) Don't fully pair the Fitbit with the phone. Just use the app to sync the fitness data and close it. I've found that closing the app fully returns the audio quality to normal.

I also have an iPhone and this isn't a problem at all with it.

[JosephW]

OK, now we are getting somewhere...

Thanks for your reply, winb83!

Your reply and logic sound correct but how do you know this bad behavior doesn't impact the AptX connections?  I'm unfamiliar so any explanation would be appreciated before I go buy new earbuds...

Thanks man.

[SunsetRunner]

I totally agree however my instance is when the ionic is paired to my phone and im using bluetooth audio on my 2014 Malibu -- it makes the exp-ear-ience unbearable AKA poor quality KaZaa sourced music from bootleg leaked songs... unpair the ionic, and voila, back to full bitrate music with a nice deep sound. The only issue is that when I try to pair the ionic again, it takes its sweet time completing... trying to develop a bluetooth profile app that you can say, if it's paired to device A, do not allow connection to device B, C, etc.

I'll try the different iterations to see if my results are identical to yours, and get back to you.

So happy one other person on the internet has noticed this!

Using a Samsung Galaxy S8

[mikeyvxt]

Hey folks,

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. I just purchased a Fitbit Ionic about a week or two ago and started using the Fitbit app. The music quality streaming through Bluetooth to my Subaru just plummeted. High frequencies start clipping, and all of the audio loses its "color" and stereo effects. In fact it is so bad I haven't been able to listen to music in my car rides at all because it actually gives me a headache. 

I didn't notice the same audio quality decrease when streaming music to my Bose headphones, so for a while I didn't put two-and-two together.

This really sucks because music is the only thing that keeps me sane when sitting in traffic in my car. My temporary workaround currently is to, instead of syncing my Fitbit to my phone which streams music, I sync my Fitbit to my Kindle Fire.

I'd rather sync to my phone. Hope someone from Fitbit sees this thread and helps us figure out what's going on. 

Also using a Samsung Galaxy S8.

[SunsetRunner]

They won't see this. The company support is so dodgy. There was a thread
about firmware 27.1.1.16 or whatever and they just released another
firmware update (which fixed nothing) in order to justify closing the
thread where everyone had voiced their complaints.... From the outside
closed threads look like solved issues. Just lazy programmers and really
brutal management. I bet the new versa or whatever it's called is just as
awful...

Best of luck. Havent used my ionic in over 2 months.

Car audio reigns supreme.

The music you uoload to the ionic, if you can afford to wait the half a day
or takes to degrade your 100 songs and transfer them, are actually worse
everywhere. No matter what your output device is.

[WavyDavey]

---

@winb83 wrote:

2.) Don't fully pair the Fitbit with the phone. Just use the app to sync the fitness data and close it. I've found that closing the app fully returns the audio quality to normal.

---

I've found this as well.

[mikeyvxt]

Glad that works for you.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for me. 

I have all of the "always syncing" configurations and settings turned off on the application itself, and I always close the app when I'm not using it for anything. Audio quality is still abysmal in the car. I've resigned to just syncing my Fitbit with an entirely different device rather than my phone.

[SunsetRunner]

You're entirely right. My S8 does had the exact same settings. Even if you
"unpair" the ionic from the android bluetooth interface, moments later it's
back, paired, and messing up my audio again. The only solution i found was
to delete the app and unpair the ionic.

[AimeeMay89]

@mikeyvxt the EXACT same thing is happening to me, and I'm trying to solve with no luck. 

Was just wondering if since this time anyone has found a fix or workaround? 

I've just been uninstalling the FitBit app and re-downloading when I see it being updated in hopes it's been fixed. Still nothing.

I have a Fitbit Ionic, Samsung S10 and Mazda CX5 (2018 model) 

[Fred_gettin_fit]

Has this been resolved?

[AimeeMay89]

Unfortunately not, this is still an issue.