Sound crackling / distortion on Left Sport Earbud when paired with FitBit Ionic

[Johnbncd]

Hi,

I recently purchased a set of Bose Sports Earbuds which I intended to use with my Fitbit Ionic. However since getting them whenever I connect and play music through the headphones the sound "crackles" and is severely distorted in the left earbud. I have tried multiple suggested solutions from both bose and fitbit but none have worked. This has included a factory reset of the watch, trying different apps (it happens with both Deezer downloaded and the Music App), plugging in the headphone case for 10secs and then leaving for 1 minute to reset the connection, unpairing / reparing, etc. At one point I did get correct audio but this seemed completely random and I have not been able to reproduce it.

Note the headphones work correctly when paired with my phone.

The distance from the watch to the headphones has no impact (as is the case in other posts).

I have also posted this post on the Bose Product Support site (here: https://community.bose.com/t5/In-Ear-Headphones/Sound-distortion-on-Left-Sport-Earbud-when-paired-wi...) to see if they can suggest anything; however I believe the issue is with the Ionic given that they work perfectly with my phone.

Thank you.

[Johnbncd]

This was posted over a week ago now ... and yet not a single response from fitbit?? Have you guys tested the Ionic with Bose sport earbuds?

[angelabiance]

Having the same trouble! My phone works fine, but my Fitbit is crackling every time I have tried!!!!

[johssm]

This was happening with by Fitbit Ionic.  I decided to go ahead and upgrade to the newest Fitbit Sense and am having the SAME problem.  Crackling and distortion in the left Bose Sport Earbud.  I guess I've all to send back the Bose Earbuds.  It's definitely a compatibility issue between the Bose Earbuds and Fitbit watches.  When using older powerbeats earbuds I don't have the problem.  Also, I tried a Galaxy Smartwatch 3 with Bose earbuds and don't have any problems.  

I read someplace that Bose Earbuds are using Bluetooth Version 5 and Fitbit Smart Watches are still on Bluetooth 4.2 and the earbuds aren't backwards compatible.  You'd think the newest Fitbit Sense, for $299.00 would have the latest Blutetooth.  😞

[Johnbncd]

I agree. What most unsatisfactory is the lack of initiative on either Fitbit or Bose's part to definitively diagnose the problem! I can't imagine this being a very difficult thing to do with the correct debugging hw / sw.

If there is an issue such as the one we and many others have reported the manufacturers have a duty to report it transparently to at least let consumers make an informed choice regarding their product and avoid wasting their money!! ... or perhaps to reply to posts on their own forum !!! 😡

[RickMae1]

I have the exact same problem. Have tried a variety of things.

[johssm]

I spent 4 hours updating firmware, software, resetting everything, looking at "developer settings" and opened tickets with both Fitbit and Bose support.  Fitbit said "we'll look into this for a future enhancement".  Really, it's broken, not a request for a new capability and since it's not included on the Fitbit Sense (their newest model), it's not happening anytime soon.  Bose support came back and suggested that I use my phone to play music.  The whole point of having my smartwatch is to exercise without carrying my phone around the gym as I use Pandora in offline mode.  Luckily I just bought the Bose Sport earbuds and can send them back.  I've ordered PowerBeats Pro earbuds and HOPE they work.  If not, I hate to say it but I might have to switch everything over to the Apple ecosystem (phone, watch and buds).  😞