Ionic Bluetooth music quality

[Fil1993]

Hello everyone, I wanted to understand if anyone else is experiencing a very bad quality when it comes to music streaming via bluetooth from the watch.

I know that streaming over bluetooth implies a loss of quality, but there is a significant difference when compared to the same song (mp3 320kbps) played via bluetooth from my pc or phone to the same pair of bluetooth headphones, so I'm comparing two different bluetooth streams.

Now, given also the already widely discussed sync issues of the ionic, this makes me think that the whole thing might be caused by hardware problems in the bluetooth module, that leads to a high packet loss hence the poor streaming quality and the sync issues.

Is anyone else experiencing that? Does any fitbit engineer/developer have a more plausible technical explanation for this behaviour?

It's frustrating because the watch is overall amazing and it would be an hassle to return it, mostly because I wouldn't feel like starting a russian roulette of replacing it until I find a completely functioning one.

Moderator Edit: Subject for clarity 

[Adorjan]

I'm experiencing similar issues. The music quality is poor and it's 'jumpy', as in its in and out of music so super annoying

[POTATOEMAN]

Music cutting in and out ?   Discussion about that here:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Music-cutting-out-every-15-seconds/m-p/2237811#M7152

[Fil1993]

I managed to keep the connection with my headphones after trying to pair them multiple times. Here I'm just talking about bad music quality, which can be due to bluetooth packet loss.

[Adorjan]

Thanks for the link

[LS4SS]

I've got the same issue, music plays fine but the quality is horrendous. I tried the headphones with my phone and it sounds great, but from the ionic it sounds terrible. No issues with it skipping or cutting out. Pretty bummed out about this as music was a main reason for getting the ionic.

[Droog33]

I agree. Main reason I got the Ionic was for the wireless music during workouts. Sound quality is poor, and I'm regretting the decision to purchase the watch. 

[POTATOEMAN]

Have you tried turning up the volume on the Ionic, and turning the volume down on your headphones ? Turn Ionic volume up to around 80-90%.i found this improves the sound on my Apple products as well. Improves the signal to noise ratio, you are not trying to amplify a weak signal. 

[Droog33]

Thanks for the tip. I will give it a try.

[LS4SS]

I've tried turning up the ionic and down on the headphones and vice versa, but there was no difference for me. Same lack of sound quality no matter the volumes

[Codsworthy]

Yes, absolutely. The sound quality is absolutely dire! It sounds worse than bootleg MP3s from back in ‘98 when we were all ripping at 96kbps. What gives FitBit?!?

I didn’t pay £100 for a set of great Bluetooth running headphones to cripple them by using my £300 Watch!

[SunsetRunner]

Every time i hear a crash cymbal i want to rip my ears right off and stomp on them... talk about a 2 decade step backward in audio quality... my guess is they reduce the audio quality on purpose to stop it from skipping... but if thats the case... why bother having the feature... this has got to be 96kbps.... now whether or not it down-converts during the "sync" process to save space I'm not sure, however that would explain why it takes 2 plus hours to transfer 86 songs over a 30mbps internet connection... so absolutely disappointing...

[JGobeil]

No complaint here.  Transferring my music was easy and worked the first time.  Sound quality is OK - not great but very adequate. Also, music doesn't kill the battery.

My only complaint is that I have to pair the headphones each time but it is a quick process.

[SunsetRunner]

Has anyone noticed an update on this? I havent used my ionic since early Jan. Deleted the app because it was degrading bluetooth quality elsewhere just having the ionic paired.

For anyone thats "okay" with the quality, please reconsider... or have your ears examined. This watch is clearly not for anyone who "enjoys" listening to music 😞

[Droog33]

Confirmed. This didn't work for me either. Clearly, sound quality was sacrificed for some reason. It's unfortunate, because music is such a key part of exercising for me.

re. "Have you tried turning up the volume on the Ionic, and turning the volume down on your headphones ?..."

[RatedE]

I'm no expert but I'm guessing it's a low-quality hardware issue as I too have noticed the mediocre sound quality. We have a car with10 year-old aftermarket Pioneer stereo system that streams music from my phone via Bluetooth beautifully. But my 2014 Hyundai streams music off that same phone almost as poorly as the Ionic. 

[Mini-12]

The music quality is terrible. I thought I had loaded Alvin and the chipmunks!

Deleted music and then reloaded again and it was just as bad. Bluetooth headphones work a treat with my iPhone and quality is great.

I only bought the ionic for this reason, otherwise I would have kept the blaze.

Very disappointed!

[damosbear]

I have this with my bose headphones, i tried my bose on-ear wireless and it paired no drama however the  connection is dire, crackly and echoey with no music coming thru (showing on versa as playing ok) I tried with my QC35 same set up and the music is great! FIrmware updates arent available for my on ear headphones. 

[Boecker1]

I had to move my Versa to my right wrist which helped a little but the music still cut out.  I'm using a Bose wireless.  Have there been any suggestions?

[Ryan13]

You will be told to re-start the watch.  Also to unpair it from bluetooth, re-start the watch and phone, etc etc. 

I have the same issue:  my watch is on the same side as the bluetooth headphone.  Within a couple of feet actually as I am a cyclist and my hands stay right there.  I've re-started and re-paired.  The headphones work great with my phone from over 30 feet away!  But not with the Ionic - the music cuts in and out constantly at less than 3 feet. 

I'm not sure if this is due to older bluetooth (I'm no techy) or just poor signal strength from the Ionic.  Either way, you will be lucky if you can get it to go away for good.