Bluetooth audio sounds awful

[timminator]

I have paired a brand new Scala Q3 bluetooth headset to the audio system on 2016 R1200RT.  The radio sounds awesome through the speakers, whether FM, Sirius, or Aux device.  But when playing through bluetooth, the audio is awful.  It is loaded with static and breaks up.  It's not related to movement, it happens when parked in the driveway, with a strong radio signal.


I can stream other bluetooth music to the headset from iPhone and the sound quality is perfect.



I'm wondering if BMW has fixed things so that audio quality is only good if you buy their $$$$ bluetooth headset?  Has anyone else experienced this issue with a 3rd party bluetooth device?

[Cleverbee]

Quite tinny on Schuberth SRC, somewhere on here itas said the system is V2.0 most stuff now is 4.something........
Feeling ripped off?      Yep.

[guest2360]

It's nothing to do with the audio unit or some fiendish bug BMW have inserted.  The only way to get the same quality of sound into your helmet that the speakers are producing is to use a wired system.  Bluetooth kit only produce telephone quality sound which is OK but not top quality.

[beemerboy9]

It's nothing to do with the audio unit or some fiendish bug BMW have inserted. The only way to get the same quality of sound into your helmet that the speakers are producing is to use a wired system. Bluetooth kit only produce telephone quality sound which is OK but not top quality.

It's nothing to do with the audio unit or some fiendish bug BMW have inserted. The only way to get the same quality of sound into your helmet that the speakers are producing is to use a wired system. Bluetooth kit only produce telephone quality sound which is OK but not top quality.

To RTman10:-  I am also an Autocom user - but are you not being a little harsh?  The OP reports very acceptable sound quality in the headset when streaming from an iPhone, so there must be huge amounts of static & interference from the engine going into the Alpine unit to cause the distortion and signal break-up.

To Timminator:- I would be trying to hook up with other BT headset users to see if their headsets just as awful with your bike.

[richardbd]

Rather unusually on the subject of BT, I disagree with RTMan this time.


The quality from my BMW BT unit is not far short of that from my Autocom - at anything over a few mph it's genuinely hard to tell the difference, other than the Autocom does have more volume available.


I'm more inclined to think the OP's issue is the non-BMW BT.  I originally tried to hook up my Schuberth SRC to the bike and the quality - when it worked all - was atrocious.


Strikes me as yet another case like lots of others - needs to switch to BMW BT or do the sensible thing and get an Autocom fitted...


not

[guest2360]

Unless there is a fault there is never any engine interference on the Alpine unit. I would suggest that if you have good reception from your I phone music, impair that and the audio unit and then re pair the audio unit but not the phone. 
It's an aufull lot easier with Autocom.

[Casbar]

RT Man is a BT hater    Just for comparison, and I know all the stuff about a passenger not being able to hear radio blah blah. But my Scala G9 is hooked up, the radio is fine, no difference to the other music inputs to the headset.

[blokeonthemove]

On the subject of Bluetooth, I mentioned elsewhere that I have bought a dual pack of Scala Pack talk, does anyone know should I expect to talk and hear between the two without any action like a voice command or button press before the conversation, between rider and passenger. At the moment I'm getting nothing.

[richardbd]

RT Man is a BT hater    Just for comparison, and I know all the stuff about a passenger not being able to hear radio blah blah. But my Scala G9 is hooked up, the radio is fine, no difference to the other music inputs to the headset.

Can you control the Scala volume from the handlebar wheel?

[guest2826]

I have the BM Bluetooth kit in my BM Airflow open face helmet and it works fine, though I can't compare it with the other aftermarket systems mentioned. Although it will never compare to a good car audio, it's certainly not full of static and also I can hear the nav instructions clearly too. I bought BM kit because I wanted to be certain that it would work with the bike without having to modify it and was willing to pay the price.

[Casbar]

Can you control the Scala volume from the handlebar wheel?

No was out earlier and I had to control the volume by the scala volume controls, Also Nav comes through and I can talk to my passenger fine, nav stops the radio and then it comes back. But as discussed many times, passenger can only hear intercom, but my other half uses the BT built in radio if she wants it, but rarely listens to radio. I also do not perform any special switch on sequence, jut plug the nav in, and then the BT and all hooks up as expected

[Casbar]

On the subject of Bluetooth, I mentioned elsewhere that I have bought a dual pack of Scala Pack talk, does anyone know should I expect to talk and hear between the two without any action like a voice command or button press before the conversation, between rider and passenger. At the moment I'm getting nothing.

With my G9, I have voice activated on, so I have to make a whooping noise then I get a beep which is the prompt to give the voice command and then say call intercom, you'll hear a beep when connected this then stays open until no activity for a while. On the Harley it stays open most of the time, because the wind noise is too much for it to switch off. You can also setup sensitivity of mike. I think you can also have voice prompt off, but its not an open mike, so you need to make some noise to open the channel. If you have named the two headsets, when you switch on it should say something like intercom 2 connected. If nav is coming through, it cuts off intercom, you then hear a beep when the intercom channel is open again. I would ensure they are pared and get them working together away from the bike, then start getting yours connect to the bike, nav and phone.


The Scala instructions are rubbish.

[guest3074]

I have previously used wired and had issues with intermittent connections so went back to BT (previously I went for wired simply as I was too lazy to keep charging it) and to be honest I find the audio just as good as wired with the added bonus I can pay for my fuel and still listen to my music 

[timminator]

Quite tinny on Schuberth SRC, somewhere on here itas said the system is V2.0 most stuff now is 4.something........
Feeling ripped off?      Yep.

Wow, apparently this is a hot topic.  Glad I am not the only one experiencing the issue.


Yes cleverbee, feeling very ripped off.  I wouldn't have bought the BT kit to begin with if I had known how bad the radio would sound.  In fact, I probably would not have even installed the radio in the RT, and opt'd to have the additional storage under the passenger seat and speaker compartments.  I guess I can still use it with my iPhone and the Nav, so not a total loss.


I tried every possible combination of pairing and un-pairing everything, and only having the device paired to the RT.  I even shut off my iPhone and every other bluetooth device within range to ensure there was no interference, and still no luck.  I work in this field and have a fair amount of experience using bluetooth sound devices, and have not experienced this issue before.  It really seems like either a very weak signal coming from the radio transmitter, or possibly some signal interference.


I am intrigued by the comments about using a wired connection to your helmet.  The Scala Rider Q3 does have an input jack for wired audio.  But is there an output jack on the RT radio that I can connect into?  Is this what the "Autocomm" is that you guys are referring to?


Thanks all for the responses, sounds like many different opinions on this one.

[guest2360]

Put all your troubles behind you and fit an Autocom. Less money, lot less stress and it lasts for years.  Bluetooth is one if those things that should have stayed in cars like central locking and cancelling indicators.