Ask HN: Why is Bluetooth audio always so bad?

Re:Ask HN: Why is Bluetooth audio always so bad? by conception on Thursday August 22, 2019 @02:58PM (#20771292)

So, no one has touched on a technical limitation. Bluetooth sucks for going through water. (If you like The Maths http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/microwave_water.html )

Guess what people are mainly made of?

So, if you are standing between a BT transmitter and a BT receiver a lot of magic needs to happen to get the data moving between the two.

People love Airpods. People often put their phones in their pockets. A lot of water in the way.

If you notice BT being particularly terrible, look for how water might be blocking the signal.

This, of course, isn't the cause of all BT problems, but knowing this fundamental really helps troubleshoot when you run into a lot of them.

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Re:Ask HN: Why is Bluetooth audio always so bad? by K2L8M11N2 on Thursday August 22, 2019 @04:51PM (#20772241)

WiFi also uses 2.4 GHz (or even higher in newer versions) and it seems to be much more resilient. Is it really a matter of the underlying electromagnetic link?

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Re:Ask HN: Why is Bluetooth audio always so bad? by yuhc on Thursday August 22, 2019 @07:07PM (#20773200)

Mostly bc WiFi has stronger signal, and the protocol is designed for higher speed and better stability.

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Re:Ask HN: Why is Bluetooth audio always so bad? by notyourwork on Thursday August 22, 2019 @03:23PM (#20771505)

I noticed this when in dense cities bluetooth is much worse when phone is in my back pocket. Moving it to front pocket makes a big difference.

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