[mogulman]

I just got a Verizon Blackberry 8330 this week. It is on my companies BES system. I cam from a Palm Centro. I've been a long time Palm user.

I also purchased a Motorola S9-HD Bluetooth stereo headset. I was excited about having built-in Stereo bluetooth.

Anyway.. I noticed that there is buzzing/distortion in the left headphone. At first I thought this was a defective headphone, but I went to Fry's and exchanged it for another headset and the problem was the same.

So I tried the headset on my laptop's bluetooth. No buzzing/distortion. Also, tried it on my Palm Centro (Softick Audio Gateway) and the headset sounds good on the Palm too.

If I turn the bitrate down on my PC to a lower quality..... then it starts to sound like the BB Curve 8330.

So.. Is this normal for the curve? Is the stereo bluetooth really this bad? or do I have a defective one? I already had to get my phone replaced once because of an issue. I don't want to have to do it again. My IT person will get pissed.

Is there any kind of adjustment that can be done on the curve to increase the bitrate for BT stereo? What about upgrading the BB software? I have 4.5.0.77 on my system...

Really kind of disappointed with the BT stereo in this device.

[bassichonda96]

I used BT stereo in my car and it works great, using the Motorola DC800. As the sound fades in upon the initial BT connection it is scratchy but after that it sounds great. I crank it all the time with no distortion.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mogulman]

hmm.... wonder if it is some kind of incompatibility with the S9-HD. Anyone else use this headphone with a Curve 8330?

[mbudden]

I use my S9 with my blackberry all the time, I have no problems with it at all. They both work perfectly, the songs sound really good. It must be a problem somewhere because I use the same combination and have never heard such thing.

[wnm]

No sound quality problems with my MOTO T505.

[mogulman]

I use my S9 with my blackberry all the time, I have no problems with it at all. They both work perfectly, the songs sound really good. It must be a problem somewhere because I use the same combination and have never heard such thing.

Hmm.. S9 or S9-HD?

I'm going to try the S9-HD with my friends blackberry Pearl today, to see if that makes any difference.

I guess if I play the volume low enough then I don't hear the distortion, but its kind of annoying.

[mogulman]

Went to the local verizon store. They told me that the Motorola S9-HD doesn't work well with the Curve.

[mogulman]

Ok.. so I tried two different S9-HD's with my phone. Same distortion.

Tried a Lubix NC-1. Same thing, although not as bad.

I think the Blackberry Curve (or at least the Verizon version) just doesn't use a high bitrate when doing A2DP stereo. Either that or my ears are just super sensitive. I guess I could have a bad 8330, but it doesn't seem likely. If it was bad I doubt it would work at all.

[ojstimpy]

Actually tried the sony ericsson DS970's and having the exact same problem you are. I tested them out on my laptop and when putting the quality on normal it sounds similar to the 8330. When changing to high quality it sounds perfect. I'm thinking it's something to do with the bit rate the curve is pushing out. I am using 4.5.0.97 firmware so I don't know.

[wnm]

I think the bit rate is controlled buy the music files themselves. For instance, if you show that column in iTunes you'll see various bit rates for songs from CD's. iTunes store songs are 128 or 256.

I don't notice any difference playing music from the BB media player or my iPod to a bluetooth device. I do find that Slacker has a much lower output, and I have to boost the volume on my BB so the sound is distorted when I turn the volume up on my car stereo.

[ojstimpy]

Is this happening with all bluetooth stereo headphones on the curve 8330, or just those with sensitive ears noticing this?

[mogulman]

Actually, the bitrate for the bluetooth stereo connection is not controlled by the music. On my Palm the SAG program that does Bluetooth stereo has different bitrate settings. Setting it to 300+kbps sounds much better.

I noticed the same thing. Normal setting on my PC (229kbps) sounds similar to the Blackberry Curve 8330. If I set the bluetooth stereo bitrate on my PC to 279kbps it sounds much better.

I just wish there was some way to change the setting on the Curve.

The bitrate that the mp3 is recorded at has nothing to do with the bitrate that sound is sent over bluetooth (streaming bitrate over bluetooth). I have tried very high quality recorded sounds.

[mogulman]

Ok.. I tried another curve in the store. I also tried 3 other brands of headsets. The sound quality is still poor. It sounds like the Curve is sending at 200kbps over Bluetooth.

I'm disappointed, but at least I know it is just the way the Curve is designed. I wish they had adjustable settings for this. I'm assuming they used a lower bitrate to keep the battery life good. Most people probably wouldn't notice the difference in sound quality.

[ojstimpy]

Can we send any suggestions to blackberry on this issue?

[wnm]

Actually, the bitrate for the bluetooth stereo connection is not controlled by the music. On my Palm the SAG program that does Bluetooth stereo has different bitrate settings. Setting it to 300+kbps sounds much better.

I noticed the same thing. Normal setting on my PC (229kbps) sounds similar to the Blackberry Curve 8330. If I set the bluetooth stereo bitrate on my PC to 279kbps it sounds much better.

I just wish there was some way to change the setting on the Curve.

The bitrate that the mp3 is recorded at has nothing to do with the bitrate that sound is sent over bluetooth (streaming bitrate over bluetooth). I have tried very high quality recorded sounds.

So you're saying that even on the same setup (device, BT transmitter/receiver and headphones) the song bit rate won't matter?

[imekul#CB]

Kind of late to the party here, but...

I just got a pair of S9s for my 8330. The headphones seem great, although the sound quality is pretty poor when playing back MP3s from my Curve. There can be a lot of distortion/static at pretty low volume levels.

I read that this may be a weakness of the Curve. I tried pairing the S9s to my computer, and they sounded much, much better.

So I'm not real sure what to do now! I love these headphones, but they can sound pretty bad when connected to the Curve, which is why I got 'em! What confuses me most is that some people report zero problems when using the Curve and the S9s.

Anybody ever find a way to "fix" the issue, or is it just kind of the luck of the draw?

[mogulman]

It seems that some users are more sensitive to the quality then others. I tried a bunch of combinations of Curve phones and Bluetooth headphones and I can notice it on all. This is with high quality high bitrate MP3s.

My resolution is:
-Use my wired headset with the Curve
-Use my Windows Mobile (backup) phone for Bluetooth Stereo