You can check the codec your bluetooth device is using by holding down the Option key, clicking on the Bluetooth icon in your menu bar, and mousing over to the bluetooth device to show its details.
You can force OS X to use the aptX Codec with Apple's Bluetooth Explorer application. You can download it from my Dropbox. After you open it, go to Tools > Audio Options.
In the Audio Options window that pops up, select Force use of aptX. After reconnecting your Bluetooth audio device, it should now use the aptX codec.
Why would I want to use aptX?
CSR describes their aptX technology saying:
The aptX audio codec is available for high quality stereo audio over Bluetooth. When incorporated in Bluetooth A2DP Stereo products, aptX audio coding delivers full 'wired' audio quality.
But in my regular use of aptX vs SBC, with my Beats Studio Wireless headphones, I did not notice much of a difference in sound quality. I do keep aptX enabled instead of SBC just in case. But one of the negative drawbacks of aptX is that it requires a higher bitrate, and therefore a strong Bluetooth connection to function. So with aptX enabled, you might notice your audio cutting out sooner when you are moving away from your Bluetooth source.
Do you notice a difference in using aptX? What kind of audio device and audio source do you have if you did? Let me know.
The aptX audio codec is available for high quality stereo audio over Bluetooth. When incorporated in Bluetooth A2DP Stereo products, aptX audio coding delivers full 'wired' audio quality.
But in my regular use of aptX vs SBC, with my Beats Studio Wireless headphones, I did not notice much of a difference in sound quality. I do keep aptX enabled instead of SBC just in case. But one of the negative drawbacks of aptX is that it requires a higher bitrate, and therefore a strong Bluetooth connection to function. So with aptX enabled, you might notice your audio cutting out sooner when you are moving away from your Bluetooth source.
Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteWas looking for this app everywhere. thank you so much! Hopefully I am able to fix choppy audio output from my sound bar by increasing the bitpool min and increasing the no of buffer packets.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS !!!
ReplyDeleteSounds a lot better for me with my Sony ZX770BT headphones, thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy Q Acoustics BT3 wireless speakers kept dropping signal from my iMac after 20 minutes (which its supposed to do if no signal input) in the middle of playing music!! The BT3 is aptX and upon checking iMac Bluetooth connection I found it was connected with SBC. I'm hoping this solves it. Many thanks
ReplyDeleteHi, did you solved this? I have the exact same set-up but when forcing APT-x I couldn't play sound anymore...
DeleteThank you so much for this tips and sharing a program, my Denon Envaya sound truly amazing with my mac now, best!
ReplyDeleteDo i have to download the AptX codec? i have beats studio wireless headphones and can only connect with AAC or SBC. even if i check force AptX and disable AAC AptX does not come up as the active codec.
ReplyDeletePlease advise,
thanks
Joe
AptX is built into OSX. Do you have the first or second version of the Studio Wireless?
DeleteHi! I have the same issue here... I've forced the apt-x codec with the Bluetooth Explorer app but my Studio Wireless doesn't seem to catch it. How could i know which version of the Studio Wireless do i have? Thanks!
DeleteI found the root problem for this... mine were fake. After long discussions i managed to get my money back but there're plenty of people being cheated by knockoffs. I found mine were not the real thing when i tried to update them. I connected the Studios' to my Mac and the updater didn't recognize them, also, i tried the reset procedure and it didn't go as Beats said, no red lights no nothing. So... be careful out there.
DeleteThat's unfortunate. Glad you got your money back, though!
DeleteThank you. Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless.
ReplyDeleteHi - my microphone quality is really poor over Bluetooth. I found my Mac uses two connections - one for output audio and one for input. Output is fine, but when it switches to input it drops to 8000 bitrate and then takes some time to adjust back to the higher quality once the call is over.
ReplyDeleteAny suggestions?
I don't see anything scriptable with Bluetooth Explorer. But it seems someone made an Apple Script to open the Audio Midi Setup form to set a bitrate as well as other things.
DeleteYou can try hacking that script to fit your needs.
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ReplyDeleteI have a new Kef MUO bluetooth speaker that I understand uses Bluetooth aptX to connect to devices.
ReplyDeleteI want to use this speaker on my iMac that's running OS x El Capitan (10.11.13). The speaker will either not Bluetooth connect, loses connection or the sound breaks when playing music. I have tried your suggestion of selecting 'Force use of aptX' in Audio Options of Bluetooth Explorer but this makes no difference. Are you able to assist with what I can do next please?
By the way, I'm able to use this speaker from my iPhone successfully.
Yeah I think aptX would make it worse. One thing to try is not to use it, and instead try adjusting the bitpool settings available below it. Play around with decreasing the Current and Maximum bitpool. This would decrease sound quality but hopefully keep the connection stable which would be more important.
DeleteWhen i try this on my my sound link bose around ear wireless headphones II this source aptX does not change the headphone setting still says not active
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI'm having the same issue on the QC35. I'm switching back to standard settings for now.
DeleteFrank, I just got the QC35 myself. Bose does not support the AptX codec. They do support AAC, but I do not know of a way to force AAC over SBC.
DeleteIn newer Bluetooth Explorer, you can enable AAC on QC35.
Deletei have the new bang and olfuson A1. i have forced apt-x enabled. but after restard an reconnecting A1 still codec SBC is there not apt-x!?? why? can you help!
ReplyDeletedancerffm
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Was able to connect my Sony EX750BT to my 2010 Macbook Pro.
ReplyDeleteTo make this work for me I had a to turn off and turn on bluetooth on my mac after setting the AptX option in bluetooth explorer.
ReplyDeleteThis is AWESOME! I use a wireless keyboard and mouse and when I would connect to my Klipsch KMC3 (third connection) it would only connect using SBC. Sound quality MUCH better now. THANKS!
ReplyDeleteNight and day different with a recently purchased set of SONY MDR1000X. Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteMy Sony Srs- xb2 doesn't work even I already select Force use of aptX and reconnecting.
ReplyDeleteWhyyyyyyyyyyyy?
Did you switch to the quality priority mode? My Sony BT headset has to be in that mode in order for aptX to work. Annoyingly Sony didn't even mention the various operating modes that the product has.
DeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, however for some reason it doesn't work with Skype.
I have the Sennheiser momentum 2.0. They do support AptX without any issues with apps like Spotify, etc.
But for some reason whenever skype takes over for a call it reverts back to using SBC codec, and oh damn how different is the quality !
Forcing the setting in Bluetooth Explorer seems to have no effect on Skype at all... any ideas ?
Thx
If you are using the mic from the headphones while on skype, there is not enough bandwidth and devices drop aptX (At least that was my experience)
Deleteoh... it's because it has mic and head phones... hum too bad :( Thx for the info
DeleteThank you. I used this to connect via AptX to my h.ear On wireless from my Mac. The difference is very noticeable to me. Ridiculous that it wouldn't automatically connect
ReplyDeleteI am trying this with my B&W P7's but I just get "Not Active" next to the the Active Codec status. Any ideas how to fix this?
ReplyDeleteAnyone having any luck using B&W P7s with APTX and the MacBook Pro - getting a "Not Active" as well?
ReplyDeleteI'm having trouble getting my B&W P5 to work with aptx on OSX too. Seems to remain using the SCO codec.
ReplyDeleteAt other times the headphones wont even connect and stream audio either! Very hit and miss bluetooth pairing for me.
Hmm, after pushing the button in on my P5s they eventually reconnected and now show aptX as the active codec.
DeleteThanks! Works great with Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 wireless headphones and a 2013 Mac with Sierra.
ReplyDeleteFrustratingly it doesn't work for me on my momentum 2.0s. I have the force aptX check on, yet it still only streams audio with SBC.
ReplyDeleteMy problem turned out to be I was still on El Capitan. Now after upgrading to Sierra it's automatically connecting with aptX, without the disconnect/reconnect sequence I was having to do previously to try to make it do so.
DeleteWorks great with my B&W P7's which were only connecting with SBC previously, thanks so much for providing this tool!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, it worked!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello Dan,
ReplyDeleteI'm have a JBL XTreme bloutooth speaker, I I'm not able to conect it with my Macbook Pro (Mid 2010), El Capitan v 10.11.06. I asked to de JBL Support and this is what they answered:
"Please be advised that it is possible that you MacBook Pro does not support A2DP stereo audio streaming via Bluetooth, the standard for music-listening through Bluetooth. The system will support keyboards, mice, printers etc. via Bluetooth, but not audio. It is necessary to download the proper drivers, either from the computer manufacturer, the software manufacturer or the manufacturer of the Bluetooth chip in the computer. Help to do this must be sought with the companies that supply one or more of these computer features."
Do you know where I can download the proper drivers? I have searched but I cant find them.
Thanks
Diego
It doesn't work. Apparently, macOS Sierra is completely ignoring the Bluetooth Explorer options. Using XCode 8.2 and Bluetooth Explorer from Additional Tools for XCode 8.2. "Forcing aptX" in Bluetooth Explorer simply has no effect. Already tried it in 2 different macs, same result.
ReplyDeleteSame for me. Any workaround possible?
DeleteExcellent! You saved my AirPods from being return to the shop. It solves audio quality issue in calls
ReplyDeleteWhen playing music, if the codec is stuck on SCO, usually it's because the system is using my headphone microphone. Thus, clicking option > sound icon > internal microphone will resume playback in aptx mode.
ReplyDeleteThanx you helped my sound life.
DeleteBluedio F800
Thank you, now it works thank's your download offer of Bluetooth Explorer and your instructions. (iMac OS Sierra)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt’s worked to my Sony MDR 1000X headset earphone! Thanks. Sounds better than SBC for sure.
ReplyDeleteI'm having problems with my Bluetooth headset switching to SCO codec when I run Google hangouts. If I can get it back to SBC then I'm golden but I've not found any reliable way to force it to switch. Making sure that the hangouts window is closed is the first part of it. You can also make sure that the microphone setting is not using your bluetooth headset.
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ReplyDeleteIs it possible to activate aptX HD too?
ReplyDeleteIf we use Apple Music I believe AAC is used over internet by Apple. Would´t it be better using the AAC-stream all the way to the Bluetooth-receiver without the need of decoding/encoding? Can this be controlled not to happen?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
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I understand that Bluetooth Explorer has been removed from Xcode 12 and that Xcode 11.4, which still had BE in it, is not usable for Big Sur.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it inadvisable to use Bluetooth Explorer in Big Sur?
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