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Recently bought just released Bang-Olufsen H8 headphones (wireless, BT 4.0, atpX A2DP). These paired perfectly with iPhone 5 and my MacBook Pro 15" early 2011, however, sound drops out on the MBP with little to no "provocation" of head turn; forget about range/direct line of sight distance--can't get more than 2' away without sound drop occurring. Avg raw RSSI is approx -72. At first it was thought that b/c MBP was BT 2.1 and the phones were 4.0 they were incompatible. After I modified the MB appropriately with new Broadcom Airport/Bluetooth card to enable BT 4.0 connectivity and found no change at all in sound drops/range, I discovered through conversation with Bluetooth expert that BT is backwards compatible so he wasn't surprised at all with continued sound drops despite modification to MBP. If the sound drops for more than a second or two, the audio somehow speeds up to sync with the place where the sound should be.

B&O's "stellar" customer service told me: "I received feedback from Denmark, In principle a Bluetooth 4.0 enabled product with A2DP Bluetooth profile should be able to send music to the BeoPlay H8. Practical tests have shown a very differentiated market picture. Most newer computers with updated software and adequate hardware should be able to connect to BeoPlay H8, but we are not able to recommend or support this setup." I'm sure I can get them to regret that statement, but I'm much more interested in getting the BT headphones to work with my MBP. In my research so far I've found that these phones behave similarly with both iOS devices as well as OS X. There appears to be no rhyme or reason why this is. For me, I have no problem using them with my iPhone 5; not so for others around the globe.

Question is: Is it the MBP antennae or is it the B&O H8 antenna? Which begs the second question: why is the performance so random--worldwide even--for wireless phones, these H8s in particular?

Thanks so much for your help.

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  • I'm not sure what's going on in your particular case, but I also have great difficulty using my Bluetooth speakers with my Macbook Pro (retina, 15", mid-2012)
    – Chris A
    Commented Mar 16, 2015 at 17:30
  • Same issue with H8 headphones and 2015 retina MacBook Pro 13" and 2012 retina 15". Stutter sound. WTF ?!
    – Sasha Tsapenko
    Commented Aug 6, 2017 at 7:54

3 Answers 3

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I have a Macbook Pro 15" 2011 and an IPhone 6 plus.

These headphones worked perfectly with the iphone 6 but would stutter with the macbook which has an older bluetooth adapter.

I had a spare usb bluetooth 4.0 adapter lying around the house which I bought for very little money off amazon and with that connected the headphones work flawlessly again.

Some have said that its either the mac or headphones and it may be a combination of both but in my case it was the mac.

Hope that helps.

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I own both the H5 and H8 and both devices have connection issues with my 2011 and 2014 macbook pro. I have noticed that the signal stutters when i rest the palm of my hands on the macbooks, but no problems when i am not. When connected to an iPhone 7 i get stellar performance; i can walk from the living room to the toilet and still get crisp performance even at 15 meters and through a concrete wall.

The "empirical data" leans towards the macbooks being the problem.

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  • It was indeed the headphones Depends on when you bought the H8s. B&O replaced mine and there have been no issues since. Apparently the BT antenna wasn't as powerful as it should have been. B&O replaced a good number of them for the same reason. When the black set was introduced, the antenna modification was in the redesign so while I really liked the brown pair, I ordered the black to be sure I was getting a factory-fresh NIB set of phones and not refurbished brown ones.
    – Darren Stevens
    Commented Jul 30, 2017 at 12:24
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I recently bought the h8 headphones as well and was looking extremely looking forward to them. I have the same problem though with the bluetooth dropping out. I believe it is the weak signal from the h8's not the mac (i am on a 2013 mac pro). I have a pair of harman/kardon headphones I had been using previously with the same computer over the last year, without ever experiencing bluetooth problems. I am trying to talk with B&O as well to hopefully find a resolution. Otherwise I will have to very regretfully return the headphones. Hope this was of some help.

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