Hidden Leopard Gem: Stereo Bluetooth Support

Over the past few years Bluetooth devices have become very popular. One of the most interesting implementations involved stereo quality music over the protocol. However, up until now it has been missing from Mac OS X, a surprising fact especially considering that Apple is such an audio-centric company. However, with the introduction of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard this past Friday, it appears that this limitation is a thing of the past.

After reading of a few accounts of people using A2DP stereo Bluetooth headphones on their shiny new Leopard machines, I reached into my desk and pulled out a pair of Motorola HT820′s – one of the earlier stereo Bluetooth devices.

Bluetooth Pref Pane

After pairing them successfuly with my MacBook Pro, I clicked on the Bluetooth menubar icon that was present. It was a pleasant surprise to see that my headphones were recognized by the machine as being A2DP capable and it gave me the option to “Use Headphones.”

Use Headphones BTHS

I put on a song in iTunes and sure enough, the sweet sounds of the newest iPod commercial were being played cleanly over Bluetooth. When I decided I had heard enough, I just clicked back into the menubar and intuitively selected, “Don’t Use Headphones.”

Thanks Apple! Yet another hidden gem in your beautifully elegant, yet crazy complex new OS.

Comments

16 Responses to “Hidden Leopard Gem: Stereo Bluetooth Support”

  1. mossegalapoma.cat » A2DP en el bluetooth de Leopard on October 31st, 2007 12:56 pm

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  2. Johnny on November 1st, 2007 7:17 am

    what are the possibilities of taking whatever files it is that grants this functionality and putting on the iPhone and giving it A2DP functionality?

  3. Jacob Schulman on November 3rd, 2007 2:14 pm

    Johnny: It’s probably not that hard at all……..it’s really just a matter of Apple upgrading the bluetooth stack on the iPhone and then allowing it to use the A2DP profile……Maybe in a future software update

  4. Christian on November 3rd, 2007 2:50 pm

    Cleanly? I’ve tried 3 different sets of bluetooth headphones with Leopard and they’re all terrible. I’m not an audiophile type who notices the slightest bit of compression, either. All three were terrible in exactly the same way, so I imagine that it’s either the hardware or software on my Macbook Pro. I don’t know much about bluetooth – could this be something that Apple can resolve with a software update later?

  5. Jacob Schulman on November 3rd, 2007 2:53 pm

    Christian: It’s probably something that can be ironed out……..it’s probably nothing with the bluetooth hardware, more wtih the stack that they’re using

    I’m sure that it’ll be figured out, but i’m having no problems here

  6. Sam on November 6th, 2007 1:17 am

    I’m having the same trouble as Christian with my brand new Plantronics 590A headset. The sound input is crummy and the output is really execrable: it feels like listening to music when you’re put on hold on the phone. Plus, I get a weird “ghost” of the device in the “Devices” section of the Bluetooth menu when the item is off and disconnected; not even restarting helps that. I hope this is something that can be fixed with Software Update¦

  7. David Rothman on November 21st, 2007 3:46 pm

    But isn’t it really all about the food?

  8. Jacob Schulman on November 21st, 2007 3:48 pm

    David rothman?!

    ahahahahahah

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  10. Luis Lee on June 24th, 2010 2:33 pm

    Thanks a lot Jacob, so easy to configure my HT820 Stereo headphones over Mac OSX leopard, works very fine, nothing like MAC

  11. stream direct on June 28th, 2010 8:23 pm

    But isn't it really all about the food?

  12. Neoteny on October 4th, 2010 9:35 pm

    Good article! But wait!…. Stream Direct, your question is not fit to the topic. Its all about electronic devices and not a food.. Yes it is not all about the food but more on devices and effects too, and the Problem encounter by the user or the commentators! Hope you understand!

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