Stuttering or
crackling audio

Narrow it down first

A minute of testing saves a lot of guessing:

• Does it happen with the Mac's speakers too? If so, the source is the problem (a stream buffering, a busy app), not Bluetooth.
• Does it happen in every app? If only one app stutters, restart that app or check its own settings.
• Does it happen with your phone in the same place? If the headphones also stutter on the phone, look at the surroundings or the headphones. If only the Mac stutters, look at the Mac and what's near it.
• Does it come and go when you move? Turning your head, walking away or putting the MacBook in a bag points to range.

Range and obstacles

Bluetooth's signal is weak, and it doesn't pass well through walls, metal or water, which includes your body. A MacBook under a metal desk, a Mac mini behind a display or a phone in the opposite pocket can all cause dropouts.

• Stay within a few meters of the Mac, with nothing solid between you.
• Put a Mac mini or Mac Studio where it has a clear view of the room, not inside a cabinet.

Interference on the 2.4 GHz band

Bluetooth shares the 2.4 GHz band with Wi-Fi and many other devices. When it's crowded, audio is the first thing to break up.

1. USB 3 devices: hubs, drives and cables plugged in next to the Mac are a well-known source of 2.4 GHz noise. Move them away, use a longer cable, or try another port.
2. Wi-Fi: if your router offers both, connect the Mac to the 5 GHz (or 6 GHz) network instead of 2.4 GHz.
3. Other wireless gear: many Bluetooth devices active at once, wireless webcams, baby monitors and microwave ovens all compete. Turn off what you aren't using.

Prefer a stable connection

Sony headphones have a setting that trades sound quality for a sturdier link. Sony's phone app calls it priority on sound quality or on stable connection. On a Mac, audio uses AAC or SBC either way, so if you hear dropouts, it's worth trying the stable side.

In Open Sound Connect:

1. Open the Sound page (⌘2) and find Bluetooth Connection Quality under Sound Quality.
2. Choose Stable Connection.
3. Confirm in the app, then confirm the headphones' own prompt. They disconnect briefly and reconnect, and the app reconnects by itself.

On some newer headphones the app shows this instead on the Wearing page (⌘4) under Bluetooth Audio, as Connection Quality with Sound Quality and Stable Connection. The app shows it only if your headphones report the setting. If it makes no difference after a day of use, switch back.

Sound that gets worse in calls

If music sounds fine but the audio turns thin, muffled or crackly as soon as a call or a dictation starts, the headphones have switched to their call mode. Bluetooth uses one mode for high-quality listening and another for listening plus the microphone, and Apple notes that audio quality is reduced until the microphone is no longer in use.

• Choose the Mac's built-in microphone under System Settings → Sound → Input so the headphones stay in listening mode.
• To get the quality back after a call, quit apps that use the headset microphone, then in Control Center → Sound select the Mac's speakers and select the headphones again.

Why calls sound bad over Bluetooth explains the call mode in detail. Open Sound Connect can't change it; it's how Bluetooth headsets work on every Mac.

If it keeps happening

1. Disconnect and reconnect the headphones in Control Center → Bluetooth.
2. Restart the Mac.
3. Forget the headphones in System Settings → Bluetooth and pair them again.

If the dropouts turn into full disconnects, see Sony headphones keep disconnecting. For what a Mac can and can't play over Bluetooth, see LDAC, AAC and lossless on a Mac.