Database Develop

[Q] Bluetooth Audio Streaming A2DP Poor Quality

Hi Folks!
Recently got a bluetooth FM transmitter so i can go hands free in the car and use phones music player too
However the audio is very heavily compressed when using A2DP - no bass and the top end frequencies turn to mush - ie not good enough to use
Checked all eq settings and different FM frequencies, no difference
plugged the analogue audio cable direct from the phone to the bluetooth FM transmitter and immediately got perfect sound again
I dont see many poeple talking about this on this forum or many answers but the closest seems to be windows phones can access and modify registry settings to check and increase the bitrate
My current thinking is the bitrate (or bitpool) over bluetooth A2DP is set too low, or when the phone and FM transmitter pair the phone selects a bitrate that's too low for quality audio (but ok for calls)
My question is does anyone know how modify the bitpool settings on the Galaxy S please?
I am going to get a custom ROM and will very happy when the phone is really mine so if that's what it takes I'm up for it
Many many thanks!
DJ LIBRE
Samsung Galaxy S
2.1.1 Eclair on 3 mobile network in the UK
Nexus Drive Transmit Pro (Bluetooth FM transmitter music and hands free car kit)

I have the Galaxy S on 3 UK since August. I use the bluetooth to transmit sound to my Samsung surround sound system (as I don't own a stereo). I don't notice significant quality issues doing this. Are you sure both your devices are supporting A2DP. Not all A2DP devices talking nicely with each other, so you may be failing back to the normal Bluetooth frequencies which are more focus of the vocal range. I'm looking a car stereo's right now that support A2DP so I can stream my audio from my phone straight to my stereo, my phone is becoming the centre of my entertainment!!
I'm running Doc's ROM on my phone, can't recommend moving to his Froyo ROM's and an enhanced kernel enough, my phone is working so much better with his ROM, but there are lots out there to choose from.

I am using A2DP in my car too and I find the sound quality being very good.
The thing is, the default Android audio player (Music Player) is pretty poor and often it lags for me.
Since I moved to MiuiMusic (Search here) all those lags are gone and it works perfectly and smoothly in my car.
Now, as pointed already to you, all BT devices do not communicate flawlessly between each other sometimes...

works great for me, streaming from the SGS to the car CZ 509 deck
i don't even carry CDs in my car anymore
even the lovely sub base sound comes through clearly.
nothing better like a Sonic Massage meanwhile you are driving

I wanted to create a new thread on this, but then I've seen this one. Is there no one with a solution except flashing cyanogen?

It could be a setting on your bluetooth receiver.
For example, I've got a pair of Sony DR-BT21G bt stereo headphones. When you hold a special button combination, it switches it from "high quality" to "any quality", and will just select whatever bitrate it thinks is best, usually, something that sounds about half as good.
Try looking in your manual for troubleshooting and see if there are any settings that you can change on the receiver itself?

awojtas said:
It could be a setting on your bluetooth receiver.
For example, I've got a pair of Sony DR-BT21G bt stereo headphones. When you hold a special button combination, it switches it from "high quality" to "any quality", and will just select whatever bitrate it thinks is best, usually, something that sounds about half as good.
Try looking in your manual for troubleshooting and see if there are any settings that you can change on the receiver itself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, i using Sony MW600 BT headphones. I've checked the manual, but there's nothing about quality :/
But i dont think that's the problem anyway, as i tried Cyanogenmod and it got perfect quality then. But otherwise cyanogen is quite useless for me on my Galaxy S, its just too buggy. There must be someone who can change the bitpool quality on the stock gingerbread to the highest possible...

Exact same issue for me (as described by DJ LIBRE), I have a Belkin Wireless Bluetooth Music Receiver and the sound quality is horid... it's got nothing on AirPlay which I think is still kind of average quality!
I also wonder if there is a highbitrate setting that can be adjusted?
Running CyanogenMod Nightly #130 on SGS.
After getting used to listening to 24/96 FLAC's with the Voodoo Sound mod enabled with a custom built headphone amp and semi decent can's all I can say is BT Audio is a waste of time!

Has anyone noticed whether the music player was set to 5.1 surround mode? Had a similar issue where turning off the 5.1 fixed the sound streaming...

[Q] Audio and video out of synch when using Bluetooth - any suggestions?

Hello all.
I'm having problems with Bluetooth on my One. The device that I'm trying to use with it is called a Siemens MiniTek. (It's actually a hearing-aid accessory. You clip to the front of your shirt - it looks a bit like an MP3 player - and it plus my hearing aids together then function like a Bluetooth headset. So, when making a call, the sound is sent wirelessly to the hearing aids, and the device itself has a microphone on it.)
Making a call with it works okay; but if I try to use it to get audio out of my One in other conditions (playing a game, say, or watching downloaded video) then the video and audio are always badly out of synch - the sound lags at least one second behind the picture.
I'm using the stock HTC ROM, the latest one available in the UK (2.24.401.8).
Anyone have any thoughts as to why this might be happening and what I can do about it?

Mby there is too much data to deliver via bluetooth (high quality audi/video sound) and the hearing aid device is not meant to recive such a load.
When calling to some1, the sound quality is only like 24kbps or something.
Just a thought

Rendoqoz said:
Mby there is too much data to deliver via bluetooth (high quality audi/video sound) and the hearing aid device is not meant to recive such a load.
When calling to some1, the sound quality is only like 24kbps or something.
Just a thought
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That might result in there either being no sound at all or in the sound quality being very poor, but I don't see that it would result in reasonable-quality sound running 1 second behind the picture...?
The device itself is designed to handle fairly high quality sound: as well as receiving Bluetooth signals it can take analogue audio input via a 2.5mm stereo jack socket, and it also has a separate "base station" transmitter which you can plug into (say) the headphone socket of your TV: the transmitter then sends a signal wirelessly to the MiniTek (using a proprietary version of Bluetooth) and the MiniTek relays it to the hearing aids. Using either the direct-line input or the wireless transmitter works quite nicely, and there's no perceptible lag problem there.

I should have said, I've been onto Siemens tech support about it, and they're adamant that it shouldn't be doing this, and they don't know why it is. So I'm looking for a problem at the phone end.

Shasarak said:
I should have said, I've been onto Siemens tech support about it, and they're adamant that it shouldn't be doing this, and they don't know why it is. So I'm looking for a problem at the phone end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've experienced the same issues on various BT-Receivers and Smartphones. Seems to be a general issue. So far, this 1 second lag was present on all combinations of:
Phones: Samsung Galaxy S2 / iPhone 4 / HTC One
Receivers: Creative D100 / Creative D200 / Belkin BT Adapter
As i found out so far, this problem occours when the receiver can't handle the apt-x codec and audio has to be resampled to the older SBC codec. Found one thread kinda dealing with this topic, but haven't tried it out for myself at the moment. I'll do some testing later when i'm at home.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1256407

[Q] New at Android Auto - poor bluetooth quality?

Hello everyone!
So last weekend I finally received this: LINK (EBAY)
I am totally new at Android Auto, though I have had several Andrioid Phones, as well as an Android tablet. Now I have an iPhone SE - so yes, I turned to the dark side. Not important here and now.
My question is - When I had both phone and tablet with android, I remember the many many possibilities I had with rooting etc. What do I have with my Radio? Can I root it? Can it be even better?
The only negative thing I have to say, is that the sound quality via bluetooth is quite poor - especially in the higher notes. The bass however, is still awesome on bluetooth. The sound quality is only bad on bluetooth - which tells me there is something wrong with the bluetooth hardware og the bluetooth software. Very sad to find out - I listen to bluetooth music 90% of the time. That issue let me to thinking: Is there a way to fix it? Maybe a root or something?
Also - are there some must-have-apps I should know about?
Looking forward to hear from you.
Thanks.

I have noticed the same, however it is not related to Bluetooth, the BT quality is fine, the sound quality problem begins when Android Auto is activated. Try using Spotify with the standard BT connectivity. Then test the same song with the USB cable connected and using AA. The sound quality is fully degraded when using AA compared to the BT quality. I Use Viper4Android and the drop in quality is even bigger since Viper4Android doesn't catch the sound stream.
Any idea out there?
By the way, I'd rename the subject of this thread since the sound quality problem is not related to Bluetooth but with Android Auto.

Same, don't think there's a way around it.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/android-auto/1OVZA4SUG-g
Second comment on that article, has to do with digital vs analog and our built in equalizer. You'd think digital would sound better

sushi143 said:
Same, don't think there's a way around it.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/android-auto/1OVZA4SUG-g
Second comment on that article, has to do with digital vs analog and our built in equalizer. You'd think digital would sound better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BT is also a digital stream and sound is excellent, even more when paired with Viper4Android. Nonetheless V4A doesn't seem to catch the digital output stream used by AA.

Maybe it's just usb? My thumb drive doesn't sound as good as my Bluetooth with the same song either.

Yea, audio is transmitted via USB, so in theory the quality should be even better since it is transmitted without the SBC compression like with BT (unless you have aptx). If your in-car has a built in equalizer i would advice to use that one

ktwo said:
Yea, audio is transmitted via USB, so in theory the quality should be even better since it is transmitted without the SBC compression like with BT (unless you have aptx). If your in-car has a built in equalizer i would advice to use that one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The theory is not working in this case, most probably because we don't know the root cause of this weird and annoying issue.
Car equalizer is not working when there are missing frequencies. BT works perfectly, but when playing the same song, with the same device and app (Spotify, music player, TuneIn) the quality is severely degraded when using AA. No deep bass and no treble. Total loss of both ends of the audible spectrum while BT quality is superb (compared to the crappy AA quality)
I have tested this issue with a Chevy Malibu 2017, Chevy Impala 2017, Ford Fusion 2018, Buick regal 2017 and Hyundai Sonata 2018. Same degradation when using AA with different head units, different apps, Axon 7. I hardly believe it is a device issue, I believe it is a problem with the protocol. Are you experiencing this issue? I am using RR ROM.

Set a specific Bluetooth Codec in the Developer-Options

Hi Guys,
i am coming from an iPhone X and am now using a Note9. The Phone is absolutely great and i dont want to look back. Everything works fine, everything is really fluid just like it should be. But there is one annoying thing, that bothers me to hell: Bluetooth-Streaming Quality while Playing Music.
I am using several devices via Bluetooth: Bose Soundsport Free, Bose QC35II, Harman Kardon Go+Play and i am listening to Music in my Golf 7 via Bluetooth. Listening to music via the Bose Devices works really good. In the Developer Option, you can see that the Note 9 is using the AAC Codec, which the Bose do support. The Note 9 changes to AAC automatically.
When i am using the Harman Speaker and listening in my car, the Note 9 will stay at SBC (Standard Bluetooth Codec). This isnt really a problem for me, because the iPhone did it too. But the quality is worse on the Note 9 compared to the iPhone. On the Note 9, you can hear cracking noise in the Highs and the sound is overall not very good - the iPhone does this better with SBC (or stays with AAC even when the conneced device does not support it).
I had the same problem last year with my Oneplus 5. But with the OP5, i simply changed the Bluetooth Codec to always be APTX. This totally worked for me, even if the Bluetooth Device didnt support APTX. But on the Note 9, it will always change back to SBC, when i connect my Harman Speaker or my car.
I think it is just a bug. I didnt find a workaround. This is just a simple thing but it bothers me to hell... My mother's S9 does the same. It just doesnt save the setting.
The reason why i am making a thread is simple: Samsung does have a Samsung Members / Plus / Care (it depends where you are) App, where you can send in bugs, that you found.
Even if this bug doenst bother you, it would be very nice, if you can send in a request for changing this behaviour. That would help me (and maybe others), so that the Bluetooth Listening Experience will be as good as the Rest of the phone.
Thanks for the help.
If anyone knows a workaround for my problem - please let me know. At this stage, i cannot use my Harman Speaker und my Car Audio via Bluetooth.

the note 9 is an android device. So nothing is stopping you from 'fixing' it yourself. as you might not have realized yet, this is not a 'samsung' issue. you yourself said the onePlus also had the same issue.... its an issue of Android 8.
Anyways:
root and install the magisk module. If you are on a snapdragon device then are probably screwed. But sooner or later root or some other work around might arise...
good luck

It is definitly a Android Thing. But the fix for that Problem should be easy and is build into Android itself.
The Problem is, that Samsung does not save the codec, that i choose manually. The Oneplus 5 for example does save my setting. And with that Setting, all my Bluetooth Quality Issues would be solved.
So my goal for this thread is simple. It is difficult to motivate Samsung to Change this behaviour, if only one person needs that fix.
So it would be nice, if more people could report this behaviour to Samsung.

It autoswitches to the highest bluetooth codec the connected device negotiates that it can use. Very few autos connect to anything other than SBC. I have a different vehicle and do not experience any audio issues with the highs or lows using SBC. Your previous device was lying to you if you thought it was pushing AAC to a device that only accepts SBC.
Maybe try a different audio player and check the source file itself. I prefer "USB Audio player" because it doesn't alter flac/mp3/etc files and compress them further. Also check your dolby atmos settings.

Of course the phone does lie, if it does connect with APTX, even if the Speaker does support only SBC. But with that type of lying, it does work perfectly.
I am playing music via Spotify and the highest setting there.
In my car, i do have the upgraded Dynaudio System build in, and there i can hear the distortion.
With my Oneplus 5, i solved the problem by manually switching from SBC to APTX (even if my car does not Support APTX, it worked absolutely perfect)
That is the whole point... SBC on Android is not as good as on the iPhone. My iPhone X had no issues with my Harman Speaker, but my Note 9 and the Oneplus 5 do.. On the Oneplus i solved this by changing the Codec to Aptx.
I have a cheap Speaker (70 Euro) for my bathroom. This speaker does also connect via SBC, but doesnt have any problems with my Note. But this Speaker isnt nearly as good as the Harman Speaker or my car audio.
Do me a favor... Connect your SBC Speaker and play Still Got the Blues from Gary Moore.. It is really bad (the quality not the song).. The Bandwith is simply not enough with SBC.. but for some reason my iPhone X didnt had any Problems.. i think it just always used AAC even if the connected device didnt support it..

SuckOr said:
Of course the phone does lie, if it does connect with APTX, even if the Speaker does support only SBC. But with that type of lying, it does work perfectly.
I am playing music via Spotify and the highest setting there.
In my car, i do have the upgraded Dynaudio System build in, and there i can hear the distortion.
With my Oneplus 5, i solved the problem by manually switching from SBC to APTX (even if my car does not Support APTX, it worked absolutely perfect)
That is the whole point... SBC on Android is not as good as on the iPhone. My iPhone X had no issues with my Harman Speaker, but my Note 9 and the Oneplus 5 do.. On the Oneplus i solved this by changing the Codec to Aptx.
I have a cheap Speaker (70 Euro) for my bathroom. This speaker does also connect via SBC, but doesnt have any problems with my Note. But this Speaker isnt nearly as good as the Harman Speaker or my car audio.
Do me a favor... Connect your SBC Speaker and play Still Got the Blues from Gary Moore.. It is really bad (the quality not the song).. The Bandwith is simply not enough with SBC.. but for some reason my iPhone X didnt had any Problems.. i think it just always used AAC even if the connected device didnt support it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
play an audio file via a player ie:
power amp. and see if there is also an issue.
might just be the streaming app you are using. it might be just streaming bad/low quality and BT codec is adapting to it.( check streaming app audio settings..)
think of it like trying to convert an 96kbbs mp3 to 320 kbps.
garbage in, garbage out. Except in this case android is simply not upmixing and using high quality codec because there is no need to because source is low.
in power amp audio options, there are advanced audio settings which can allow you to force certain audio qualities. So test a high quality audio file in that player and see if audio is good.
if it is then you know the streaming quality is simply not high enough... which is not suprising as it IS a stream... reason why i also never stream and taking advantage if the 512 gb version if the note 9. to me it is folly to expect high quality from streams.

The music i am playing is from spotify.. Locally saved onto the phone with the maxed out setting - this is 320Kbits. As is said, the Oneplus had no Problem with the same setting after i changed the Codec manually.
But just for the record, i just bought the Song "Still Got the Blues" in the FLAC-Format. I played it via Power AMP on my Harman Speaker - the result is absolutely the same as with Spotify. So the Music is not the Problem.

SuckOr said:
The music i am playing is from spotify.. Locally saved onto the phone with the maxed out setting - this is 320Kbits. As is said, the Oneplus had no Problem with the same setting after i changed the Codec manually.
But just for the record, i just bought the Song "Still Got the Blues" in the FLAC-Format. I played it via Power AMP on my Harman Speaker - the result is absolutely the same as with Spotify. So the Music is not the Problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you go to power amp settings and adjust/enable? ...on second picture, go there and press the setting sprocket...multiple settings to adjust.
also if you go to android dev options and set higher quality BT settings and codecs, do they stick when playing audio?

No, if i want to change the Setting while playing, nothing happens. The Note does not allow it while using a Bluetooth Device.
If tried it with ( Power Amp ). Nothing changed. Still bad Quality.

Hi All,
I also want to join in on this discussion, just that I want to use LDAC as I use Sony WI1000X bluetooth headset. I have the same issue of it not sticking to LDAC and reverting back to AptX. So far here is my experience:
- If the headset is not connected, changing to LDAC, exiting from and then retuning to Developers menu would result the codec changing back to AptX
- If the headset is connected then change the codec to LDAC, the codec sticks. But once it is disconnected, it will revert back to AptX
- While the headset is connected, I can switch between codecs in the Dev menu while listening to music and can notice the difference in audio quality
Yeah, would be great if codec of choice can stick or at least switch automatically either by detection or preset. LDAC is awesome and I'm so happy that I can enjoy the codec without using Sony phones (not that they are bad, I just prefer my Note 9).
---------- Post added at 01:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 AM ----------
Ok funny enough, as I post my message, I got curious about something. I went to bluetooth menu, click the gear icon on my paired Sony WI1000X, and there it is.... a slider to toggle the LDAC codec on/off.
It is greyed out, so I exit the menu, switched on my bluetooth, came back in that menu, switch LDAC on, checked Dev menu, it is also set to LDAC. Good.
Then I switched off my bluetooth, at this point the LDAC option in Dev menu should have reverted back to AptX.... but it stays in LDAC mode! This is great!
I guess my small inconvenience is now solved, maybe you can try the same for your AptX device.

Can anyone confirm whether AptX Adaptive is included or not (eg. from actually listening, it's still not listed in the Developer Options)? They have removed "Samsung HD" as a codec as well.

I have since my Galaxy S5 the Same Problem.
Galaxy S4
Galaxy S6
Galaxy S7
Galaxy Note 8
The Bluetooth quality is really a mess.
I do not have the Problem with my one plus 4. And also with any kind of iPhones

You can change this in basic Bluetooth settings
If your Bluetooth audio device supports codecs you should find the setting in your Bluetooth connection settings where you find the media audio and call audio settings under them there is the basic codec...
Found this on Reddit . Worked on my Sony wi 1000x

Solved it for note9
I had this problem with the amazing WF-1000XM3 and just couldn't get them to change to AAC.
So the solution was turning off the dual audio option in Bluetooth. I even tested this, and as soon as I turned on dual audio the codec switched back to sbc.
Settings>connections>Bluetooth>advanced>dual audio
And if it doesn't automatically switch over then, force it once through the developer options and it should stay like that thereafter.

I'm tossing my hat into the ring here, because this is maddening. I don't understand how we can all have 2-3 different user experiences on the same device.
OK, so, presumably, we're all on Andoid 9. Since the start of this thread, I imagine updates have played at least a minor role in user experience and menu options.
Here's where I'm at: I've never been able to successfully change AND have the settings found within Developer Options actually "stick". I can access "Bluetooth Audio Codec", and from there I can see SBC/AAC/aptX/LDAC/Scalable/All/Default as options. It does not matter which one I tap on, the result is the same: I can visibly confirm the change was made when selecting the codec I want and the screen goes back to the main Dev Options menu. If I hit the back button, and go right back into Dev Options, it has auto-reverted back to SBC. This is, of course, with no active BT devices connected for audio.
I recently traded in a car which did not support Android Auto, and therefore my only option was BT for audio streaming. When using this, the quality was fine, even subjectively good. However, now I've got a car whose stereo supports Android Auto, but only via USB (not BT). I can confirm that, via the display on the head unit of the infotainment system, it is using (or attempting to use) A2DP for streaming, which would indicate my phone should be using aptX or similar. Even so, the audio quality is absolute ****. If I connect my USB cable, and resume audio via Android Auto, the quality vastly improves. There is no reason why my phone or the BT connection would or should be operating under SBC or any kind of inferior BT codec when streaming. Mind you, all of this is done using the same player: PowerAmp Pro.
TL;DR - Has anyone found a way to forcibly allow all codecs, so that the highest quality codec is used on a per-device basis?

Just the same problem
Yes i have exactlly the same problem
Please Samsung...FIX THIS!!
---------- Post added at 11:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 AM ----------
I have tried what KASHY27 said in his post and works perfectly!
Turn off dual audio in bluetooth settings and then click aptx in developers options
Thanks KASHY27!!

SuckOr said:
Hi Guys,
i am coming from an iPhone X and am now using a Note9. The Phone is absolutely great and i dont want to look back. Everything works fine, everything is really fluid just like it should be. But there is one annoying thing, that bothers me to hell: Bluetooth-Streaming Quality while Playing Music.
I am using several devices via Bluetooth: Bose Soundsport Free, Bose QC35II, Harman Kardon Go+Play and i am listening to Music in my Golf 7 via Bluetooth. Listening to music via the Bose Devices works really good. In the Developer Option, you can see that the Note 9 is using the AAC Codec, which the Bose do support. The Note 9 changes to AAC automatically.
When i am using the Harman Speaker and listening in my car, the Note 9 will stay at SBC (Standard Bluetooth Codec). This isnt really a problem for me, because the iPhone did it too. But the quality is worse on the Note 9 compared to the iPhone. On the Note 9, you can hear cracking noise in the Highs and the sound is overall not very good - the iPhone does this better with SBC (or stays with AAC even when the conneced device does not support it).
I had the same problem last year with my Oneplus 5. But with the OP5, i simply changed the Bluetooth Codec to always be APTX. This totally worked for me, even if the Bluetooth Device didnt support APTX. But on the Note 9, it will always change back to SBC, when i connect my Harman Speaker or my car.
I think it is just a bug. I didnt find a workaround. This is just a simple thing but it bothers me to hell... My mother's S9 does the same. It just doesnt save the setting.
The reason why i am making a thread is simple: Samsung does have a Samsung Members / Plus / Care (it depends where you are) App, where you can send in bugs, that you found.
Even if this bug doenst bother you, it would be very nice, if you can send in a request for changing this behaviour. That would help me (and maybe others), so that the Bluetooth Listening Experience will be as good as the Rest of the phone.
Thanks for the help.
If anyone knows a workaround for my problem - please let me know. At this stage, i cannot use my Harman Speaker und my Car Audio via Bluetooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im using sony xm4 and samsung note 9. note9 keeps going back to bt aac codec. i was able to make it stay to ldac by setting [connecting 2 devices = off] in sony headphone app under system. it was noted in the app that ldac can not be used when this setting is enabled.

2022 and this is still not fixed. A shame android.

Poor Bluetooth sound quality / static?

Hi folks. Just moved to a different carrier, we were previous Google Pixel owners, but our new carrier doesn't support them so we had to move to S10s.
The big complaint here is the horrible sound quality coming from the phones to all of our Bluetooth devices. Cars, speakers, living room sound bar. Static-y noises and what sounds like just a far lower quality across all devices than what comes from our Pixels which we still have. Our kids Iphones have no issues playing clean and clear either.
Really frustrating issue, we both use our music service daily and this is darn near a deal breaker.
Any ideas or solutions out there? I've searched high and low to no avail. Thanks in advance!

Anyone? No one else has this issue?

is your phone rooted? Is this a snapdragon or exynos version? If its exynos version, rooted, installed aptx bluetooth codec and viper4android for better audio

Exynos, fully stock here.
No problem with bluetooth audio.

US Snapdragon phone. Completely box stock. Bluetooth even connects at an audibly lower volume. It sounds almost like it's connecting through one of those old FM Bluetooth transmitters. It's terrible. I've fiddled with every solution I can find online for others suffering the same issue, nothing works.

Actually, I didn't want to root my S10. However, the sound quality via bluetooth is so bad that you cant avoid Viper4Andriod.
That was also the case with the S8. At the point Samsung has huge deficits.
Without root / V4A you just have lousy sound quality.

I'd really love to find a workaround that doesn't involve rooting, but if that's all there is.....

I had the same problem with snapdragon unlocked variant. The factory audio quality over Bluetooth was terribly bad. It was tinny.
Interestingly when i used "seperate app sound" feature it has improved. But not as good as exynos variant when i compared.
Steps to follow.
Advanced Audio setting -> seperate app sound -> Turn ON ( select the app and bluetooth device )
Let me know if it works.

Never did find an answer to this question. Found that when it's plugged into a 3.5mm port it's even more noticeable. It's got to be a software issue. The static starts as soon as any music begins, and ends on any song switch or pause. You can actually hear the static 'kick in' right before the sounds start to play. It's horrible. Doesn't do it on my backup phone, or either of my kids' iPhones. Just these two S10s.

Hey man, did you ever find a fix? all of a sudden I started having this issue. If I turn "Call audio" OFF it is fixed and the quality is great again, but with Call Audio on, its crappy, on my car, or headset, same behaviour.
The phone seem to be using the Call Audio profile despite no active call.

Did some more testing, if I hit on "Disconnect" on my car system, I get the "call disconnect" sound and after that the audio is great. The issue seem to be the phone thinking its on a phone call and using call audio profile to stream the audio.