[SOLVED] iPad connected via Bluetooth but no sound?

[CallMeMike]

................. snip .............. The original "no sound" issue has proved to be a poor connection. I hadn't realised that Bluetooth is a very short range / low power system. My RPi is housed in a HiFiBerry steel case which works fine on wifi but seems to attenuate a Bluetooth signal too much............. snip ............. I shall wait for 6.5 rather than trying to fix 6.4.2, and find a different housing. Pity, because the HiFiBerry one is smart.

Thanks / regards
Richard

You can always use an USB external wireless/bluetooth device with your HiFiBerry streamer...

[otto52]

Being an Apple device you could use Airplay instead no?

I've never used Airplay before but just tried it. Apparently it uses Bluetooth, not wi-fi, so has the same problem of poor and intermittent connection I'm afraid. Unless Bluetooth is connected on the iPad the Airplay icon dosn't appear.

[Tim Curtis]

Airplay uses WiFi or Ethernet and it's a much better, higher fidelity way to stream music than Bluetooth which compresses audio using a lossy compression method. With Airplay for example, if your track is already 16/44.1 then its streamed lossless as-is :-)

If you are using the integrated WiFi/Bluetooth adapters on your Raspberry Pi it has to be in an enclosure that's made of materials for example plastic, wood, etc that don't block wireless signals.

[otto52]

Airplay uses WiFi or Ethernet and it's a much better, higher fidelity way to stream music than Bluetooth which compresses audio using a lossy compression method.  With Airplay for example, if your track is already 16/44.1 then its streamed lossless as-is :-)

If you are using the integrated WiFi/Bluetooth adapters on your Raspberry Pi it has to be in an enclosure that's made of materials for example plastic, wood, etc that don't block wireless signals.

I did expect issues with the steel case when I bought it but it works fine on wi-fi.  I took the RPi out of the metal enclosure and while it's better there are still a lot of crackles and dropouts, even with the iPhone or iPad right next to the Pi. I've not had much joy with BT in the car either, it's OK for talking but not for music. Again, dropouts.

My iPhone 6 (iOS 12.4.5) says Airplay requires Bluetooth and sure enough unless BT is on and connected the Airplay icon doesn't appear in the list of available outputs. Same goes for the iPad Mini 2. If AirPlay could be made to work over wi-fi it would be much better!

My intention was to be able to listen to BBC Sounds / iPlayer via Moode rather than having to use the computer but it seems that is doomed. A web search for Bluetooth issues with iPhones throws up loads of results!

Thanks all for the help anyway .

Richard

[TheOldPresbyope]

@otto52

Yeah, a metal case is an RF shield by its very nature. BT and 2.4GHz WiFi use the same ISM band and should be affected in a similar way. WiFi transmitters are much stronger which may be making the difference for you.

Earlier, you said

The only difference is I'm using an RPi3B.

There were reports in the past about the model 3B and mutual interference between its BT and WiFi. See, e.g., Pi3 conflict between Bluetooth WiFi . As well, problems have been reported on this forum about inteference with some I2S DACs.

In any case, getting a USB-BT transceiver and a short USB cable to move the transmitter/receiver away should clear up any problems with shielding and mutual interference.

Then you said

 I've not had much joy with BT in the car either, it's OK for talking but not for music. Again, dropouts.

Is that BT between phone and car entertainment system or phone and moOde?????

As for AirPlay, I don't know it well but it was my understanding that it detects Bluetooth devices automatically (like BT headphones) and it does or at least can use BT for certain functions or in certain circumstances (like point-to-point connections). I haven't found good reference material, though. Apple's site is all happy talk. 

Regards,
Kent

[Tim Curtis]

Airplay is a completely separate protocol from Bluetooth.

If moOde has both Bluetooth and Airplay turned ON, an IOS device sees both connection options as separate. There is no such thing as an Airplay stream being transmitted over a Bluetooth connection.

[TheOldPresbyope]

Airplay is a completely separate protocol from Bluetooth.

If moOde has both Bluetooth and Airplay turned ON, an IOS device sees both connection options as separate. There is no such thing as an Airplay stream being transmitted over a Bluetooth connection.

Yeah, I get that, and I didn't mean to imply the "no such thing" circumstance.

As you say, they are presented as separate options in the unified AirPlay modal. If it's going over BT it's A2DP.

After digging some more, it appears what I was mis-remembering is AirPlay's use of Bluetooth for discovery when in point-to-point communication with an Apple TV.

Regards,
Kent

[Tim Curtis]

I forgot about peer-to-peer Airplay. It's a super rare usage scenario for moOde community, and as u mention it only uses Apple TV Bluetooth for discovery and then sends the Airplay data stream over a p2p WiFi connection to Apple TV.

[otto52]

I'll run another check Tim. I _think_ I disabled Moode BT when I enabled its Airplay renderer but the iPhone requires its BT to be enabled to use Airplay and/or Airdrop. I'll try again with only Airplay enabled in Moode.

Kent - my car's ICE has only BT, no Airplay. I have an iPod Touch 4 too and that doesn't work reliably over BT in the car either. I have a RPi3B+ in my NAS and I suppose I could swap that with the 3B as a test but it would be a significant dismantling job!

[Tim Curtis]

I'm confused. Are you using your home WiFi network?