Despite what Wikipedia says about Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, it should be pointed out that EDR is an optional part of the Bluetooth 2.0 spec, so just because a device says it can do 2.0 does not mean it gets any of the speed benefits of EDR. In particular, if you have an older Mac and get Leopard, you may not get EDR speed. And furthermore, even if your Mac supports EDR, the device on the other end needs to support it as well in order to get any benefits. There are very few stereo Bluetooth headphones out there that support EDR.

BTW, there is enough bandwidth in regular Bluetooth 1.2 and 2.0 to handle stereo streaming. It's got a 1mbps limit and the stereo profile needs between 200 and 350kbps depending on the quality of the compression the transmitter chooses. But in addition to that minimum bandwidth, if there is any interference and a packet is lost, it uses a little extra bandwidth to retransmit the packet so you never notice.

There's enough bandwidth for stereo Bluetooth and a Bluetooth mouse at the same time. But if there are lots of lost packets and there isn't enough room for retransmits, you'll start noticing cut-outs, or even complete loss of sound.

Disclaimer: I work for Wi-Gear, makers of the iMuffs

[ Reply to This | # ]