Sony Noise-Cancelling Headphones (WH-1000XM2/3) and bluetooth initial autoconnect

Question

So I have Ubuntu 18.04 installed on both my personal and work laptops and I am experiencing the same issue on both of them.

I have Sony WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones and they are paired, everything is fine and working, the only problem is that whenever I turn them on and the auto-connect of the Bluetooth on Ubuntu kicks in and connects to them, they start sounding weird.

By weird I mean it's like Ambient sound is turned on, although the headphones are on Noise cancellation and the sound is really bad and quite.

The Issue, however, disappears when I disconnect and reconnect them manually.

Thanks in advance!

Update:

• Using the solution that switches to A2DP solved nothing. The headphones do connect, but then it doesn't switch to them, the sound keeps playing on the speakers of the laptop. Trying to switch from and to the headphones couple of times also doesn't solve the problem.

• Using the other solution with editing the /etc/bluetooth/main.conf results to the same issue. I did try even removing the device and pairing it again.

Relative SOLUTION:

1. I had to install some other packages: sudo apt install libdbus-1-dev libudev-dev libical-dev libreadline-dev
2. Install bluez-5.52 by building it from source. For details see the README + you have to run sudo make install http://www.bluez.org/release-of-bluez-5-54-and-5-53/
3. systemctl daemon-reload
4. sudo service bluetooth restart

Also note that this was on re-freshed Ubuntu 18.04, I kinda screwed up some dependencies and had to fix my OS by installing it fresh on top of the old one, before that I had some other old dependencies that didn't allow me to install bluez-5.52

Answer 1

The "ambient noise" you're hearing is a loopback from your computer's mic coming out through your headphones.

This is apparently due to a bug with A2DP's implementation.

I fixed this in Ubuntu 19.04 by installing Blueman and pairing my headphones as an Audio Sink rather than a headset:

• Unpair your headphones, if they're currently paired.
• sudo apt install blueman
• Open Blueman, click on "search".
• Select your headphones, right click, select "Setup"
• Make sure they're paired as an Audio Sink rather than a Headset
• Select your headphones as an audio output in your sound settings

If you have Spotify open throughout the process you have to restart it.

Answer 2

I had exactly the same issue in Ubuntu 18.04 with Sony WH-CH700w. I used the solution offered by @Luiz: I installed bluez-5.52. Since I didn't want to spend my time on resolving dependencies, I just compiled it from scratch.

Step-by-step solution:

1. download bluez-5.52 (or later) from here;
2. unpack: tar -xf bluez-5.52.tar.xz
3. go there: cd bluez-5.52
4. configure: ./configure
5. here I had libical missing. I installed it via sudo apt-get install libical-dev
6. since my previous configuration failed, I did it again: ./configure
7. compile: make
8. install: sudo make install
9. restart bluetooth machinery: sudo service bluetooth restart or just reboot your computer if you have a possibility: sudo reboot

That's it!

Important note: before restarting I returned my /etc/bluetooth/main.conf into the initial state, i.e. I commented out everything I've ever added there. In fact, I commented out everything.

Answer 3

I had a similar issue. I had to disconnect the Headphones, remove the headset, redo the setup and than switch to A2DP in the sound setting. Disconnecting and reconnecting them was the crucial part - just switching the profile didn't change anything. I had to do this twice until it eventually worked.

Note that apparently A2DP is unidirectional, so you can't use the microphones with A2DP - if you need to use the microphone as well, you are stuck to crappy sound.

Answer 4

No workarounds needed

This problem is related to BlueZ and was fixed at version 5.52

Create a temporary folder, then download and install the updated packages using the following commands:

wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/5.52-0ubuntu2/+build/18277594/+files/bluez_5.52-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb
wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/5.52-0ubuntu2/+build/18277594/+files/libbluetooth3_5.52-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb
wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/5.52-0ubuntu2/+build/18277594/+files/bluez-cups_5.52-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb
wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/5.52-0ubuntu2/+build/18277594/+files/bluez-obexd_5.52-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb 
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Worked just fine with my wh-1000xm2 at ubuntu 19.04.

For further information about the bug, see here

Answer 5

I recently bought a pair of sony wh1000xm3 and had similar issues, where either the sound was bad , or the sound in a2dp was in mono, coming through the left earpad only. Disconneting and Reconnecting did not worked for me.

this are the 2 things that i did that helped

1) ive disabled the touch controls through the mobile app, it did improve the chances of not going in low quality mode

2) install blueman via apt and set the device to connect to the a2dp sink

eventually the most stable solution was what other documented in this thread which is:

3) install bluez 5.52 which it will be default in ubuntu 20.04 but for the time being you can download it from the website http://www.bluez.org/ and follow the install instructions inside the zip file.

enjoy good quality sound!

Answer 6

Sorry... my english ir very bad! First, connect your sony wh1000mx3 to the phone and go to the sony app's (headphones) and put Quality Sound Mode.

This active the quality sound that ubuntu need.

Then, connect the Sony Headpones to the bluetooth and select, in the sound configuration Hight Fidelity Playback (LDAD, aptx, the one you prefer).

This is all. And yotu enjoy the Wh 1000mxx

Answer 7

I had a similar issue with my Sony headset. On turning the Computer Bluetooth ON and trying to connect the Headphones I kept seeing the Unable to Connect error. On further investigation, I found that the PulseAudio module and Bluetooth Manager were missing. I performed the following steps and it worked fine for me:

1. Install the PulseAudio module on Ubuntu - sudo apt install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
2. Install Bluetooth Manager - sudo apt install blueman
3. Start the Bluetooth Manager GUI - blueman-manager
4. Switch ON your Sony Headphones and enable pairing mode. You will see your Headset listed within the BlueMan GUI
5. Right click on the device within the BlueMan GUI and say Trust Device
6. Right click on the device and choose Setup
7. Go through the 6-step setup wizard to finish pairing your Headset.

All of the above is the initial setup and needs to be done only once. Every subsequent time the bluetooth connects automatically whenever you switch your headset ON.

Answer 8

Regarding the issue of the sound still coming through the speakers - you can select which playback device sound should come from in the sounds settings.

See the screenshot in this question: How do you set a default audio output device in Ubuntu 18.04?

Answer 9

The PulseAudio Volume Control software seems to work for me. I am using Ubuntu 22.04 with Sony Wh-1000xm3.

First install the software with sudo apt install pavucontrol.

Then, open PulseAudio Volume Control and switch the Codec from LDAC(High quality) to LDAC(mobile quality).