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crem

Member

Registered: 2018-01-14

Posts: 41

USB Bluetooth dongle doesn't see my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones

I've been using my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones through a Hama USB Bluetooth dongle.

To also use the headphones on another Arch Linux machine that I have, I've bought a similar looking Hama USB Bluetooth dongle. 
However, the new dongle doesn't see my headphones, although it sees some other bluetooth devices (by "not see" I mean it doesn't appear in the list of devices when I switch headphones to the pairing mode and hit "search" button in blueman-manager).
I've also checked both dongles on another Linux machine (Debian), and the behaviour is exactly the same, the old dongle discovers headphones just fine, while the new dongle doesn't see it (but sees some other devices).

So, questions:
1. Is it a software or hardware issue? (i.e. something like bluetooth protocol version mismatch)
2. If software, how to make the new dongle see the headphones?
3. If hardware, what keyword should I look for when buying a new dongle to be sure it will be compatible with my headphones.

Thanks in advance!

---

Details:
The old dongle (that works): Hama model 49232, bought in 2014.
The new dongle (that doesn't work): Hama model 49218, bought in 2022

~ $ lsusb | grep -i bluetooth
Bus 003 Device 009: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 003 Device 011: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)

~ $ rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
3: hci1: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

Old dongle (that works):

[bluetooth]# show 00:1B:DC:0F:B3:C0
Controller 00:1B:DC:0F:B3:C0 (public)
	Name: cremator #2
	Alias: old_dongle
	Class: 0x007c0104
	Powered: yes
	Discoverable: no
	DiscoverableTimeout: 0x00000000
	Pairable: yes
	UUID: A/V Remote Control        (0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: PnP Information           (00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Message Access Server     (00001132-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Audio Sink                (0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Message Notification Se.. (00001133-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Phonebook Access Server   (0000112f-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: A/V Remote Control Target (0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Headset                   (00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: IrMC Sync                 (00001104-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: OBEX File Transfer        (00001106-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: OBEX Object Push          (00001105-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Handsfree Audio Gateway   (0000111f-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Vendor specific           (00005005-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000001)
	UUID: Audio Source              (0000110a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	Modalias: usb:v1D6Bp0246d0540
	Discovering: no

New dongle (doesn't work):

Controller 00:0A:CD:3E:FC:E9 (public)
	Name: cremator
	Alias: new_dongle
	Class: 0x007c0104
	Powered: yes
	Discoverable: no
	DiscoverableTimeout: 0x000000b4
	Pairable: yes
	UUID: Message Notification Se.. (00001133-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: A/V Remote Control        (0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: OBEX Object Push          (00001105-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Message Access Server     (00001132-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: PnP Information           (00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: IrMC Sync                 (00001104-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Vendor specific           (00005005-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000001)
	UUID: Headset                   (00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: A/V Remote Control Target (0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Generic Attribute Profile (00001801-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Phonebook Access Server   (0000112f-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Audio Sink                (0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Device Information        (0000180a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Generic Access Profile    (00001800-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Handsfree Audio Gateway   (0000111f-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Audio Source              (0000110a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: OBEX File Transfer        (00001106-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	Modalias: usb:v1D6Bp0246d0540
	Discovering: no
	Roles: central
	Roles: peripheral
Advertising Features:
	ActiveInstances: 0x00 (0)
	SupportedInstances: 0x05 (5)
	SupportedIncludes: tx-power
	SupportedIncludes: appearance
	SupportedIncludes: local-name

Last edited by crem (2022-04-15 09:48:46)

crem

Member

Registered: 2018-01-14

Posts: 41

Re: USB Bluetooth dongle doesn't see my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones

I did manage to pair my headphones with the new dongle.

To do that, I typed "scan on" in bluetoothctl, and it took several minutes (hitting "search" button in blueman-manager doesn't wait that long).

However, the audio constantly drops off, the quality is low, and after a few moments headphones disconnect. Also "info" command shows "RSSI: -67" even when I hold headphones close to the dongle.
Switching between codecs (SBC 453/512/552kbps, LDAC (mobile/normal/high quality)) don't help.

At that point I suspect that it may be a faulty antenna in the new dongle.