Guild Wars 2

I like to use my stereo Bluetooth headset (LG HBS700) while playing Guild Wars 2, but it randomly (usually) has frequent interruptions in the audio stream. I’m talking about anywhere from 1-20 seconds between interruptions. No apparent pattern, either. I’ve also noticed that if I’m using Mumble at the time, anyone speaking is also interrupted. I’ve not spent enough time on Mumble outside of GW2 with the BT headset to know if it has the problem then, but I do know that the problem occurs in GW2 with or without Mumble.

I’m sitting about 4 feet from the receiver (IOGear GBU521, latest drivers), so I wouldn’t expect signal quality to be a problem. I’ve adjusted the audio settings in GW2 (quality, buffer, etc.). I’ve tried the dongle in other USB slots (USB 2.0 & 3.0). I’ve tried it with a couple of other USB dongles, too, but with mixed results (all of them experience this issue to one degree or another). My wife uses a Sony DR-BT101 in the same room, but she has no problems whatsoever.

I eventually started noticing the problem while listening to music on my Android phone, so I assumed it was the HBS700 headset. I have since purchased a Phiathon PS 20 BT, hoping it would fix the problem, but it did not. That was disappointing.

I’ve had no problems with sound on the 3 other (non-Bluetooth) headsets I’ve tried, but the wires are a hassle (my lapdog gets tangled in them), so I prefer something wireless. My Creative HS-1200 provides excellent wireless sound quality and doesn’t have the random audio dropouts, but as with other headsets, the pressure on my ears/skull gives me a headache after a few minutes. I’ve resorted to wired earbuds to avoid the headaches, but the “wired” part is undesirable to me. I’d really like to use this BT headset, but the interruptions are unbearable. It’s like watching TV while a toddler plays with the “mute” button on the remote.

I’ve tried various utilities for process monitoring, latency monitoring, etc., and I’ve discovered nothing useful there. I can’t seem to locate the source of the problem. Google wasn’t much use, either, as the problem always seems to go unresolved.

Has anyone else had issues like this? If so, did you find a way to fix the problem?

System details:
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
FX-4170 (~4.7 GHz)
8 GB DDR3 RAM (1866 GHz)
Radeon HD 6770
BIOSTAR TA990FXE
More system information available on request.

Do you have any other devices using usb3.0 port? Its a known issue with USB3.0 devices emitting interference. My wireless mouse will drop signal every so often when I have a thumbdrive in my USB 3.0 port.

http://www.usb.org/developers/whitepapers/327216.pdf

kirito.4138:

Do you have any other devices using usb3.0 port? Its a known issue with USB3.0 devices emitting interference. My wireless mouse will drop signal every so often when I have a thumbdrive in my USB 3.0 port.

http://www.usb.org/developers/whitepapers/327216.pdf

I hadn’t seen that. I’ll try it and see.

EDIT: The Bluetooth dongle itself was plugged into a USB 3.0 port, and my Logitech G600 and Creative headset were, too.

Swapping these did seem to help somewhat, at least at first, though it mostly just raised my hopes. I was able to play for nearly ten minutes before the problems started up again, but after five minutes of intermittent dropouts, it failed to drop back in. About fifteen seconds of silence later, I closed the GW2 client, opened a web browser, and logged into the forums, and I noticed that it seemed to be trying to play fragments of the audio that should have been playing in GW2. As I type this, I see a popup notification that “Bluetooth connection was successful” to my PS 20 BT.

Perhaps I’m still getting some interference from somewhere. I may try un-overclocking my processor and stuff, just in case that has some effect. And maybe messing with the “spread spectrum” settings.

Yesterday, I received a Rosewill internal card reader with several USB 2.0 ports. I installed it in the front of the computer case, plugged the Bluetooth dongle into it, and haven’t had any problems since. Of course, given the randomness of it all, that may soon change… We’ll see. If it comes up again, I’ll update this thread.

Until then, thanks, kirito!

Update: No problems with the LG headset, but the Phiaton still seems to have trouble now and then. Don’t know why, exactly, but as my wife is using it as a backup for when she forgets to charge the Sony headset, it isn’t really an issue right now.