Why did bluetooth audio start working when the motherboard antenna was attached?

I'm trying to figure out why bluetooth audio started working reliably when the motherboard antenna was attached

Before I attached the antenna, audio on bluetooth headsets would cut out and stutter/lag. The wifi worked fine (at least to my knowledge)

After attaching the antenna, the bluetooth audio is perfect. The question is why the wifi was unaffected by the lack of an antenna

My thoughts are that maybe the signal quality improved and that maybe the wifi chip is better designed to work without the antenna

Solution 1:

Who expects radios of any sort to work without antennas attached? A better question might be why Wi-Fi worked at all in that state.

Wi-Fi uses a lot more transmit power, so it's better able to make up for the extreme attenuation that comes from not having any antenna connected.

Not only does Bluetooth use a lot less power, but modern Bluetooth audio uses all the Bluetooth bandwidth, so it's pretty unforgiving. You need every dB of RF link budget you can muster.