Listening to music with headphones, without relying on cables and counting on the immediacy of streaming is something truly comfortable. But you only need to take a look at the old battles over the quality of the physical format to understand that there is still a lot to improve in terms of codecs and audio quality via Bluetooth.
With this in mind Qualcomm has just released its new aptX Lossless Bluetooth codec, a new standard that promises CD quality (16-bit, 44.1 kHz) over a Bluetooth connection.
What is Qualcomm aptX Lossless
There are many codecs, as we already pointed out in our special on Snapdragon Sound. AptX (Audio Data Reduction Technology) has become one of the most popular in its own right, although LDAC the standard adopted by Sony, or LHDC (Low Latency High Definition Codec), the standard created by the HWA (Hi-Res Wireless Audio), are also very efficient at encoding and sending audio with minimal and almost imperceptible loss.
However, aptX Lossless reduces this loss even more. As we can see in the following comparative graph distributed by Qualcomm itself, when we add the Snapdragon Sound chip to this new codec, the result is objectively superior, reaching a higher bandwidth and peak bitrate.
According to the qualities published in its official dossier, These are the key features of aptX Lossless:
- Supports 16-bit 44.1 kHz CD lossless audio quality.
- Designed to scale to lossless CD quality based on the quality of the Bluetooth link – we therefore depend on the type of connection.
- User can select between 44.1 kHz lossless and 24-bit lossy 96 kHz audio CD quality.
- Automatically detect to enable lossless audio when the source is lossless audio.
- Mathematically exact bit by bit.
- Bit rate: ~ 1 Mbps.
The company claims that they have managed to compress the CD rate, from 1.4 Mbps, to just 1 Mbps. The key, and this is the most important, lies in the type of compression, without loss, that improves what is heard in aptX HD and is expected to exceed 990 Kbps of LDAC.
On the other hand, Qualcomm does not want Snapdragon Sound to be a new handset exclusive and hopes that when aptX Lossless launches in 2022, this audio technology is supported in older terminals.
As is evident, the higher the quality you may experience higher latency. This is another of the grails of wireless sound pursued by companies and a deciding factor, since beyond the bit rate, sample rate and bit depth, lag defines the experience and comfort listening to music.
The good news is at home: the new Xiaomi FlipBuds Pro set a historical record and, Through its game mode, the audio is transmitted with a latency of 69ms, a reduction in half from the AirPods Pro.
In addition, MIUI recognizes dozens of headphones and allows you to make important adjustments to the audio quality, being able to even clean them by means of vibration or even increase the intensity of the sound.