I lately had a dialog with a gentleman who’d labored for Qualcomm for a few years. That dialogue centered round lossless audio and it modified the way in which I take a look at audio on cell units.
The dialog was sparked by his studying my assessment of the Creative Aurvana Ace 2 headphones. I felt the sound of these earbuds was game-changing however he was fast to level out that I hadn’t heard them at their finest.
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I assumed, “What? I am listening to them by way of my Pixel 8 Pro! Absolutely, that telephone is able to…” Then I remembered: Google had but to launch the patch that may allow lossless audio. You see, the earbuds help AptX Lossless, so (in concept) when Google releases that patch, I am going to be capable to hear the glory of lossless by means of these earbuds.
Not so quick.
You see, the Pixel 8 Professional would not help the AptX encoder and easily making use of a patch to the OS will not change that. Why? It would not have the mandatory Qualcomm platform (Snapdragon 8xx). In reality, the Pixel 8 Professional patch will solely help lossless audio by way of USB-wired headphones and audio system. The identical holds for the iPhone.
The reality is, though 45 telephones help AptX lossless by way of Bluetooth, you will not discover a single Google, Apple, or Samsung gadget on that list. You will discover telephones by Vivo, Nubia, Moto, ASUS, Sony, and Sharp.
For me, the complicated a part of this entire equation is: Why would an organization create a brand new protocol when the most important telephone producers aren’t supporting it? And why would an organization create a brand new pair of earbuds when the telephones that would benefit from one in all its best-selling factors aren’t on the minds of shoppers?
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The complexity of lossless
Lossless audio is not precisely a pedestrian matter. It is fairly advanced and all of it boils right down to how Bluetooth connections do not have the bandwidth to stream lossless audio. You see, lossless audio requires severe bandwidth and a selected codec to work and Bluetooth merely can’t deal with it. Up till AptX, all Bluetooth codecs are lossy, and regardless of how good your Bluetooth earbuds sound (even the Denon PerL Pros, which I nonetheless love), they are not delivering lossless audio.
I even examined the Artistic Aurvana Ace 2 on my MacPro M1 (which does help lossless), solely to find that it — just like the iPhone — doesn’t help lossless over Bluetooth. It was even recommended that I strive the Creative BT-W5 USB dongle, however… guess what? Though it helps AptX, it would not help lossless. So listening to the added glory of these Artistic earbuds has, to today, eluded me.
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It is a large drawback with the cell trade — nothing appears to need to play nicely collectively. Each main firm creates one thing shoppers need, solely to search out out that it will not work with their telephone, pill, laptop computer, codec, and many others.
It is nice that Artistic has created such a bang-on winner with the Aurvana Ace 2 earbuds however it could actually be good to listen to them as they have been meant to be heard. And I am not about to start out buying a distinct telephone for each use case: A Google Pixel 8 Professional for photographs, an iPhone as a result of it is a standing image, a Nubia Redmagic 9 Professional+ for lossless audio… you get the concept. I would like one gadget that does not silo itself by failing to work with the opposite units I buy. And I do not need corporations couching a brand new expertise below the guise that it “simply works.” In case your fancy new factor has a brilliant particular new characteristic that solely works with sure units, I would like you to let me know earlier than I drop the money for it.
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The cell trade looks like an enormous puzzle the place among the items are clean, giving us no indication as to the place and the way they match into the grand image. It is time for a bit extra transparency right here. Shoppers should not need to don their Sherlock Holmes caps to uncover what telephones help protocol X or characteristic Y; my chase for lossless audio on cell units completely illustrates that challenge.
It appears, on this fashionable period, that caveat emptor applies greater than ever. If you need to buy a brand new peripheral or wearable, do your analysis and be sure you can get essentially the most out of that new gadget and your telephone. However should you suppose you are going to get lossless audio high quality by way of Bluetooth with these new earbuds and your Pixel or iPhone — suppose once more. As a result of it is not going to occur.