Is LDAC lossy or bit-perfect for 44.1kHz/16bit (Red Book CD) files?

[Juss]

That's what the app "Bluetooth Codec Changer" is for. You can make presets for LDAC yourself. For example, 16-bit 44.1kHz 990kbps. The app remembers which BT speaker/headphone/headphone amplifier you use and automatically sets just the right preset. No more going to DM and manually changing.

 

[Juss]

I agree, as I wrote initially, WAV file 44.1kHz/16bit has bitrate about 1400kbps (16*44100*2=1411200). Typically FLAC compression decreases the file size to 50 and 70 percent of its original size so the bitrate would be 750-950kbps so less than 990kbps. However there might be problem with some rare files with compression ratio of 80 percent and higher.

But maybe SONY developed compression which is smarter than FLAC and they are able to always compress CD quality files to a bitrate lower than 990kbs?

Anyone can confirm / deny it ;-)?

Cheers,
Przemek

In theory, listening to Tidal HiFi 16bit/44.1khz tracks, which in Tidal's case are all in .flac format, the LDAC should indeed be able to transmit audio without loss. However, it must be remembered that LDAC only transmits 990kbps at 48khz or 96khz. A 44.1khz song comes at a speed of 909kbps. Since the Android phone upsamples to 48khz anyway, there is no problem. In order to get a quick change of LDAC settings on the phone, there is a special app in which you can preset and save the desired parameters. E.g. 16 bit 48khz @990kbps. Every time the device detects another bluetooth device, this app automatically changes the corresponding settings. App: Bluetooth Codec Changer. Available on Google Play

 

[Oso Polar]

In theory, listening to Tidal HiFi 16bit/44.1khz tracks, which in Tidal's case are all in .flac format, the LDAC should indeed be able to transmit audio wiWrongthout loss.

Wrong. LDAC is not lossless, so some quality will always be lost. How noticeable it'll be is a very different question - I don't notice any quality reduction using high LDAC bitrate (909/990 kbps). Also, Qudelix-5K developers for optimal quality recommend the use of 44.1 KHz LDAC sample rate for 44.1 KHz source material (https://www.qudelix.com/blogs/5k-dac-amp/bluetooth-audio-codecs):

Sony LDAC supports the sample rate up to 96KHz. Typically, most source audio is 44.1KHz, and YouTube Audio streaming is 44.1KHz as well. Android automatically selects the highest LDAC sample rate, 96KHz, and it upsamples the source audio to 96KHz for the LDAC encoder. For a 44.1KHz source, encoding 44.1KHz@909kbps would provide slightly better sound quality than encoding 96KHz(Oversampled)@990kbps. From the Qudelix-5K FW v1.7.1, You can opt-out the supported LDAC frequencies and fix the LDAC sample rate to 44.1KHz. If you usually listen to 44.1KHz sources, fixing the LDAC sample rate at 44.1KHz, as is, would provide the best sound quality as well as slightly longer battery time.

BTW, it seems like this Bluetooth Codec Changer is your app as the last 3 posts in a row in this thread are from you promoting this app. It may be a great app (I actually just downloaded it, description is interesting) but IMHO it is not a good way to promote it (but is a good way to get banned). I'd rather suggest to start a dedicated thread, introduce yourself and the app, describe the features and the problems it solves, and use this thread to share knowledge and collect feedback from people. This will be beneficial both for the community and for yourself as you'll be able to improve the app based on the feedback.

 

[Blorg]

BTW, it seems like this Bluetooth Codec Changer is your app as the last 3 posts in a row in this thread are from you promoting this app.

Hi might just like it, if it was actually his and he wanted to promote it he could do a better job than 3 posts in an obscure thread. He doesn't even link to it in Play Store.

I use Bluetooth Codec Changer as well and find it very useful, it's just so handy to be able to set all these parameters (codec choice, sampling rate, etc) automatically for each device rather than having to dig into Developer Options.

 

[Rottmannash]

I'm asking about phone settings (once I change those, receiver will be setup in the same way) assuming that DAC has full LDAC support (990kbps, 96kHz, 32bit).

Every time when I was connecting to the DACs that I've tested (Topping D50s, Topping DX7 Pro, SMSL M400), my phone was connecting with the following settings:

Bluetooth audio LDAC codec: Best effect (Adaptive bit rate) ***
Bluetooth Audio Sample Rate: 96kHz
Bluetooth Audio Bits Per Sample: 32bit

Should I play with Developer Options and change to (when streaming 44.1/16 files):

Bluetooth audio LDAC codec: Optimized for audio quality (990kbps/909kbps)
Bluetooth Audio Sample Rate: 44.1kHz
Bluetooth Audio Bits Per Sample: 16bit

Yes / no ? Why ;-) ?

Cheers,
Przemek

That's what I did.

 

[abm0]

Should I play with Developer Options and change to (when streaming 44.1/16 files):

Bluetooth audio LDAC codec: Optimized for audio quality (990kbps/909kbps)
Bluetooth Audio Sample Rate: 44.1kHz
Bluetooth Audio Bits Per Sample: 16bit

Yes / no ? Why ;-) ?

Definitely yes. In addition to already presented arguments about resampling on most tracks, think about the compression ratios:
990k / (2 x 24 x 96k) = 21.5%
909k / (2 x 16 x 44.1k) = 64.4%

Why waste bitrate on hi-res only to lose 2x more of the bits to compression when you could run at lower losses and slightly lower bitrate leading to slightly better connection stability and power consumption? They should've set 16/44/909 as the default, but they went for the hi-res marketing and possibly the illusion that since 990 is the absolute highest bitrate it must be the least lossy. Nope. 16/44/909 is the least lossy by a wide margin, no other LDAC setting comes close.

 

[Blorg]

Definitely yes. In addition to already presented arguments about resampling on most tracks, think about the compression ratios:
990k / (2 x 24 x 96k) = 21.5%
909k / (2 x 16 x 44.1k) = 64.4%

Why waste bitrate on hi-res only to lose 2x more of the bits to compression when you could run at lower losses and slightly lower bitrate leading to slightly better connection stability and power consumption? They should've set 16/44/909 as the default, but they went for the hi-res marketing and possibly the illusion that since 990 is the absolute highest bitrate it must be the least lossy. Nope. 16/44/909 is the least lossy by a wide margin, no other LDAC setting comes close.

My understanding, it does actually have the sense to reserve most of the bits for the lower (audible) frequency bands when encoding a Hi-Res signal, it doesn't allocate half the bits to encoding 24-48kHz in 96kHz signal, it's using relatively few bits for that entire region. Subjectively, I don't think I can tell the difference between leaving it on the default and locking it to 44.1. But I'd prefer it to use none on frequencies I can't hear and do also set it to 44.1 myself (using that app, or the setting on the Qudelix 5K, I wouldn't care enough to go into developer options every time to do it).

Source: Android Authority

 

[useruser]

Use this to persist codec settings on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amrg.bluetooth_codec_converter&hl=en&gl=US

Also this is quite nice: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maxmpz.equalizer&hl=en&gl=US

Full parametric system wide EQ for Android (if the player supports DSP)