Qualcomm announces "aptX Lossless" bluetooth codec

[VintageFlanker]

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but still:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/qu...bluetooth-audio-streaming-with-aptx-lossless/

 

[stevenswall]

That's great! Should be enough bandwidth for FLAC, though 1Mb wouldn't be enough for redbook PCM.

If they could just get something that could link to a dozen devices and had 100 foot range, that would make Chromecast Audio and other streaming devices obsolete as you could handle it locally.

Thanks for posting.

 

[threni]

That's great! Should be enough bandwidth for FLAC, though 1Mb wouldn't be enough for redbook PCM.

Perhaps they'll publish a list of supported tracks! Merzbow fans need not apply!

 

[Beershaun]

Very cool! It's ticking a lot of the right boxes. (from the article)

• Supports 44.1kHz, 16-bit CD lossless audio quality
• Designed to scale-up to CD lossless audio based on Bluetooth link quality
• User can select between CD lossless audio 44.1kHz and 24-bit 96kHz lossy
• Auto-detects to enable CD lossless audio when the source is lossless audio
• Mathematically bit-for-bit exact
• Bit-rate : ~1Mbps

It sounds like it's converting to it's own format and then sending the stream and decoding it.

 

[Matias]

Finally. I hope it gets adopted everywhere.

 

[DimitryZ]

LDAC, which is in most modern Android phones, approaches 1bMb/s right now at close range.

 

[stevenswall]

LDAC, which is in most modern Android phones, approaches 1bMb/s right now at close range.

I think in a lot of cases anything that supports LineageOS supports it. Just a software thing that most modern Bluetooth chips can handle.

 

[MaxBuck]

This new codec will play a huge part in my next cellphone purchase decision.

 

[Blumlein 88]

About time. Wireless, lossless audio transmission will obsolete lots of hardware.

 

[valerianf]

Which AVR is compatible with blue tooth headphone APTX?

 

[VintageFlanker]

LDAC, which is in most modern Android phones, approaches 1bMb/s right now at close range.

Sure, but it still is variable. Whatever I do with Developer Options in my Pixel 5, I cannot manage to get fixed 990Kbps locked. Sounds great when sent to my Matrix i3 Pro, tho.

 

[MCH]

I don't see the point for home use now with a whole universe of streamers, pi... available. Just to get rid of the (new, of course $$) headphone cable? For me this arrives like 10+ years too late.

 

[mansr]

Very cool! It's ticking a lot of the right boxes. (from the article)

• Supports 44.1kHz, 16-bit CD lossless audio quality
• Designed to scale-up to CD lossless audio based on Bluetooth link quality
• User can select between CD lossless audio 44.1kHz and 24-bit 96kHz lossy
• Auto-detects to enable CD lossless audio when the source is lossless audio
• Mathematically bit-for-bit exact
• Bit-rate : ~1Mbps

It sounds like it's converting to it's own format and then sending the stream and decoding it.

If it's capped at 1 Mbps, it can't be truly lossless for 44.1 kHz, 16-bit data. It might be lossless for most music, but if there's a burst of (nearly) incompressible data (e.g. white noise) it will have to fall back to some kind of lossy coding.

 

[VintageFlanker]

If it's capped at 1 Mbps, it can't be truly lossless for 44.1 kHz, 16-bit data. It might be lossless for most music, but if there's a burst of (nearly) incompressible data (e.g. white noise) it will have to fall back to some kind of lossy coding.

Agree on that. Everything below 1411Kbps cannot be guaranteed lossless for any 16b/44Khz (including WAV) content.

2 years back, Huawei announced BT-UHD codec, that was supposed to go up to 2Mbps bandwidth. Seems like a "vaporware" since.

 

[Soniclife]

If it's capped at 1 Mbps, it can't be truly lossless for 44.1 kHz, 16-bit data. It might be lossless for most music, but if there's a burst of (nearly) incompressible data (e.g. white noise) it will have to fall back to some kind of lossy coding.

Therey should be a special prize for anyone who could pass a blind test with these special tracks, assuming they use a quality lossy codec at a high bitrate just for the frames it cannot handle lossless.

 

[blueone]

If it's capped at 1 Mbps, it can't be truly lossless for 44.1 kHz, 16-bit data. It might be lossless for most music, but if there's a burst of (nearly) incompressible data (e.g. white noise) it will have to fall back to some kind of lossy coding.

For listening to music or environmental sounds this is unlikely to be a relevant corner case.

 

[Jimbob54]

LDAC, which is in most modern Android phones, approaches 1bMb/s right now at close range.

I would lay money that is "Competitor D" in the OP chart.

 

[maverickronin]

About 29% of my 16/44 FLACs are already >1Mbit/s...

 

[buz]

I think in a lot of cases anything that supports LineageOS supports it. Just a software thing that most modern Bluetooth chips can handle.

Simpler than that, LDAC should be part of base Android since 8 as Sony 'donated it', so pretty much any halfway recent phone should support it.

 

[sigbergaudio]

If it's capped at 1 Mbps, it can't be truly lossless for 44.1 kHz, 16-bit data. It might be lossless for most music, but if there's a burst of (nearly) incompressible data (e.g. white noise) it will have to fall back to some kind of lossy coding.

Not technically true, WAV can be losslessly compressed to 40-50%, so if they can compress and decompress in real time 1Mb would be plenty for true lossless. That's essentially what FLAC is.