AudioFilkina diploma: blue tooth music is not a hype for the sake of, but good for
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To begin with, our blog is thoroughly strongly stuck in the lectures on acoustics, nostalgia for the Soviet hi-fi, history of science and audio corporations. Basta! It's time for something to dilute it. The cycle will be devoted to the good old warm lamps, platinum interblocks and, most importantly, the great theory of "Divine Sound" ... A special feature of the cycle posts will be parascience, metaphysicality, subjectivism, dictation of tastes. All the data presented will be based on the recommendations of the most authoritative audiophile in the world, an honorary philophonist of the 180th level of the Voltmeter ININOVICH Oscillograph. Just kidding ...
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First, let's deal with the âblue toothâ ...
If no joke, then one of the fastest growing trends in audio are wireless technologies, and, in particular, Bluetooth (sales statistics Pult.ru shows persistent and steady growth in interest in headphones without wires). However, our trading practice shows that not all consumers understand how wireless headphones differ from each other. The main difficulties arise when trying to determine the codecs that are supported by the device. There are also situations where the headphones support the technology, but the source (smartphone) does not. Under the cut a few words about the problems and possibilities of blue-tooth codecs.
Currently there are 6 codecs that provide sound transmission using Bluetooth. Many people know that the use of a codec can affect the quality of the transmitted sound, i.e. loyalty reproduction, while people do not bother to study the issue and say that:
{sarcasm_mode_on}
According to all the great audiophiles, Wikipedia and other good people, Bluetooth involves digital data transmission via radio waves at speeds of 1 Mbit / s and above. When using such a connection, the information is transmitted in heretical digital form, for which the codec is used (a special encoder / decoder) , which converts the code into Divine Sound. From what codec will be such a transformation will depend on the final degree of divinity.
Of course, we understand that a real adept of air paths will buy a headphone cable from noble metal for $ 100,500 and will not use these terrible wireless technologies. However, those who are already addicted to the pernicious influence of the âblue toothâ should be sent to the true path and tell them about the âcorrectâ and âincorrectâ codecs.
All interested in the topic of digital sound, experienced philophonists have long understood that there are digital formats âwith lossesâ and âwithout lossesâ and, of course, âQualityâ and âDivinityâ differ in these formats. Those. in the âlossyâ cases, some of the original analog data is not reproduced, and our brains âthink outâ themselves or not âthink outâ, in the case of using lossless, âthink outâ nothing, since there are no losses. The situation is similar with Bluetooth codecs.
{sarcasm_mode_off}
With all the convenience of using bluetooth headsets, some of them are really capable of reproducing sound with significant losses. Speech about the notorious âhigh fidelity of reproductionâ in such products cannot go. In addition, those who have played games and watched movies using Bluetooth-headphones, have serious problems with delays. Today, the following codecs are used to transmit sound via Bluetooth: SBC, aptX, aptX-HD (aptX Lossless), AAC, LDAC. On which of them is used by headphones and the source of the signal, the absence or presence of problems will depend.
Next on each codec for details.
SBC (Subband Codin) - was the first codec that was used for Bluetooth audio transmission. As in the case of the mp3 format, SBC coding is based on the fact that we do not perceive a significant part of the frequency range, which was revealed as a result of psychoacoustic research in the distant eighties-nineties.
The coding in the SBC was quite rude. The imperfect algorithm caused the noise of quantization errors and other digital artifacts to be noticeable when playing a complex music signal. Especially the latter concerns the HF range at frequencies from 5 to 15 kHz.
SBC supports sample rates up to 48 kHz and a bitrate of 328 kbps. By the number of audible artifacts and losses, the decoded SBC signal is comparable to mp3 - 96-128 kbit / s. The fact is that the basis for the SBC algorithm was the MPEG-1 Audio Layer II codec (mp2) of the sample of 1993, inheriting many of the compression flaws from mp2, which were corrected in later lossy formats.
A big problem with this codec is audio delays reaching 100â150 ms, and in severe cases 250 ms, they are especially pronounced when using Bluetooth headphones in games and when watching dynamic video.
Meanwhile, the codec is ideal for transmitting human speech, news radio, conversations and, for example, audio books. The biggest advantage of SBC is that it is supported by any device that uses the standard bt-audio profile A2DP .
aptX was developed by Qualcomm as an alternative to SBC. The reason for its creation was consumer dissatisfaction with the capabilities of the basic SBC codec and the appearance of audible quantization artifacts in the signal.
aptX provides a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz (16-bit width) with a bit rate of up to 352 kbit / s. According to the results of blind subjective tests, the aptX sound quality cannot be distinguished from CDDA. The problem of delays, characteristic for SSC, was solved by the aptX Low Latency extension, which reduced the maximum delay time to 40 ms.
aptX supports the vast majority of smartphones, wireless headphones and speakers. The exception is almost all Apple products.
A relatively recent codec from Qualcomm, which appeared in 2016, which became a logical continuation of aptX. aptX-HD was developed in response to the demands of an elitist-audiophile rather than a mass market. A significant part of consumers (let's call them mobile audiophiles) has found it necessary to transmit Hirez via Bluetooth. According to aptX-HD manufacturers:
For encoding, a sampling frequency of 48 kHz with a bit width of 24 bits and a bitrate of 576 kbit / s is used.
We can safely say that the capabilities of the codec will most likely be in demand by those who need to know about the ideality of sound, rather than hear the real difference. Since 2017, companies such as LG, Sony, Huawei have released smartphones supporting the new codec. At the same time, Samsung (apparently deliberately) refused to use this technology in their flagships, despite the use of Snapdragon processors, the specifications of which have support for this codec.
{sarcasm_mode_on}
True adherents of the âDivine Soundâ of course know that all the talk that âhighres is not neededâ is a lie that is hard on the ears of the spiritless heretics of technophiles.
{sarcasm_mode_off}
However, not many who distinguish the quality of CDDA by ear from hi-res have to be quite limited in choosing devices supporting aptX-HD. If we talk about wireless headphones, it is on the strength of 3% of all models that appeared in 2017.
AAC - was coined in its time to become an alternative to mp3, and to provide a higher quality sound with smaller volumes. After the start of global interest in lossless, it gave way to the ALAC format, but it remained the Apple standard Bluetooth codec. The apple codec provides a transfer rate of 264 kbps with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. The sound quality is similar to aptX and is almost indistinguishable by ear from CDDA.
If you have an Apple source device, you should pay attention to whether the headphones support the AAC codec. Headphones with AAC support are not very rare, but still they are much smaller than aptX. It is completely logical that AirPods support AAC.
LDAC is a codec developed by Sony for wireless high-resolution audio.
{sarcasm_mode_on}
True audiophiles, of course, know that true HI-res are only phonograms recorded at a sampling rate of 88.2 kHz and 24 bits.
{sarcasm_mode_off}
In fact, LDAC was designed to provide an uncompromising approach to HI-res. It provides a bit rate of 990 kbps, a sampling rate of 96 kHz with a bit of 24 bits, which exceeds the accuracy of the CDDA format and is formally âbetterâ than other codecs used with Bluetooth. I emphasize that this is more likely from the field of philosophy or metaphysics, rather than related to the real possibilities of hearing. Of course, there is a small percentage of people whose hearing abilities are higher than the rest, as well as people who need to know that their sound is flawless.
Currently LDAC is used only in Sony premium segment products. There are few such devices. Interestingly, in comparative subjective tests, the results of which are published on the Sony website, the company compares LDAC with the outdated SBC. It kind of hints ...
{sarcasm_mode_on}
If a philophonist neophyte suffers using the wireless path, he needs high-speed as air, which means that nothing other than LDAC or at most aptX-HD will not work for him. Otherwise it will not be true.
{sarcasm_mode_off}
All the rest will be enough to use aptX and AAC (in cases with Apple). Those who do not intend to listen to music, and uses a headset for news, conversations and audio books will be enough basic SBC.
Jeans
In our catalog is presented A wide range of wireless and other headphones . The range and price range of products is so wide that it can satisfy the requirements of both stingy music lovers and demanding adherents of an uncompromising approach.
The images used in the material are borrowed from the following resources:
www.sony.ru/electronics/interview-ldac
www.androidauthority.com/sony-ldac-codec-790690
W3bsit3-dns.com
To begin with, our blog is thoroughly strongly stuck in the lectures on acoustics, nostalgia for the Soviet hi-fi, history of science and audio corporations. Basta! It's time for something to dilute it. The cycle will be devoted to the good old warm lamps, platinum interblocks and, most importantly, the great theory of "Divine Sound" ... A special feature of the cycle posts will be parascience, metaphysicality, subjectivism, dictation of tastes. All the data presented will be based on the recommendations of the most authoritative audiophile in the world, an honorary philophonist of the 180th level of the Voltmeter ININOVICH Oscillograph. Just kidding ...
{sarcasm_mode_off}
First, let's deal with the âblue toothâ ...
If no joke, then one of the fastest growing trends in audio are wireless technologies, and, in particular, Bluetooth (sales statistics Pult.ru shows persistent and steady growth in interest in headphones without wires). However, our trading practice shows that not all consumers understand how wireless headphones differ from each other. The main difficulties arise when trying to determine the codecs that are supported by the device. There are also situations where the headphones support the technology, but the source (smartphone) does not. Under the cut a few words about the problems and possibilities of blue-tooth codecs.
Wireless trend - useful or not
Currently there are 6 codecs that provide sound transmission using Bluetooth. Many people know that the use of a codec can affect the quality of the transmitted sound, i.e. loyalty reproduction, while people do not bother to study the issue and say that:
âBluetooth connection speed does not allow to transmit high-quality soundâ.
{sarcasm_mode_on}
According to all the great audiophiles, Wikipedia and other good people, Bluetooth involves digital data transmission via radio waves at speeds of 1 Mbit / s and above. When using such a connection, the information is transmitted in heretical digital form, for which the codec is used (a special encoder / decoder) , which converts the code into Divine Sound. From what codec will be such a transformation will depend on the final degree of divinity.
Of course, we understand that a real adept of air paths will buy a headphone cable from noble metal for $ 100,500 and will not use these terrible wireless technologies. However, those who are already addicted to the pernicious influence of the âblue toothâ should be sent to the true path and tell them about the âcorrectâ and âincorrectâ codecs.
All interested in the topic of digital sound, experienced philophonists have long understood that there are digital formats âwith lossesâ and âwithout lossesâ and, of course, âQualityâ and âDivinityâ differ in these formats. Those. in the âlossyâ cases, some of the original analog data is not reproduced, and our brains âthink outâ themselves or not âthink outâ, in the case of using lossless, âthink outâ nothing, since there are no losses. The situation is similar with Bluetooth codecs.
{sarcasm_mode_off}
With all the convenience of using bluetooth headsets, some of them are really capable of reproducing sound with significant losses. Speech about the notorious âhigh fidelity of reproductionâ in such products cannot go. In addition, those who have played games and watched movies using Bluetooth-headphones, have serious problems with delays. Today, the following codecs are used to transmit sound via Bluetooth: SBC, aptX, aptX-HD (aptX Lossless), AAC, LDAC. On which of them is used by headphones and the source of the signal, the absence or presence of problems will depend.
Next on each codec for details.
Good old sbc
SBC (Subband Codin) - was the first codec that was used for Bluetooth audio transmission. As in the case of the mp3 format, SBC coding is based on the fact that we do not perceive a significant part of the frequency range, which was revealed as a result of psychoacoustic research in the distant eighties-nineties.
The coding in the SBC was quite rude. The imperfect algorithm caused the noise of quantization errors and other digital artifacts to be noticeable when playing a complex music signal. Especially the latter concerns the HF range at frequencies from 5 to 15 kHz.
SBC supports sample rates up to 48 kHz and a bitrate of 328 kbps. By the number of audible artifacts and losses, the decoded SBC signal is comparable to mp3 - 96-128 kbit / s. The fact is that the basis for the SBC algorithm was the MPEG-1 Audio Layer II codec (mp2) of the sample of 1993, inheriting many of the compression flaws from mp2, which were corrected in later lossy formats.
A big problem with this codec is audio delays reaching 100â150 ms, and in severe cases 250 ms, they are especially pronounced when using Bluetooth headphones in games and when watching dynamic video.
Meanwhile, the codec is ideal for transmitting human speech, news radio, conversations and, for example, audio books. The biggest advantage of SBC is that it is supported by any device that uses the standard bt-audio profile A2DP .
aptX - enough for almost everyone
aptX was developed by Qualcomm as an alternative to SBC. The reason for its creation was consumer dissatisfaction with the capabilities of the basic SBC codec and the appearance of audible quantization artifacts in the signal.
aptX provides a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz (16-bit width) with a bit rate of up to 352 kbit / s. According to the results of blind subjective tests, the aptX sound quality cannot be distinguished from CDDA. The problem of delays, characteristic for SSC, was solved by the aptX Low Latency extension, which reduced the maximum delay time to 40 ms.
aptX supports the vast majority of smartphones, wireless headphones and speakers. The exception is almost all Apple products.
aptX-HD - Ponto many and few devices
A relatively recent codec from Qualcomm, which appeared in 2016, which became a logical continuation of aptX. aptX-HD was developed in response to the demands of an elitist-audiophile rather than a mass market. A significant part of consumers (let's call them mobile audiophiles) has found it necessary to transmit Hirez via Bluetooth. According to aptX-HD manufacturers:
âAllows you to encode and transmit sound with virtually no loss, or with minimal loss.â
For encoding, a sampling frequency of 48 kHz with a bit width of 24 bits and a bitrate of 576 kbit / s is used.
We can safely say that the capabilities of the codec will most likely be in demand by those who need to know about the ideality of sound, rather than hear the real difference. Since 2017, companies such as LG, Sony, Huawei have released smartphones supporting the new codec. At the same time, Samsung (apparently deliberately) refused to use this technology in their flagships, despite the use of Snapdragon processors, the specifications of which have support for this codec.
{sarcasm_mode_on}
True adherents of the âDivine Soundâ of course know that all the talk that âhighres is not neededâ is a lie that is hard on the ears of the spiritless heretics of technophiles.
{sarcasm_mode_off}
However, not many who distinguish the quality of CDDA by ear from hi-res have to be quite limited in choosing devices supporting aptX-HD. If we talk about wireless headphones, it is on the strength of 3% of all models that appeared in 2017.
AAC - Apple Only
AAC - was coined in its time to become an alternative to mp3, and to provide a higher quality sound with smaller volumes. After the start of global interest in lossless, it gave way to the ALAC format, but it remained the Apple standard Bluetooth codec. The apple codec provides a transfer rate of 264 kbps with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. The sound quality is similar to aptX and is almost indistinguishable by ear from CDDA.
If you have an Apple source device, you should pay attention to whether the headphones support the AAC codec. Headphones with AAC support are not very rare, but still they are much smaller than aptX. It is completely logical that AirPods support AAC.
LDAC - "space" from the Japanese perfectionists
LDAC is a codec developed by Sony for wireless high-resolution audio.
{sarcasm_mode_on}
True audiophiles, of course, know that true HI-res are only phonograms recorded at a sampling rate of 88.2 kHz and 24 bits.
{sarcasm_mode_off}
In fact, LDAC was designed to provide an uncompromising approach to HI-res. It provides a bit rate of 990 kbps, a sampling rate of 96 kHz with a bit of 24 bits, which exceeds the accuracy of the CDDA format and is formally âbetterâ than other codecs used with Bluetooth. I emphasize that this is more likely from the field of philosophy or metaphysics, rather than related to the real possibilities of hearing. Of course, there is a small percentage of people whose hearing abilities are higher than the rest, as well as people who need to know that their sound is flawless.
Currently LDAC is used only in Sony premium segment products. There are few such devices. Interestingly, in comparative subjective tests, the results of which are published on the Sony website, the company compares LDAC with the outdated SBC. It kind of hints ...
Total
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If a philophonist neophyte suffers using the wireless path, he needs high-speed as air, which means that nothing other than LDAC or at most aptX-HD will not work for him. Otherwise it will not be true.
{sarcasm_mode_off}
All the rest will be enough to use aptX and AAC (in cases with Apple). Those who do not intend to listen to music, and uses a headset for news, conversations and audio books will be enough basic SBC.
Jeans
In our catalog is presented A wide range of wireless and other headphones . The range and price range of products is so wide that it can satisfy the requirements of both stingy music lovers and demanding adherents of an uncompromising approach.
The images used in the material are borrowed from the following resources:
www.sony.ru/electronics/interview-ldac
www.androidauthority.com/sony-ldac-codec-790690
W3bsit3-dns.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/409751/