OPINION: Qualcomm triggered a little bit of a stir at its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, asserting a number of new bits of tech that might have a big effect on the way forward for headphones.
What’s bought everybody so excited is the point out of headphones in the identical breadth as Wi-Fi. Whereas Bluetooth has been a really handy wi-fi know-how for cell and residential gadgets, some are unconvinced, particularly if you need a high-fidelity audio efficiency.
That’s not one thing that Bluetooth can present, regardless of the numerous advances through the years to extend the quantity of information it could carry. Regardless of some claims of headphones supporting lossless audio over Bluetooth – just like the NuraTrue Professional – that’s confirmed to be slightly difficult, since Bluetooth can solely actually do Hello-Res Audio in lossy slightly than true lossless kind.
You will need to perceive that for tech manufacturers, Wi-Fi has develop into more and more extra beneficial – whether or not it’s headphones, soundbars and even TVs. We’ve seen this with tech reminiscent of Samsung’s Q-Symphony, LG’s WOW Orchestra, and headphones such because the HED Unity that leverage Wi-Fi to connect with gadgets or within the case of the Unity, use the Wi-Fi connection level in your cell system to stream audio instantly out of your music providers.
Which, belatedly, leads me to again Qualcomm’s announcement of its upcoming S7 Professional Platform supporting micro energy Wi-Fi connectivity.
In essence, the brand new chip merges Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity collectively, seamlessly switching between the 2. Should you go away your telephone someplace in the home and stroll away from it, the earbuds/headphones will swap to the Wi-Fi community, so your music retains on enjoying. With this tech, you’ll by no means be out of vary, it received’t drain your battery additional, and lossless audio as much as 24-bit/192kHz by way of wi-fi headphones can be a tangible factor.
I’ve reservations…
This all sounds nice, proper? However I’ll be a Debbie Downer and voice just a few reservations.
The obvious one is that you simply’ll want gadgets that help Snapdragon Sound for this to be a chance. Whereas there are many audio manufacturers that do help the Snapdragon platform, not all of them do. Sony has adopted its personal path with its headphones, as has Apple – that’s a good chunk of the market that, except one thing occurs, received’t be together with the tech of their headphones.
The second is that this reliant on your private home Wi-Fi community, and the best way I’ve learn it described, is barely a chance in the event you’re far sufficient away out of your telephone for it to modify to the Wi-Fi. How typically do individuals consciously stroll away from their telephones? For some it appears as if it’s always hooked up to their hip.
Certain, maybe the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth mixing would work on Wi-Fi networks exterior of the house, however anybody who’s skilled the faff of attempting to arrange Wi-Fi entry on the London Underground will know the way baffling that course of will be.
And the third level is that, whereas streaming music at 24-bit 48kHz, 96kHz or 192kHz can be nice, what number of of you take heed to music at that high quality? Spotify remains to be the preferred music streaming service, exceeding 200 million paid subscribers, and till Spotify HiFi or Supremium comes alongside, they’re all listening at 320kbps.
There’s little question that what Qualcomm is presenting is a handy concept, but it surely does expose a limitation. Just like the occasion I attended earlier within the yr when it confirmed off its S3 Gen 2 dongle that gives low latency efficiency with gaming and low power audio efficiency. The know-how on present labored very well, however when it got here to the query of who’s supporting, there wasn’t a lot when it comes to particulars Qualcomm might present. It could possibly solely current the technological advances, it could’t pressure uptake. It’s the previous proverb of main a horse to water, however you possibly can’t make it drink.
So sure, that is an attention-grabbing know-how with promise, however there’s nonetheless some strategy to go earlier than lossless audio streaming for headphones turns into a actuality. Should you can’t wait, there’s all the time wired headphones…
