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How Bluetooth Headphones Work Part 3

What is aptX, the savior of Bluetooth sound quality

Let’s take a look: if you compare a Bluetooth headset to a person, the Bluetooth chip is like your heart and aptX technology is like your eloquence. Whether the transmitted sound is smooth and clear, so that the listener can know what you mean is an important indicator.

With the chestnuts finished, let’s get back to the topic: What is aptX anyway? Now, let’s take a look at it from a technical point of view.

There is a word involved in Bluetooth transmission technology called “bit rate”, which is the number of bits transmitted per second, and the unit is bps (bits per second). In the case of transmitting the same audio file, the higher the bit rate, the faster the data transmission speed and the shorter the time required. There should be “chestnuts” here, like when Yao Ming was practicing, he had 100 basketballs at A, and he had to throw them into the basket at B. Under the premise of making all the shots, Yao Ming would take more basketballs each . (Bit rate) and the more basketballs (bit rate) you put in, the shorter the total time required.

But for Bluetooth technology, because it is limited by the maximum bandwidth available in transmission, it is not always suitable for transmitting high-quality audio.

For this reason, Bluetooth “guardian angel” -aptX technology was born. It recodes and decodes the audio to be transmitted, significantly reducing the bit rate, without affecting the sound quality and without the transmission delay, which makes the Bluetooth stereo listening experience a revolutionary leap. So with aptX, you can enjoy pure wireless audio with CD-level sound quality anytime, anywhere.

How Bluetooth Headphones Work Part 2

Introduction to Common Abbreviations in English

NFC – Near field communication technology, Bluetooth headphones with this function can be quickly paired and connected by touching the playback device.

AAC: The technology provided by Dolby Laboratories is a high compression encoding algorithm. There is a lot of AAC audio in Apple Music and the sound quality is better than MP3 at the same bit rate. The iPhone will use AAC encoding for Bluetooth streaming. .

AptX – Qualcomm’s leading encoding technology, which is more efficient than traditional Bluetooth encoding and preserves more details in the sound. Most newer Android phones are equipped with AptX, but Bluetooth headsets must also be AptX-compatible to be effective.

LDAC – A Bluetooth transmission technology developed by Sony itself, which can transmit 3 times normal Bluetooth data and perform lossless music playback with Bluetooth, but only Sony devices support this technology.

Simply put, in terms of bit rate, AAC “AptX” LDAC. From the point of view of the audio source, if the player plays lossless music, the actual listening experience is AAC “AptX” LDAC, but since most users use network players such as NetEase Cloud or QQ Music, the source audio is mainly 128K. or 320K MP3, so there is no obvious difference in hearing between these encoding modes.

How to check if the phone supports aptx

Better to check the supported devices on the aptx official website.

APTX is a compressed streaming format that, while also lossy, can stream audio files with higher bit rates.

From a mobile phone point of view, APTX support requires mobile CPU support, but because this technology is paid, not all mobile phones have it. For example, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and 835 support APTX, but use Snapdragon 820. Mi 5 is Not Supported. Under normal circumstances, you can check for the APTX logo on the phone’s packaging:

Otherwise, you can call the after-sales consultation.

Of course, the safest way is to log into the APTX official website for inquiries. If submitting a link is not convenient for you, please use the official Baidu website. Go to the upper right corner of the official website and select Chinese, click Product search filter, the first is the brand, the brands in this list are compatible with aptx products (the list is sorted by English AZ , arranged vertically from left to right), the second One is the type of product: computers, mobile phones, headphones, speakers, etc. There are many types of products, the third is the aptx type, there are three types that are used in different fields. Please find your own brand and model of mobile phone, if it is not shown, it is not supported.

How Bluetooth Headphones Work

The decoder chip of the mobile phone decodes music files such as MP3, generates a digital signal and sends it to the Bluetooth headphones via Bluetooth;

The Bluetooth headset receives the digital signal and converts it to an analog signal that the human ear can understand through the digital-to-analog conversion chip inside the Bluetooth headset;

To amplify the analog signal, you must use the signal amplifier chip inside the earphone;

The headphone unit receives the amplified signal and makes a sound, and at this time, the ear hears the sound of music.

Do Bluetooth headphones ring?

However, the sound quality of Bluetooth headphones has long been criticized. The saying “Bluetooth headphones hear a sound” often circulates in the enthusiast circle. There are two main reasons for this:

When Bluetooth transmits audio data, it performs lossy compression on the audio, which loses sound quality;

Digital-to-analog conversion and amplification is done inside the Bluetooth headset. It’s hard to do both at the same time in such a small size, so for the sake of portability and price, sound quality is sacrificed even more.

The second point is the main reason. After understanding the principle of Bluetooth headphones, we know that for Bluetooth headphones to work properly, it is necessary to install batteries, Bluetooth modules, digital to analog conversion circuits, amplifier circuits, headphones. units, etc. in the headphone shell Series components, testing the manufacturer’s product design capabilities and comprehensive technical robustness. However, accomplishing this step only satisfied the need to “express”. If you want good sound, you should also tune in. This link should check the specific sound performance of the headphones with different materials, different diaphragms and different cables. In short, it is a more complicated process and the main R&D cost of the manufacturer.

Simply put, Bluetooth headphones are the product of compromise thinking, in order to get rid of the headphone cable shackles and reduce some of the sound quality. However, from today’s point of view, the sound quality of Bluetooth headphones made by traditional headphone manufacturers is generally better (of course, the price is also more expensive), which can meet the needs of most of users in terms of the appreciation of music, and the low-priced Bluetooth headphones produced by small manufacturers are in fact can only “hear” it.