Qualcomm adds Bluetooth Lossless Audio to Snapdragon Sound

Qualcomm has officially unveiled aptX Lossless, a new audio technology that enables support for wireless lossless audio for Snapdragon Sound.

Backed with Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive technology, aptX Lossless is a new feature that delivers CD-quality 16-bit 44.1kHz lossless audio quality over Bluetooth wireless devices and wearables. It uses a “level approach and optimized a number of core wireless connectivity and audio technologies” to auto-detect and switch to lossless audio whenever a user moves to a lossless file – under the right RF conditions.

To mitigate latency issues, Qualcomm has combined two in-company technologies, AptX Adaptive and Bluetooth High-Speed Link technology. It claims that it will help deliver the required sustainable data output to deliver reliable CD lossless audio quality wirelessly, delivering rates beyond 1Mbit/s (with automatic downscale to 140kbits/s in congested RF environments to prevent latency and diminishing audio quality).

“With many leading music streaming services now offering extensive lossless music libraries, and consumer demand for lossless audio growing, we’re pleased to announce this new support for CD lossless audio streaming for Bluetooth earbuds and headsets which we plan to make available to customers later this year,” said James Chapman, vice president and general manager, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd, “By supporting lossless audio on next-gen earbuds and headphones, we’re providing our customers another way to deliver sound the way the artist intended, as well as a significant opportunity to differentiate and be among the first to develop products with this feature.”

Source: Qualcomm