How to choose a Bluetooth device for listening to music

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Wireless sound is becoming more commonplace. How not to get confused in the mass of new products, pay attention to important characteristics and choose a decent device for listening to music, we will tell you in this article.

Any sound starts from the source. Today, there are many wireless protocols for transmitting sound. Some of them are much more interesting than Bluetooth, but have not yet received proper distribution. Today almost all smartphones, laptops and tablets are equipped with Bluetooth, and it takes five minutes to equip a device with its support if there is a USB output.

Therefore, today we will restrict ourselves to sound-reproducing devices using the "blue tooth" (the guide is quite suitable for choosing a Bluetooth speaker). This technology has a rather long history and a lot of pitfalls, the existence of which users do not always know.

The presence of a Bluetooth transmitter does not mean that the device can be used as a sound source for wireless audio equipment. Not every Bluetooth will allow you to listen to high-quality music without distortion. Not everyone is suitable for listening to files with high bitrate and lossless formats.

What to look for in order to listen to music wirelessly - whether it's just an MP3 or a high-quality rip from a vinyl record, we will tell in this article.

Let's start with the most important thing: this parameter directly says whether it is possible to listen to music using the device.

Bluetooth version

In modern devices, you can most often find support for Bluetooth 3.0 or 4.0, in some top smartphones and other gadgets - 4.1. In this case, it may well turn out that the purchased headset only supports connection using protocol version 2.1. The adapters are backward compatible, but the slowest protocol of the two works when connected.

The differences between the versions of the protocol for the average user are minimal due to backward compatibility. The main thing that catches your eye is that with each new version the power consumption of devices decreases, and starting with 3.0 a second module has been added for high-speed data transfer at a speed of 24 Mbps.

Version 2.1 + EDR transmits data at a rate of no more than 2.1 Mbit / s. This is enough to play a low bitrate audio stream. It is recommended to use Bluetooth version 3.0 or higher for audio and video streaming.

It should be noted that for the full use of the device as a player, it is highly desirable to have Bluetooth version 4.0 or higher, or better - with reduced power consumption.

This adapter can be identified by the following categories.

Bluetooth profiles

Profiles are a collection of specific functions supported by devices. Of all those used in Bluetooth for listening to music, the following are interesting:

1. Headset Profile (HSP)It is necessary for communication of the headset and smartphone and wireless transmission of mono sound with a bitrate of 64 kbps.
2. Hands-Free Profile (HFP)also provides only mono transmission, but with higher quality.
3. Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)required for two-channel audio streaming.
4. Audio / Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) provides control over the functions of playback devices (without it, even changing the volume of music is impossible).

A2DP is required for full listening to music. It not only handles the transmission of the audio stream, but also controls the compression of the data before transmission.

However, even if both the transmitting and playing device (for example, a smartphone and wireless headphones) are equipped with Bluetooth 3.0 or 4.0 and support the required protocol, you need to pay attention to the codec that is used.

Bluetooth codecs

The most important thing for playing music using the A2DP protocol is the codec that compresses the audio stream transmitted to the headset. There are currently three codecs in total:

1. Subband Coding (SBC) - the codec used by A2DP by default and created by the profile developers. Unfortunately, the SBC has a much rougher pressure than MP3. And therefore, it is not suitable for listening to music.
2. Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) - a more advanced codec that uses different compression algorithms. Sounds much better than SBC.
3. Aptx - here it is, the right choice! At least because of the ability to transfer files to MP3 and AAC without additional manipulation and transcoding. This means, and without degradation of sound. However, it is worth making a reservation. There are several versions of aptX to play different bitrates. Each of them is intended for its own sound stream.

Version	Number of channels supported	Maximum sampling rate, kHz	Quantization, bit	Max bitrate	Compression ratio
Aptx	2	44, 1	16	320 kbps	2:1
Enhanced AptX	2, 4, 5.1, 5.1+2	48	16, 20, 24	up to 1, 28 Mbit / s	4:1
Aptx live	n / a	48	16, 20, 24	n / a	8:1
Aptx lossless	n / a	96	16, 20, 24	n / a	n / a
AptX Low Latency	n / a	48	16, 20, 24	n / a	n / a

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The main features of the last two versions of the codec are the maximally reduced audio playback delay and reduced processor load during encoding. The Low Latency version achieves 32ms latency between the audio stream source and the playback device. This will reduce the distortion introduced by the equipment when listening to music.

Thus, with certain preferences, you can choose a certain codec. If the playback of a lossless stream is not expected, and high audio latency is not critical, you should limit yourself to standard aptX and do not overpay for device support for subsequent versions.

It is worth remembering that the required profile and codec must be supported both by the smartphone (or other audio stream source) and by the headset itself (or Bluetooth speaker). Otherwise, the A2DP algorithm will automatically start using SBC.

Any two devices with Bluetooth always work using the lowest version, the simplest codec and protocol. So, if one of them does not support the required technology, you will not be able to fully enjoy the sound quality.

To listen to music for a long time, requires at least Bluetooth 3.0 support, aptX codec and A2DP profile. To listen to high bitrate music, you need to support the aptX Lossless codec - neither will work, as the music will be compressed when transferred to the playback device.