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A few months late, the Bluetooth LE Audio standard is regarding to arrive with its share of new features: superior audio quality, stream sharing, lower energy consumption, etc.
This new Bluetooth LE Audio standard is long overdue. The Bluetooth SIG, the organization governing the development of Bluetooth standards, has finally settled on the specifications of the new Bluetooth LE Audio and expects the arrival of compatible products by the end of the year.
The Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) standard, already present for a long time, was until now reserved for energy-efficient information flows such as certain communication protocols between connected objects or for connecting headphones to the mobile app present on a smartphone. . However, this standard was not powerful enough to pass audio streams of acceptable quality. With Bluetooth LE Audio, this era is over, thanks in particular to the new LC3 codec.
Codec LC3 : quésako ?
Let us first recall what a codec (coder decoder) is. A codec is a device that encodes and decodes a stream, a data transmission. In the world of Bluetooth audio, the codec makes it possible to compress the stream sent by the source (smartphone, tablet, etc.) and decompress it at the output (earpiece, headset, speaker, etc.). You have no doubt heard of SBC, the codec common to all Bluetooth devices, AAC, carried in particular by Apple or even aptX and LDAC, belonging respectively to Qualcomm and Sony.
The graph shows the perceived audio quality (defined by the article ITU-R BS.1116-3) depending on the flow rate.
The LC3 therefore completes this large family of codecs by promising superior audio quality to the SBC for a lower bit rate. According to a study conducted by the Bluetooth SIG, the sound quality would thus be better in LC3 with a bit rate of 160 kbps than in SBC with a bit rate of 345 kbps. The LC3 codec would therefore be much more energy efficient than its SBC colleague and would therefore significantly improve the autonomy of our Bluetooth devices.
Also, like aptX Adaptive and LDAC, the LC3 would be able to level the bitrate depending on the quality of the connection. The codec might thus lower the bit rate on its own in places heavily congested with radio waves to avoid inopportune cuts.
Auracast: audio sharing for everyone
Beyond the addition of a brand new codec, the Bluetooth LE Audio standard has a new feature for sharing between several devices. Apple already has a similar feature but only compatible with the brand’s headphones (AirPods, Beats, etc.) and limited to two simultaneous streams. With Auracast, audio sharing opens up to all devices and makes it possible to manage many streams at the same time. The Bluetooth SIG cites many examples of use, such as a guided tour in a museum, a meeting in a conference room, in a store to keep up to date with the latest promotions or even in a train station so as not to miss any announcements.
Bluetooth LE Audio will also enable the development of new hearing aid devices for the hearing impaired. These devices have previously lacked Bluetooth connectivity, but with this new energy-efficient standard and Auracast functionality, these people will be able to more easily interact with the world around them.
This new Bluetooth LE Audio standard as well as the LC3 codec and the Auracast functionality should land on various devices by the end of the year, promises the Bluetooth SIG. Where the shoe pinches is that these new features are not fully compatible with older versions of Bluetooth. It will therefore be necessary to equip yourself with devices compatible with the latest version: Bluetooth 5.2.