Remember when Qualcomm (one of the biggest mobile, wearable and headphone chipmakers in the world) promised we would see a wave of next-generation wireless headphones with significantly improved hi-res audio quality appear “soon”? Well, that was just over a year ago.
That’s a fairly long time in this fast-paced industry. Which is why, once the one-year mark passed, it was time for me to pull out my black book and do a ring-round of all the movers and shakers in headphone engineering to see what’s going on.
Sadly, now that I have, it looks as though we are still some way off a key milestone for wireless audio quality: scalable, lossless hi-res 24-bit/192kHz streaming.
The promise of fully scalable, lossless hi-res 24-bit/192kHz
The promise of fully scalable, lossless, hi-res, 24-bit/192kHz streaming has been viewed as the Shangri-La of wireless audio quality for more than half a decade.
Why is it such a big deal? Well, if the stars align and the audio can be delivered wirelessly without chunks missing, the standard could lead to palpable audio upgrades. As Neil Young said, when he railed against “lossy” formats, we could finally hear “the full sound the band created”.
Who wouldn’t want that?
Well, rather a lot of people, according to Christian Ern, global product manager at Sennheiser’s parent company, Sonova Consumer Hearing.
“The broad majority is quite satisfied with the quality and convenience that regular Bluetooth offers,” Ern tells What Hi-Fi? “For example with advanced codecs like AAC or aptX, which are also widely available on transmitting devices.”
Steven Hoyle, category line director, headphones, at Bowers & Wilkins, follows suit, telling us that, while the company has hard data showing that people using its wares do listen at higher quality, it isn’t convinced there is much demand for more, yet.
“Within the Bowers & Wilkins headphone range we already support playback of audio up to 24-bit/96kHz via USB. We know that some owners are actively using this connection instead [of Bluetooth] in order to access higher levels of performance; but that does compromise the ease of use and convenience that you have with a wireless connection,” he says.
“We’ll continue to evaluate the need for 24-bit/192kHz support, but we’ll always view through that lens of ‘what makes sense for the consumer’, within which ease of use and convenience are also critically important factors.”
The words “ease of use” and “convenience” quickly became a theme. Kazunori Otsu, director of Technics’ headphone business, tells us that while audio quality is paramount, it needs to be easy to access too.
And at the moment, getting a consistent, decent experience delivering fully scalable, lossless 24-bit/192kHz wireless audio quality is anything but simple, according to all three experts.
It’s all a bit difficult
As stated by B&W’s Hoyle, even if the headphones were made, it wouldn’t be “easy” for listeners to take advantage of the functionality.
“The biggest challenge is how we make access to better audio simple and straightforward. Having support for higher resolution formats is part of the puzzle, but it is not the only answer,” he says.
“There are plenty of examples where users may think that they cannot tell the difference in the quality between high resolution and ‘standard’ audio, but this is often because of limitations elsewhere in the chain. This is why we try to focus on a whole system view to ensure that any improvements in the source should translate easily to all users.”
There is an ecosystem of factors needed to support lossless 24-bit/192kHz wireless audio. At a broad strokes level, to deliver the promised quality, you need a source transmitting 24-bit/192kHz, a wireless transmission and protocol robust enough to handle it without losing parts along the way and an endpoint (headphones, for the purposes of this article) that can understand and articulate the data it’s receiving. That’s a lot of moving parts, even for an engineer.
The big drawback at the moment is that most networks, codecs and devices aren’t up to the challenge. Bluetooth, the most common protocol used to stream music, can’t support the quality, and even the top-end aptX HD and LDAC codecs for it are fairly lossy – meaning parts are lost during the digital compression and unpacking process. And wi-fi, which is the most stable and fastest option for most people, isn’t as ubiquitous as Bluetooth, and there are issues with how most devices behave when switching between the two.
Qualcomm wants to fix the transmission part with its Expanded Personal Area Network (XPAN) technology. This, it claims, will scale automatically and intelligently depending on network conditions. So in theory it could (eventually) deliver 24-bit/192kHz audio wirelessly when its data connection is good enough, but discreetly switch to lower quality, in a way that doesn’t lead to dropouts or artefacts, when it’s too slow.
Lenbrook’s Airia transmission codec, which itself was an evolution of the SCL6 codec that MQA was working on before the firm was bought by its current Canadian owner, has a similar goal.
That’s all before we get into my, and former What Hi-Fi? editor, Jez Ford’s, explorations of how Ultrawide Band could help wireless headphones, and audio in general, reliably reach the standard. Cliff Notes: this is an alternative protocol some firms believe could deliver the quality with lower power demands, removing Bluetooth from the equation entirely.
It’s this plurality of moving parts that is a big issue for companies, including Sennheiser, says Ern:
“There are many improvements available or on the horizon to improve wireless audio quality. The main obstacle is compatibility. New technologies usually require transmitter and receiver to use the same form of transmission and codec, but most devices only support the usual standards.
“Therefore, using such new standards often requires not only the right headphone, but also the respective transmitter (phone, tablet, computer).”
Technics’ Otsu expresses a similar frustration, noting there isn’t even full interoperability among Bluetooth and mobile devices right now:
“One of the main challenges today is the limited interoperability of high-quality wireless audio technologies across different platforms. For example, while technologies such as LDAC can deliver higher-quality audio, support varies depending on the operating system, device, and chipset.
“As a result, even when advanced audio technologies are available, not all users can easily access or benefit from them. Improving compatibility and accessibility across platforms will be an important step toward bringing high-quality wireless audio experiences to a broader audience.”
What do people want?
All the experts we spoke to also agreed that “mainstream” music listeners don’t necessarily put technical things, including codecs and bitrates, on the same level of importance as audiophiles and hi-fi enthusiasts – which is why they are focusing elsewhere, for now.
Technics’ Otsu sums this up, telling us: “Across the broader market, we believe consumers are increasingly prioritising everyday usability factors such as comfort, ANC performance, connectivity, and battery life.”
B&W’s Hoyle adds that even these are only part of a wider set of priorities, which flip in rank depending on the person, telling us: “I believe that each user has a clear idea of how they are planning to use their headphone and this informs their priority feature list and their purchasing criteria.”
For Sennheiser’s Ern, this is particularly problematic, as the technical implications of raising audio quality would lead to higher prices due to the need for more expensive chipsets and lower devices’ battery lives, due to their higher power consumption.
So does that mean we won’t see the upgrades promised by Airia and XPAN as soon as we had hoped? Not necessarily…
Hi-fi will still find a way
Despite the mainstream headphone makers’ reticence, there was one segment of the market that still thought the effort of making the jump to 24-bit/192kHz, lossless, wireless audio was worth it: luxury and high-end.
Matt Dever, senior global product line manager, Harman Luxury Audio (Mark Levinson’s parent company), tells us that in audio circles there will always be enthusiasts willing to chase audio quality above all else.
“For Mark Levinson, it is very important to achieve that pinnacle of 24-bit/192kHz performance in an active wireless headphone. And we know that the technology giants will help get us there in the not too distant future. There is a market for that level of performance, as well; it will continue to drive the aspirational side of the consumer to better performing products,” says Dever.
He adds that the firm is already looking at XPAN and Airia, as well as a multitude of other technologies to help improve its premium wireless headphones.
“From the Mark Levinson and the luxury/audiophile perspective, our end users crave the best-quality audio experience possible. So, incorporating technologies that bring the highest level of audio quality, be it through the connectivity elements of wi-fi, XPAN, Bluetooth [and the like], or through employing audio codecs like Airia, LDAC and LHDC. These types of elements are paramount in the development of a Mark Levinson headphone,” he says.
“And it doesn’t have to be just one of these technologies; many of these can be employed together to create an even more exceptional listening experience. For example, many of the audio codecs mentioned above scale up to higher levels of performance with greater connectivity bandwidth. The Mark Levinson team is always studying and testing the latest technologies to determine the best path forward to keep us at the forefront of delivering the finest sounding headphones.”
Despite that, he does concede that the firm is hitting many of the same roadblocks as Technics, B&W and Sennheiser, telling us:
“Mark Levinson is not a fan of any of the lossy compression codecs. But with the limitations of bandwidth available, there must be compromises made, at least for today. But the industry goal should be lossless wireless audio reproduction at 24bit/192kHz.”
So, while we may not see “mainstream” next-generation headphones as soon as we had hoped, the high-end is already taking steps towards delivering the audio Shangri-La promised by Qualcomm just over a year ago.
What do you think?
Do you agree with the experts that most people aren’t that bothered about lossless 24bit/192kHz wireless audio and that it makes sense only in the high-end market? Or, do you think it’s up to brands to do a better job of educating users about the jump ahead of delivering it? Let us know in the comments below!
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