SBC vs AAC? aptX vs AAC, which is the best bluetooth codec?

Bluetooth audio is currently gaining a large following.

The disappearance of mini-jack headphone ports on some smartphones, such as the iPhone, has meant that audio companies are producing high-quality wireless devices.

AAC vs. SBC? AAC vs aptX? Among Bluetooth audio technology, the Qualcomm aptX code is in a privileged place.

What is a Bluetooth Codec?

The word codec, when talking about wireless audio, means the software method of encoding a stream of audio information that is sent wirelessly between two devices.

In other words,It’s the process by which the zeros and ones of binary digital data are formatted.

It’s used to transmit stereo audio through a source device, such as a telephone, computer, television, etc., to a receiver, such as wireless speakers or headphones.

Different codecs send audio information using different formats and may introduce their compression technologies to maintain a balance between sound quality and the information packet of the audio files.

Compression may sound like a bad thing for lovers of high quality audio, but It’s necessary if we are going to send large files wirelessly.

This means that the variants among the Bluetooth codecs are compatible with different audio devices, as well as providing different connection and sound qualities.

All Bluetooth devices support the standardized SBC (Low Complexity Subband Coding) codec, but implementations of SBC have varied in quality throughout the history of this technology.

BCS vs. CSA? aptX vs AAC? To provide greater consistency for users of Bluetooth products, several companies have developed their Bluetooth codecs, and then offer the license to other production houses.

AAC is one of these formats, a successor to MP3, used by Apple and others. Sony has its LDAC codec and Qualcomm offers aptX.

AAC vs SBC vs aptX codec which is the best?

Codecs are encoding algorithms that compress audio to handle sound packets for fast wireless transmission.

The codec efficiency determines the quality of the audio information that will be sent.

The SBC code is the standard algorithm for most Bluetooth devices. However, this codec has a relatively high latency and can be somewhat noisy.

BCS vs. CSA? AAC vs. aptX? The three main codecs that most users will encounter are SBC, AAC, and aptX. What is the best Bluetooth audio codec? Here are their differences.

• SBC

The SBC codec is the codec found in most wireless devices and is found in all Bluetooth headsets with A2DP (Advance Distribution Profile).

The Bluetooth SBC is capable of transmitting up to 328kbps with sample rates of 44.1 kHz.

The SBC codec provides very decent quality audio and doesn’t require much processing. However, the audio may be inconsistent in some situations.

This is especially noticeable when using inexpensive Bluetooth transmitters.

• AAC

SBC vs. AAC? The Bluetooth AAC codec is similar to SBC but provides better sound quality.

The AAC codec is very popular thanks to the Apple iTunes platform. As a drawback, we should mention that it’s not very common to find it in headphones.

• aptX

BCS vs. aptX? AAC vs. aptX HD? The aptX codec is ideal for demanding audio applications because it encodes audio more efficiently and accepts more information than SBC.

Additional variations, such as aptX (LL) and aptX (HD), drastically reduce wireless latency and improve sound quality.

However, it’s somewhat limiting because both the transmitter and receiver must have aptX capability for this codec to work.

BCS vs. CSA? aptX vs. AAC? Since Culturasonora does not have a reliable means of measuring the AAC and LDAC formats wirelessly, we have compared the SBC and aptX codes using a Plantronics Backbeat Pro 2 headset:

aptX and SBC sound quality

We find that the standard SBC codec works well for most audio applications. It’s not particularly noisy, although, in the signal-to-noise ratio, the aptX has a higher optimum loudness range. The audio differences are subtle in the SBC vs aptX fight but can be noticeable to expert and critical ears.

The resulting measurements, however, for both frequency response and harmonic distortion, are very similar between the aptX and SBC codecs.

Latency in bluetooth codecs

Latency, or delay in wireless audio playback, is where the aptX codec separates itself. The SBC connection has about 100 ms of delay, which is noticeable when watching videos and can ruin certain gaming experiences.

On the other hand, CSR developed the low latency aptX code to fix these connection problems.

The aptX improves the performance of the SBC, butIt’s the aptX-LL that has the biggest impact in terms of results.

The aptX-LL codec was excellent when we tested it by watching some movies and playing some games. This makes the BackbeatPro2 and other headphones with this technology ideal for these activities.

Based on our tests, we have found that the best Bluetooth audio codec has a greater impact on latency than on sound quality.

The aptX codec has subtle improvements in sound quality, but the differences are less noticeable than the improved speed of audio playback via Bluetooth.Do you want to know which are the best Bluetooth Audio Receivers on the market?

Codec aptX, why should we use it?

The SBC codec is configured to operate at low bitrates, such as 200kbps, which does not provide the best sound quality.

In theory, the SBC codec can operate at bitrates up to 345 kbps, and the introduction of A2DP audio profiles enables wireless transfers of audio formats such as MPEG and ATRAC.

However, support for these formats is optional and varies between headphones or wireless speakers.

The aptX codec, on the other hand, offers a better signal-to-noise ratio in important frequency ranges, as well as better performance when it comes to delays in the Bluetooth connection.