Lovers of listening to high-quality music and audiobooks on the go know the problems that arise when using regular headphones. Running in the park in the morning with a wire along the whole body is not very comfortable. The connecting cable between the smartphone and headphones restricts movement and impairs the body’s natural motor skills.
It’s even worse with wired headphones on public transport. Just wait until someone pulls the wire and spoils the expensive gadget. It’s very inconvenient! To solve this problem, the manufacturers invented Bluetooth technology, which serves to transmit audio from users’ smartphones wirelessly. This partially solved the problem, but created a new one.
The audio processing system used in Bluetooth limits the amount of data that can be transmitted. In addition, the sound quality in the headphones is degraded by frequent wireless connection disruptions due to different external interferences. Running with Bluetooth headphones has become more comfortable, but sound quality has worsened.
AptX technology came to solve this problem. It was developed back in the eighties of the last century, but for the time being remained unused. The need for a new audio transmission method became acute when the speed of the Internet connection increased significantly. Users got the possibility to listen to Hi-Fi music on their smartphones.
AptX technology in simple words
The beautiful acronym stands for Audio Processing Technology. It is a new codec (a container for compressing and transmitting digital data) that has the ability to maintain high sound quality when transmitted via Bluetooth.
The transmitting device compresses digital audio content to such a degree of compression that allows full wireless transmission. The receiving device decompresses the data package and the user enjoys beautiful and clear sound in the headphones. Due to the compression, the sound worsens slightly. But it is still much better than it was with the standard Bluetooth codec.
Everything seems to be simple and good, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, there are some problems here. Since audio container compression is used, the music content must first be compressed on the transmitting device and then decompressed on the receiving device.
Therefore, in order to use the described innovation, enjoy beautiful and clear sound without getting tangled in the connecting wires, it is required that both devices support AptX technology – smartphone and headphones.
AptX second generation
Progress is moving fast across the planet, and more and more mobile electronics manufacturers are incorporating into their devices the modern, trendy technology of wireless audio transmission in high quality. So more and more smartphones, tablets and other useful devices are equipped with AptX support.
However, consumers are still advised to check in the technical description before purchasing headphones and mobile devices whether they support the new wireless sound transmission technology.
There is no limit to perfection. After a few years of using the new features, owners of smartphones and headphones equipped with AptX began to express dissatisfaction with the lack of sound quality. Then electronics manufacturers developed the next generation of the mentioned technology and designed AptX HD. Which means High Definition.
Electronics manufacturers have also taken care of the owners of older models of smartphones. You can enjoy high-quality wireless sound with a separately purchased AptX HD adapter for a Bluetooth headset.
