Can listen to music with high quality It depends on several factors, including how the audio track is recorded or the headphones/speakers we use. However, there is an element that we do not always have and that is Bluetooth, a connectivity present in practically any Android mobile and that is to blame (for better and for worse) that we can listen to music with wireless headphones.
While it is true that we cannot perform miracles and change the Bluetooth standard, at least not easily, we can. change your codec to improve quality and make the most of the capabilities of our phone. In fact, it is not complicated, although you have to know how and that is what we will tell you in this post.
The different Bluetooth codecs
Android supports all major Bluetooth playback codecs, which mainly involves big five codecssome of them present in all devices and others not so common, depending mainly on the range of the device.
The first codec is SBC. These are the acronym for (low-complexity subband codec) and it is one of the most widespread codecs today for all devices. It supports mono and stereo audio, as well as sample rates up to 48 kHz. Almost all Android phones come with SBC by default to ensure compatibility with headphones and speakers. The problem with SBC, without going into too many technicalities, is that not the best codec for listening to hifi musicsince its sound transmission properties are not the best.
aptX usually works better than SBC in terms of sound quality and latency, however, it is not as universal as SBC, present in all devices
This is where Qualcomm’s own codec comes into play, aptX (and all its variants). This codec works with a higher bandwidth and lower latency (about 40 ms compared to the more than 100 that SBC can achieve) compared to the aforementioned SBC. Specific, has a better speed to transmit the sound (at the level of kbps), which allows you to move more data in less time. Immediate translation? Higher sound quality.
Another codec compatible with Android is LDAC, a Sony codec that again far exceeds SBC. LDAC has a higher throughput even than aptX. SBC transmits up to 328kbps, aptX up to 576kbps, and Sony reaches a whopping 990kbps, triple the bitrate vs. SBC.
AAC is another major player in this Bluetooth codec territory. It is the most used in the Apple world, although in Android consumes a lot of energy, so it is not recommended. Its transfer rate is not the best either, so it is one of the few options to rule out if we use an Android terminal.
Finally we find the Scalable Codec announced with the Samsung Galaxy Buds developed in conjunction with AKG. This codec prioritizes stability by making constant adjustments to streaming speeds. This is the most suitable option if we use a Samsung device with Samsung headphones.
How to change the Bluetooth codec
Before changing the Bluetooth codec of your Android you should think about the device you are going to connect it to, as certain incompatibilities can occur if they both don’t support what you want to change. Once you know the codec you want to use and you are clear about the compatibility between devices, all you have to do is go to your phone’s developer options.
Before changing the codec, we must take into account the compatibility of the device to which we are connecting and the playback quality that the content supports.
In them you will see an option called Bluetooth audio codecs. Here you just have to change the codec to the one you want. You have to take into account that the greater the range of the phone, the greater compatibility with different codecs. For the codecs to work well, you also have to take into account the type of content you are going to listen to, its quality and others, since not everything depends on the mobile and the headphones and speakers.
In the same way, the device to which you connect the mobile must have support for the new codec you are switching to, otherwise the one you were using will remain, even if you change it in the settings.
