[old tech]

Hi

I'm thinking about purchasing a NC wireless headphone to replace my Bose QC wired.

I mainly use it for air travel (though there isn't much of it at the moment) but also would like to use it for TV and occasional music. I've narrowed the choice down to the Sony product, either the current WH-1000XM4 or the superseded WH-1000XM3 model. However I noticed that while the XM4 supports SBC, AAC and LDAC streaming codecs, it doesn't support AptX whereas the XM3 does.

My bluetooth device is the Avantree Oasis Plus which supports aptX, aptX LL and aptX HD but doesn't say if it supports any of the other codecs.

So the question is would the XM4 still work with Avantree device? And regardless, are there any advantages to sticking with aptX rather than AAC or the other codecs?

Thanks

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[mammal]

Let's analyze this

WH-1000XM4 - BT 5.0
- SBC, AAC, LDAC codecs
- A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP profiles

WH-1000XM3 - BT4.2
- SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC codecs
- A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP profiles

So the profiles are the same and codecs that both have in common are SBC and AAC.

As for your BT device

Avantree Oasis Plus - BT 5.0
- aptX-HD, aptX-LL, aptX, FS, SBC codecs
- AVRCP v1.0, A2DP v1.3.1 profiles

SBC is present in all devices, so for compatibility sake, it will work. The question really is which one is better for your use case. Pairing your BT device with aptX-HD enabled WH-1000XM3 (older generation, presumably sounding worse than newer, but more bitrate codec) or using less bitrate of SBC enabled WH-1000XM4 (but newer device).

I have never owned Sony headphones, so can't say how much has changed in these two versions. As far as bitrate goes, SBC is 320kbps while aptX HD is 576kbps. You don't care much about AAC, as that is 250 kbps. When looking at Bluetooth, anything that supports A2DP profile will ensure at least SBC is present.

I hope this helps!

 

[old tech]

Let's analyze this

WH-1000XM4 - BT 5.0
- SBC, AAC, LDAC codecs
- A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP profiles

WH-1000XM3 - BT4.2
- SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC codecs
- A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP profiles

So the profiles are the same and codecs that both have in common are SBC and AAC.

As for your BT device

Avantree Oasis Plus - BT 5.0
- aptX-HD, aptX-LL, aptX, FS, SBC codecs
- AVRCP v1.0, A2DP v1.3.1 profiles

SBC is present in all devices, so for compatibility sake, it will work. The question really is which one is better for your use case. Pairing your BT device with aptX-HD enabled WH-1000XM3 (older generation, presumably sounding worse than newer, but more bitrate codec) or using less bitrate of SBC enabled WH-1000XM4 (but newer device).

I have never owned Sony headphones, so can't say how much has changed in these two versions. As far as bitrate goes, SBC is 320kbps while aptX HD is 576kbps. You don't care much about AAC, as that is 250 kbps. When looking at Bluetooth, anything that supports A2DP profile will ensure at least SBC is present.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for that.

From what I've read in reviews there is not much improvement with the XM4 over the XM3 apart from a little more comfort and slightly better NC. So I take it then that SBC is good enough for sound quality but what about latency when watching TV? I'd hate to have lips being fractionally out of sync with the sound. The Oasis has aptX LL but unfortunately neither headphone supports it.

 

[mammal]

So I take it then that SBC is good enough for sound quality but what about latency when watching TV

I use my Bose QC35 for work related calls on my MacBook, neither has APT-X LL and there is no perceptible delay in audio. Also, when I used them for my Sony Bravia TV, playing some games, there was also no discernible audio delay. According to Wikipedia, with APT-X LL you get a guarantee of low latency, because of its requirement to use a dedicated antenna. SBC seems to not require this and there latency measurements depend on the device and software stack implementing it.

 

[old tech]

I use my Bose QC35 for work related calls on my MacBook, neither has APT-X LL and there is no perceptible delay in audio. Also, when I used them for my Sony Bravia TV, playing some games, there was also no discernible audio delay. According to Wikipedia, with APT-X LL you get a guarantee of low latency, because of its requirement to use a dedicated antenna. SBC seems to not require this and there latency measurements depend on the device and software stack implementing it.

Cheers

 

[Roseval]

Codecs do differ in latency (ms)
Wired 7
SBC 173
aptX 166
aptX LL (Low Latency) 34
aptX- Adaptive 80

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/learn/sbc-aptx-which-bluetooth-codec-is-the-best

 

[mammal]

Codecs do differ in latency (ms)
Wired 7
SBC 173
aptX 166
aptX LL (Low Latency) 34
aptX- Adaptive 80

I found contradictory article here, which did tests showing that latency depends on the software/hardware stack, not only on the codec itself.

 

[Roseval]

The codecs do differ.
Likewise the implementations do.
The link you supplied contains the latency by device by Robert Triggs
https://www.soundguys.com/android-bluetooth-latency-22732/
If you scroll to the bottom, you will see the latency on smartphones is much better today.