[cacio]

Who's gonna take the leap? I haven't had the best experience with truly wireless bluetooth myself but maybe the source will make a difference this time. Recently got the Samsung Note 9. So, I saw that it the BT20 is bluetooth 5.0 and wonder if it includes APTX?

no aptx. i asked many aliexpress sellers. its a realtek chip, not a qualcomm one. so no aptx for sure. aac dont know.

but maybe if you have some know how of android modding, you could get SBC bitrate mode working

SBC specifications allow higher bitrate than currently used by manufacturers(mostly 384kbit max). like up to 512kbit. so even if SBC 384kbit sounds like 192kbit AAC, with 512kbit its like ~ 33% more bitrate which should be audible improvement

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software-hacking/improve-bluetooth-audio-quality-t3832615


and in the case of the TRN BT20: bluetooth 5.0 has now support for 1MBit/s , so maybe you could go even higher with the SBC bitrate. some people have reported that they got 617-660 kbit/s working (and that with <5.0)

 

[sino8r]

no aptx. i asked many aliexpress sellers. its a realtek chip, not a qualcomm one. so no aptx for sure. aac dont know.

but maybe if you have some know how of android modding, you could get SBC bitrate mode working

SBC specifications allow higher bitrate than currently used by manufacturers(mostly 384kbit max). like up to 512kbit. so even if SBC 384kbit sounds like 192kbit AAC, with 512kbit its like ~ 33% more bitrate which should be audible improvement

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software-hacking/improve-bluetooth-audio-quality-t3832615


and in the case of the TRN BT20: bluetooth 5.0 has now support for 1MBit/s , so maybe you could go even higher with the SBC bitrate. some people have reported that they got 617-660 kbit/s working (and that with <5.0)

Good to know! Yeah, I recall now that SBC rates varied from BT versions. I got the Samsung Note 9 recently (stuck with the Note 4 forever because of the removable battery and sheer stubbornness) and it has some options for bt codex and bit rates in developer option that I didn't have before. No root unfortunately for my US model. This is the first time I haven't had root on a phone. Hasn't really been a problem since I got a good ad blocker. Android is so polished now that I really don't miss it. And it's funny you mentioned xda developers. I've been a long time member there since before Android and back to the Windows Mobile/Palm Treos lol!

I just hope the battery life and connection is decent. Most truly wireless can't past that 5 hr mark.

 

[cacio]

Good to know! Yeah, I recall now that SBC rates varied from BT versions. I got the Samsung Note 9 recently (stuck with the Note 4 forever because of the removable battery and sheer stubbornness) and it has some options for bt codex and bit rates in developer option that I didn't have before. No root unfortunately for my US model. This is the first time I haven't had root on a phone. Hasn't really been a problem since I got a good ad blocker. Android is so polished now that I really don't miss it. And it's funny you mentioned xda developers. I've been a long time member there since before Android and back to the Windows Mobile/Palm Treos lol!

I just hope the battery life and connection is decent. Most truly wireless can't past that 5 hr mark.

yeah since android 8, you have AAC, aptx, aptx HD, LDAC bluetooth codecs included in every phone. google has made a deal that its licence free now on android. only the "receiver" device has to pay licence fee for the codecs.

and who knows, maybe the TRN BT20 has AAC. we have to wait for the reviews

and regarding battery life, thats why i want to see something like TRN BT20 but with the new Qualcomm bluetooth 5.0 SoC. they should be up to 65% more efficient. so we could have ~10h play time instead of the ~5h. sadly there is not much info about the realtek 5.0 SoC, but looking from the specs on the aliexpress pages, it does not seem to be that the realtek 5.0 is that efficient

 

[khighly]

yeah since android 8, you have AAC, aptx, aptx HD, LDAC bluetooth codecs included in every phone. google has made a deal that its licence free now on android. only the "receiver" device has to pay licence fee for the codecs.

Incorrect. This is entirely SoC dependent. Only a few of the more recent Qualcomm Snapdragons have aptX and I don't think any of them have LDAC (Sony, Qualcomm will never implement this) or aptX HD yet. My Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite with Snapdragon 625 only does SBC & AAC. It is correct that these codecs are available in Android, but that doesn't mean you can use them.

 

[cacio]

Incorrect. This is entirely SoC dependent. Only a few of the more recent Qualcomm Snapdragons have aptX and I don't think any of them have LDAC (Sony, Qualcomm will never implement this) or aptX HD yet. My Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite with Snapdragon 625 only does SBC & AAC. It is correct that these codecs are available in Android, but that doesn't mean you can use them.

well, the Honor 9 from my sister (kirin 960) does have all the codecs. even with stock OS. but its running pure android (project Treble ) and its does have all the codecs also build in.

and btw, when you have the A2 lite, you have a possibility to flash a better custom ROM on your device which would definitely support all the codecs

 

[eggnogg]

well, the Honor 9 from my sister (kirin 960) does have all the codecs. even with stock OS. but its running pure android (project Treble ) and its does have all the codecs also build in.

and btw, when you have the A2 lite, you have a possibility to flash a better custom ROM on your device which would definitely support all the codecs

+1
either you install google stock android, or the OEM support it, chipset got nothing to do with it, purely software needed to support the codec.

from: https://www.androidauthority.com/sony-ldac-codec-790690/
Sony has its own high-end solution called LDAC. This technology had previously only been available on Sony’s Xperia range of handsets, but with the roll-out of Android 8.0 Oreo the Bluetooth codec will be available as part of the core AOSP code for other OEMS to implement, if they wish

 

[cacio]

Incorrect. This is entirely SoC dependent. Only a few of the more recent Qualcomm Snapdragons have aptX and I don't think any of them have LDAC (Sony, Qualcomm will never implement this) or aptX HD yet. My Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite with Snapdragon 625 only does SBC & AAC. It is correct that these codecs are available in Android, but that doesn't mean you can use them.

so it seems lite xiaomi has simply ****ed up a little bit (not surprising)

you could simply try this mod

https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-a1/how-to/guide-enable-custom-bluetooth-audio-t3744371

 

[khighly]

well, the Honor 9 from my sister (kirin 960) does have all the codecs. even with stock OS. but its running pure android (project Treble ) and its does have all the codecs also build in.

and btw, when you have the A2 lite, you have a possibility to flash a better custom ROM on your device which would definitely support all the codecs

Still not true. The codecs are available baked into Android, but the hardware itself does not support it. The A2 lite is an Android One/Project Treble phone. There are options in my Snapdragon 821 Pixel for LDAC, however the Snapdragon 821 does not support it. Qualcomm based SoC's will not support Sony's LDAC. Snapdragon 835/845 also do not support LDAC, but do support aptX and aptX HD, however, these chips are only in very high end phones.

The Honor 9 is unique in that it does have a bunch of hardware supported codecs, however most Android phones do not.

 

[khighly]

so it seems lite xiaomi has simply ****ed up a little bit (not surprising)

you could simply try this mod

https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-a1/how-to/guide-enable-custom-bluetooth-audio-t3744371

Also not true, also not the same phone. This is enabling the manual selection of aptX and aptX HD in the developer options settings (this was done in Android 8 by default), however you can't actually make the phone do aptX and aptX HD, it will always revert to SBC (625 does AAC too).

aptX and aptX HD are not supported per Qualcomm: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon-625-mobile-platform

 

[cacio]

Still not true. The codecs are available baked into Android, but the hardware itself does not support it. The A2 lite is an Android One/Project Treble phone. There are options in my Snapdragon 821 Pixel for LDAC, however the Snapdragon 821 does not support it. Qualcomm based SoC's will not support Sony's LDAC. Snapdragon 835/845 also do not support LDAC, but do support aptX and aptX HD, however, these chips are only in very high end phones.

The Honor 9 is unique in that it does have a bunch of hardware supported codecs, however most Android phones do not.

but the kirin 960 had no aptx, LDAC, or AAC codec support before oreo. the codecs are pure software. your hardware does not have to "support" it. its more of a false configuration on the OEM side like for example like the camera2 api which is disabled on many xiaomi dives although its supported on the hardware (and software) side. its just disabled

 

[cacio]

Also not true, also not the same phone. This is enabling the manual selection of aptX and aptX HD in the developer options settings (this was done in Android 8 by default), however you can't actually make the phone do aptX and aptX HD, it will always revert to SBC (625 does AAC too).

aptX and aptX HD are not supported per Qualcomm: https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon-625-mobile-platform

in this case, its not the same. the zip contains the missing aptx libs.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-3/themes/mod-aptx-codec-t3521228

take a look here which SoCs had aptx working after adding the missing libs

SD615
SD410
Exynos 4412
Nvidia Tegra K1
...

 

[khighly]

but the kirin 960 had no aptx, LDAC, or AAC codec support before oreo. the codecs are pure software. your hardware does not have to "support" it. its more of a false configuration on the OEM side like for example like the camera2 api which is disabled on many xiaomi dives although its supported on the hardware (and software) side. its just disabled

Android implemented support for the other codecs in 8.0 and you can manually select/change them in developer options, however that doesn't mean your phone will support them. The Kirin 960 is high-end audio focused, so it's no surprise that these BT codecs are supported.

 

[khighly]

in this case, its not the same. the zip contains the missing aptx libs.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-3/themes/mod-aptx-codec-t3521228

take a look here what SoCs had aptx working after adding the missing libs

SD615
SD410
Exynos 4412
Nvidia Tegra K1
...

Sure, my Pixel with 820/821 was enabled with aptX by Google because those SoC's supported aptX in the first place, so the OP3 will also have that ability. What you're saying doesn't change what I'm saying.

 

[khighly]

so it seems lite xiaomi has simply ****ed up a little bit (not surprising)

you could simply try this mod

https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-a1/how-to/guide-enable-custom-bluetooth-audio-t3744371

Directly from the post:

>Also, the module is sometimes unstable. It reverts back to SBC even when we choose aptX or aptX HD. A simple reboot should solve that problem. After rebooting, before connecting the wireless, go to developer options and manually select the supported codec, and then connect.

This tells me aptX and aptX HD were never being enabled in the first place, just the developer settings menu lets you choose all codecs that Android knows.

My Mi A2 Lite has all of these enabled, but will not do aptX, aptX HD, or LDAC even when manually selecting them. If I manually select them, it'll say it's now working in anything I choose, but will revert after a few minutes because it's not supported.

I also had a Sony receiver for home theater that had LDAC support, my Pixel even after 8.0 & all available codecs listed in Developer Options, would not transmit LDAC to it.

LDAC in a Qualcomm chip defies the laws of everyday capitalism.

 

[sino8r]

Incorrect. This is entirely SoC dependent. Only a few of the more recent Qualcomm Snapdragons have aptX and I don't think any of them have LDAC (Sony, Qualcomm will never implement this) or aptX HD yet. My Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite with Snapdragon 625 only does SBC & AAC. It is correct that these codecs are available in Android, but that doesn't mean you can use them.

The newer Samsungs (S8/Note 8 and above) support LDAC. One of the main reasons I got my Sony MUC-M2BT1. The funny thing is my Note 9 doesn't support APTX-HD. And we're talking about Qualcomm models too. Makes no sense...

Futher research shows that Samsung had issues with aptx-HD and is adding aptx adaptive at some point.