[sunshine83]

Hi folks, I hope this is the right thread to ask this question. Does anyone of you know if there is any truely wireless earphones with LDAC support out there?

 

[Peddler]

As far as I know there are no true wireless earphones currently on the market which feature LDAC or for that matter APTx HD except possibly thethe latest Sennheiser Momentum Wireless.

I can't wait for the one true hi fi wireless headphone to come onto the market - I'll be all over it.

 

[MulberryMadness]

You might want to reconsider that desire for LDAC, connection strength is far more important to overall SQ with wireless. I see reports that BT 5.0 makes no difference in connectivity issues over BT4.x, but time will tell. How well the BT is implemented, how good the internal antenna are, makes a difference. Ask yourself what environment you'll most likely be listening to such TWEs?

Good read here:

https://darko.audio/2017/12/bluetooth-future-fi-rha-ma650-750-wireless-iems/

"Enthusiasts swear by lossless audio – and rightly so – but FLAC’s audible gains on lossy formats like MP3, AAC or Ogg Vorbis live above the 90th percentile. To be properly savoured, lossless audio requires a suitably low noise floor.

Against a backdrop of residual traffic growl, train rumble or aeroplane engine roar, is Bluetooth’s lossy transmission not good enough?"

"Like Class D amplification, Bluetooth audio quality rises and falls on its implementation, not the technology itself. With the MA650 Wireless, RHA show us that it doesn’t have to sound as weak as many idealists would have us believe.

Bluetooth isn’t just a hardware game and its software side isn’t uniform in quailty – what we hear depends on the lossy codec in play.

At the DARhaus, space and bulk constraints evaporate to see full-size cans, boxy headphone amplifiers and DACs hold sway. Ignoring such options to juice the the Campfire Andromeda and Noble Katana with a Sony NW-ZX2 Walkman loaded with Redbook FLACs, the American high-end IEM duo both vault the Bluetooth-d RHA on voice clarity, headstage size and precision.



However, as the U-Bahn and street noise rattle around yours truly in Berlin, those performance deltas narrow considerably, especially when reverting to an iPhone 6S Plus and Spotify.

The theory tells us that AAC and aptX won’t sound as good as a direct wired lossless music supply. But the theory also tells us that with the MH650 Wireless playing catch on a digital stream, internal DSP can optimise the signal before it hits the DAC and amplifier, the latter tuned precisely to the dynamic driver. This mirrors the thinking behind digitally active loudspeakers that, all things being equal, will consistently outstrip their passive counterparts’ performance/dollar quotient. Which is more potent: a DSP-tailored frequency response or source bitrate?"

Keep in mind, if you are using TWEs in an environment that is less than ideal quiet, you are not likely to be able to tell the difference if the outside 'noise floor' is present:

https://www.soundguys.com/ldac-ultimate-bluetooth-guide-20026/

• "Ultimately, LDAC users are likely to spend a fair bit of time listening to the 330kbps version. Unfortunately, the available resolution and 18kHz cut-off frequency are objectively inferior to CD quality, Qualcomm’s aptX, and SBC."
• 
  
• I can't hear above 15khz, and in another 5-10yrs age will get me <12kHz , so none of those great high treble sounds can I make use of

 

[Bjrmd]

You can try the Shure BT2 aptx hd adapter.
I did a ldac vs aptx hd comparison and they seem equivalent. The Shure unit is top notch but you would need mmcx connectors.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78863458&postcount=293

 

[MulberryMadness]

You can try the Shure BT2 aptx hd adapter.
I did a ldac vs aptx hd comparison and they seem equivalent. The Shure unit is top notch but you would need mmcx connectors.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78863458&postcount=293

any number of 'adapters', but that's not what 'true wireless earbuds' ppl now want. I don't know what the costs/difficulty/licensing restrictions there are that make for no TWE's at present, since Sony the creator of LDAC left it off their current TWE, while putting it into older neckband models. I see this one is slightly smaller than a neckband, with DAC, battery & LDAC built-into smaller inline remote: https://preview.tinyurl.com/yypylz7o
so I think it maybe only a matter of time. We have a certain, limited crowd of audiophile/serious enthusiasts that Sony isn't catering to at present. Look what happened to the Sony/Apple Firewire standard?

You'll find plenty of headfi'ers(and other online forums/posts/articles...don't always load with my slow WiFi connection, but does if I tether my smartphone...read comments to the article I linked in prior post) with opinions that they can hear these codec differences easily, but I doubt they can do this repeatedly double blind, in less than ideal listening conditions where you would not expect to be using TWE's all the time. LDAC is Sony's codec, and they have it on some of their headphones that are wireless, but not many other manufacturers are following with products that have this other than the 'jack of all trades' BTamp/adapters.

Something that might change that, should it gain momentum, is "Tempow True Wireless"

https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/282257-tempow-bluetooth-tech-could-make-airpod-clones-much-better

"
Tempow’s multi-point Bluetooth tech uses standard chipsets — it’s just the software that changes. According to the company, Tempow True Wireless saves bandwidth because you don’t need to re-transmit sound between the earbuds. That means high-fidelity codecs like LDAC are within reach. It also says battery life could improve by up to 50 percent for the same reason...The primary drawback is that you’d need earbuds and a phone that understands the Tempow-hacked Bluetooth stack...it doesn’t have any partners yet. The success or failure of this approach to true wireless will depend on Tempow’s ability to get device makers to adopt the technology."


Since Apple uses AAC, their own, and doesn't seem like Apple is concentrating on anything other than their 'base' like Trump ;p, don't expect them to put LDAC on their product lines. And given 80% of US teenagers buy iphones... https://www.techspot.com/news/74108-over-80-us-teens-iphone-owners-according-survey.html <...&majority of upwardly mobile teenagers have only 2nd in popularity to Rolex $$$$$, Apple watches. True, in China Apple's market share compared to 'Droid nation' is tiny.

 

[sunshine83]

Hi everyone, thanks for your responses, much appreciated.

I think I will wait, because I just don't want to use an adapter. I really like the feeling and freedom of airpods however their sound quality is rubbish (for me at least). Why can't Sony produce a truley wireless earbuds with LDAC since they are the creators of this technology!!!

 

[sino8r]

Hi everyone, thanks for your responses, much appreciated.

I think I will wait, because I just don't want to use an adapter. I really like the feeling and freedom of airpods however their sound quality is rubbish (for me at least). Why can't Sony produce a truley wireless earbuds with LDAC since they are the creators of this technology!!!

Why not get a Sony MUC-M2BT1 and some iems like Campfire, ibasso, IMR? Sure, they aren't truly wireless but none really have great sound quality yet except maybe the new Sennheisers. The issue, imo, is the battery life being at 6 hrs max and inability to drive anything with some real power. When battery and Bluetooth tech improves, then we'll see more comparable wireless iems but we've been waiting on that for years, it seems...

 

[sunshine83]

Why not get a Sony MUC-M2BT1 and some iems like Campfire, ibasso, IMR? Sure, they aren't truly wireless but none really have great sound quality yet except maybe the new Sennheisers. The issue, imo, is the battery life being at 6 hrs max and inability to drive anything with some real power. When battery and Bluetooth tech improves, then we'll see more comparable wireless iems but we've been waiting on that for years, it seems...

Thanks for the recommendations mate, my issue with the neck band style earphones are that I can't use them in the gym. They keep falling from my neck when I am lifting (especially chest press)

 

[sino8r]

Thanks for the recommendations mate, my issue with the neck band style earphones are that I can't use them in the gym. They keep falling from my neck when I am lifting (especially chest press)

Yeah, I remember when I used to run it got pretty tough with the neckbands. I ended up just using Jaybirds for those activities. At work, I just tuck the neckband into my collar.

 

[Pro-Jules]

I hadn’t the SONY neckband and didn’t like the sound quality of the amp in it and because I listen to Qobuz and it doesn’t have a built in equaliser I was frustrated that I couldn't eq the tone

Also I spent far to long trying to get it it's Bluetooth to "multi-pair" with my iPhone and my DAP - I could never get it to work. This really pissed me off.

 

[nlowran]

MUC is mmcx so just keep that in mind pairing it