Why You Will Love Bluetooth LE Audio
The standard has been certified and will show up in products byt he end of the year.
If you've ever wished your wireless headphones could have better battery life or share listening from one device, well good news. The Bluetooth SIG has completed the "Bluetooth LE Audio" specification. Manufacturers can now Start adding support for the standard to devices which should start hitting shelves by the end of the year.
Let's run through some of what's new in Bluetooth LE Audio.
The New Features
L3C Codec
The big one is the LC3 codec. It can deliver higher quality audio at the same bit rate as the current Bluetooth Classic's SBC codec and SIG claims it can even still do better audio than SBC at half the bitrate. That means higher quality audio will use less power.
Auracast
There's also a feature called Auracast which lets unlimited audio devices - speakers and headphones - connect to a single audio source. For instance everybody in the gym could connect wireless headphones to a single TV. Everybody in a theater could wear earbuds to get improved movie audio. Users can select Auracasts like you would a WiFi network. And they can be password protected if you just want to share with friends. You'll need an "assistant" probably most often your phone, to select the broadcast, but once it's selected, the headphones can get the broadcast directly. Auracast also supports connections by QR code and NFC.
Similarly, Bluetooth LE Audio also lets each earbud maintain its own connection with the source device, so you don't have to rely on one of the earbuds passing the signal to the other. Apple does this with its own method, but now more ear bud makers can do it license free as part of the spec.
More Notable Features
Bluetooth LE Audio also claims 20-30millisecond latency versus Bluetooth Classic's 100-200 milliseconds, which is a nice feature for gamers.
And its better at managing packet loss when you're at the edge of the range so yo don't have as many interruptions to your connection. And LE Audio supports hearing aids and implants.
So how can you get it? Some devices may be able to support Bluetooth LE Audio with a software upgrade. Android 13's beta supports it already. Most likely though, you'll need new hardware.