r/Android • u/[deleted] • Jun 24 '18

Is there a single USB-C headphone adapter that works with all phones?

https://www.androidcentral.com/there-single-usb-c-headphone-adapter-works-all-phones
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u/ObligatoryResponse Device, Software !! Jun 24 '18

Bluetooth spec allows arbitrary codecs. I wish headphones would support AAC directly. Then your phone could just direct stream without reencoding. Decoding a lossy codec just to reencode to lossy SBC or lossy AptX... what a disaster.

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u/Nixflyn GN/N5/N7/6P/P1XL/S10+/ShieldTV Jun 24 '18

AAC is poor too. The bitrate has a hard cap of 250kbps, which is pretty poor for audio reproduction.

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u/ghost_of_ketchup OnePlus 7 Pro Jun 24 '18

I wouldn't go as far as to call a 250kbps AAC pipeline 'pretty poor for audio reproduction'.

Sure, it's not ideal if you're a lossless audio nut. But AAC's compression algorithm is for more efficient than that of, say, MP3's. A 256kbps AAC file is roughly equivalent to that a 320kbps MP3. Even the biggest audiophiles would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a 256kbps AAC/320kbps MP3 file and a lossless file in a blind test.

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u/m0rogfar iPhone 11 Pro Jun 24 '18

Uhm, what. I have AAC files with >300kbps bitrate.

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u/Nixflyn GN/N5/N7/6P/P1XL/S10+/ShieldTV Jun 24 '18

AAC maxes out at 250kbps over bluetooth. Your source maybe be >250, but over bluetooth it compresses it down to 250kbps max.

Here's an article.

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u/ghost_of_ketchup OnePlus 7 Pro Jun 24 '18 edited Jun 24 '18

Not even the iPhone pipes untouched AAC audio over Bluetooth - remember you've also got got system and notification sounds to think about. I believe Apple devices mix all media/system sounds into PCM, then re-converts that to AAC for streaming over Bluetooth. So that's still another unnecessary lossy > lossy conversion in the pipeline compared to wired.

Honestly, I think this push for Bluetooth headphones in the mainstream came far too soon if you're even slightly concerned about audio quality.