Although it is a bit excessive to evaluate Apple's actions as boundless merits, it does have long-term significance for the development of the whole industry, and the scope of the industry is quite extensive. For a simple example, if you plan to buy a portable player recently and look at the whole market, no matter the products of domestic and foreign brands, you will find that as many as 10,000 flagship players or hundreds of entry-level players have joined the Bluetooth playback function, and there are quite a few ways to play.
What are Bluetooth and Bluetooth 5.0?
We must first understand what Bluetooth is, what it can do and what kind of effect it can have.
Since the birth of Bluetooth technology, signal transmission has a brand-new way, and its innovative significance is not just to simply "remove" that wire. In fact, before Bluetooth appeared, other wireless transmission technologies had been applied to all walks of life. In addition to the wireless transmission distance of several meters or even tens of meters, Bluetooth has a good development environment from beginning to end, which makes it very widely adaptable to devices.
Nowadays, the Bluetooth version has been extended from the original version of 1988 to the later widely used versions of 3.0 and 4.0. The latest Bluetooth 5.0 was released in June of 20 16. This update not only greatly increases the transmission distance to 300 meters (the theoretical data is four times that of the old version), but also doubles the transmission bandwidth. At the same time, Bluetooth 5.0 has also made greater improvements in other parts: accurate positioning of error 1 meter, Internet of Things function, stronger data transmission function and lower power consumption.
An upgraded version of Bluetooth audio transmission.
Back to wireless audio transmission, if you only use Bluetooth to transmit audio, you can't hear better sound quality, which involves wireless high-standard transmission protocols.
Bluetooth 5.0 is just a wide uncut highway, which can accommodate many cars, but if it is not planned and used properly, it will also cause traffic jams and collapses. Wireless transmission protocol is equivalent to how to use Bluetooth 5.0 on expressway efficiently.
If ordinary Bluetooth protocols (such as A2DP protocol and SBC coding) are used, the sound quality of high-quality concerts will be forcibly compressed due to the slow transmission speed, which will affect the final sound quality. If the more advanced wireless transmission protocol is used, the music in the mobile phone can be transmitted to the Bluetooth headset without loss, just like the wired headset, ensuring the original sound quality. This is why Bluetooth headsets and devices supporting high-speed transmission protocols are slightly more expensive.
At present, there are three mainstream recognized high-standard wireless transmission protocols in the market: Sony LDAC, Huawei HWA and Qualcomm APT-X HD. Therefore, when buying Bluetooth devices (such as mobile phones) and headphones, we should not only look for Bluetooth 5.0, but also see whether these three high-speed protocols are supported. The high-speed protocols of headphones and Bluetooth devices (such as mobile phones) need to match each other. The great Apple phone doesn't support any one at present.
Current wireless headset market
I believe that most friends who like listening to music will buy a pair of high-quality headphones to nourish the cochlea and treat themselves. Indeed, this seems to be a good choice. But you know what? Combined with the sales data of double eleven and double twelve e-commerce this year, the sales volume of wireless headphones accounted for more than 50%, and wireless headphones officially began to replace traditional wired headphones, becoming one of the digital products that young people like.
According to the online market and retail monitoring data of 30 offline cities, as of 2065438+September 2008, the retail sales of true wireless headsets increased by more than 630% year-on-year, of which online channels were the main channels. /kloc-from October to September, the online retail volume reached 2.8 million units, and the retail sales were nearly1600 million.
In the past 20 18 years, the relatively large category of wireless headphones has actually changed quietly. Sony, Bose, Sennheiser, JBL, hivi and other domestic and foreign audio/headset manufacturers, as well as Huawei, Glory, Meizu and other mobile phone brands also rushed to release TWS headphones (true wireless headphones), and TWS headphones ushered in a big explosion in 20 18. But in my eyes, this is just the dawn before dawn, and the coming 20 19 year is likely to be the focus of a new round of wireless headphones. You may not believe it, but Bluetooth headsets will become very smart in the future.
Application Status of Bluetooth Technology
We randomly selected a thousand yuan portable player that sold well in the market as an example. Bluetooth of the player supports bidirectional version 4.2 protocol. Users can directly connect the player with a Bluetooth headset, listen to the music stored in the player, or send the audio files on the mobile phone to the player, and output them to the headset after being processed by the player.
At first glance, the second way of playing feels like a reinvention, but now the mobile Internet has become popular, and the streaming music platform can provide music files with lossless sound quality at any time. This way, you can hear the good voice you want to hear anytime and anywhere through Bluetooth connection, which is also the product of an era.
We may think that after Apple cuts off the 3.5mm interface, traditional audio manufacturers will be hit hard, and there will be more or less complaints about this. But many player manufacturers take the initiative to compare with mobile phones, which consumers have never thought of. Behind the positive action, apart from the reasons for survival, what supports the manufacturers to launch machines with Bluetooth connection mode, and there are many ways to play?
In essence, friends who buy music players may consider from these two starting points, that is, having more music storage capacity to alleviate the storage pressure of mobile phones and getting better sound quality performance than mobile phones. These two starting points are usually considered together. When consumers buy a player, they will also buy a wired headset that is excellent enough within the tolerance range to ensure better results.
In addition, the scene of consumers using audio players has also stimulated manufacturers to add Bluetooth connections to their own products. Analyzing the product composition of the market, we can see that in the price of 1,000 yuan, many players are trying to make the volume smaller, so that players can be used in different scenarios. In many scenes, the player's high frequency appears in the moving scene. The compact player can be embedded in the armband and used with Bluetooth headset, which can really make people more immersed in the joy of sports. The hard demand of consumers urges player manufacturers to add Bluetooth connection function to it, which can provide consumers with satisfactory performance with the help of other forces.
Player manufacturers who pay attention to sound quality will consider sound quality for a long time when building a product, even if it is an entry-level product. Back to market performance, we can see a balanced output on more and more products. In contrast, due to the cost, the Bluetooth output of some players may not be as good as the balanced output, but it is enough to meet the definition of good sound quality by most consumers.
The relationship between Bluetooth and portable music player is not the opposition of "who destroyed who", but a new opportunity for player manufacturers to further meet the needs of consumers in the new era. Player manufacturers embrace Bluetooth transmission, not to give up the demand for sound quality, but to let consumers know more about themselves.
Why do we need a high-specification wireless transmission protocol?
In fact, whether it is Bluetooth 5.0 or Bluetooth 4.2, if ordinary Bluetooth protocols (such as A2DP protocol and SBC coding) are used, the sound quality of high-quality concerts will be forcibly compressed due to the slow transmission speed, which will affect the final sound quality effect. If the more advanced wireless transmission protocol is used, the music in the mobile phone can be transmitted to the Bluetooth headset without loss, just like the wired headset, ensuring the original sound quality. This is why Bluetooth headsets and devices supporting high-speed transmission protocols are slightly more expensive.
At present, there are three mainstream recognized high-standard wireless transmission protocols in the market: Sony LDAC, Huawei HWA and Qualcomm APT-X HD. Therefore, when buying Bluetooth devices (such as mobile phones) and headphones, in addition to looking for Bluetooth 5.0, we should also look at whether these three high-speed protocols are supported.
LDAC Sony Corp.
LDAC is a high-resolution audio technology developed by Sony. It can transmit and stream 24-bit /96 kHz music through Bluetooth, and the highest speed can reach 990 kbit/s, which is three times that of ordinary Bluetooth transmission protocol. In the past, manufacturers other than Sony equipment and headphones had to pay LDAC. However, since Android 8.0, Sony has licensed LDAC to Google for free, so basically all Android devices can use the protocol for free. But only if you buy Sony headphones or a brand that pays royalties to Sony.
HWA- Huawei
HWA is a high-definition Bluetooth transmission protocol independently developed by Huawei. Although they are rising stars, LDAC and APT-X HD have not been updated for a long time. At Huawei's press conference, the parameters of HWA are basically slightly better than those of LDAC and APT-X HD. At present, Huawei has shared the protocol code with many Hi-Fi brands at home and abroad for free, such as Sennheiser, Iron Triangle, Joan, iriver HIFIMAN, etc. At present, some audio products supporting HWA have been put on the shelves. However, if you want to experience the charm of HWA, you must have a Huawei mobile phone or a friend who pays royalties to Huawei.
APT-X HD Qualcomm
Qualcomm acquired CSR in August, 20 15, and obtained APT-X. The protocol code provides the highest bit rate of 576 kbit/s, and supports audio transmission with a sampling rate of 48kHz and a bit depth of 24 bits. Although Android supports APT-X by default, the compatibility of headphones depends on the headset manufacturer.
AptX audio technology can achieve CD-like sound quality through Bluetooth connection. LDAC works in sound quality priority mode, and the transmission rate can reach 990kbps. Their appearance ensures the transmission of lossless music files. In addition to Qualcomm's aptX and Sony's LDAC, some manufacturers will even join Huawei's HWA technology with faster transmission rate to further ensure the sound quality performance under Bluetooth transmission.
Compared with APT-X HD, the transmission rates of HWA and LDAC are slightly higher. Personally, I am more optimistic about Huawei HWA and Sony LDAC. Huawei's HWA protocol is almost free for audio/headset manufacturers, which will surely attract most mainstream headset brands to join. Sony LDAC has lowered the threshold for the front-end to enter LDAC for the free and open source of Android system. Sony's own Bluetooth headset is also strong enough to compete with various companies, so LDAC and HWA should become standard or mainstream wireless fidelity. Qualcomm's APT-X HD may be limited by patents and costs, and the number of products officially launched since its release is relatively small, so it may not be so extensive and popular in a short time.
Being able to realize these transmission protocols and what Bluetooth chip is chosen behind it will really make people curious. In fact, common Bluetooth 4.0 protocol chips can support these transmission protocols. No matter the size, price or the difficulty of function realization, manufacturers are quite willing to join in. The combination of software and hardware, as well as the clever training of manufacturers, make the Bluetooth connection performance of the player satisfactory to many consumers.
PConline abstract
At present, even if Bluetooth 5.0 is used in wireless Bluetooth headset, even if there is a higher standard transmission protocol, it is still a little worse than wired headset in some aspects, such as delay. And as far as the current experience is concerned, hundreds of wired headphones can be inextricably linked with thousands of wireless headphones, and the battery life of wireless headphones is also a big problem, and the price difference is too much. However, we must be clear that the future is bound to be the era of comprehensive wireless devices, which is an irresistible historical trend.