Bluetooth Source

PC Magazine has the scoop on a new lossless audio codec that could soon be coming to an A2DP Bluetooth headset near you. Currently, Bluetooth A2DP headsets have to reencode the audio signal first to PCM and then to the current codec, called the Subband Codec (SBC). The SBC codec, like MP3 files, is also lossy. This means that audio information is lost already, and reencoding to yet another lossy codec means even more audio is lost.

The new codec, dubbed SOUNDabout Lossless, is claimed to deliver an audio signal identical to the original source. PC Mag analysts who heard it say it sounded great, stayed in sync with video, and didn’t pause or stutter at all.

The SOUNDabout Lossless codec should be available in early 2008, and it is possible that your current Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP headset could be able to utilize it via a simple firmware update.

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