LE Audio: Promising new Bluetooth standard

On Monday, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) presented a new audio standard for Bluetooth. It is called LE Audio. LE stands for Low Energy, which was previously reserved for pure data applications with low bandwidth. For example, smartwatches or fitness trackers.

A broader data stream is now permitted and the additional protocol LE Audio has been defined for this purpose. LE Audio uses Low Complexity Communication Codec (LC3 for short), which replaces SBC as the standard codec. LC3 is also less complex and therefore energy-saving, but apparently of much better quality. According to a study by Bluetooth SIG, test listeners found LC3 to be better than SBC at double the bit rate from 160 kbps.

Such self-studies should of course be treated with caution. However, SBC is so far from audiophile in terms of quality that the improvements certainly seem possible. The bottom line is that Bluetooth audio devices will sound better and last longer - or can become lighter thanks to smaller batteries.

LE Audio has even more tricks up its sleeve: finally, finally, there is a return channel. The Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) previously used for music playback was a one-way street: from the transmitter to the receiver. The age-old Headset Profile (HSP) is still used for telephony. With the use of Bluetooth LE Audio, voice transmission will sound significantly better.

Another shortcoming is that Bluetooth with A2DP only allows individual connections. Even current true wireless headsets still play around with this: the audio signal comes from the smartphone to an earbud, for example, which then has to send it on to its colleague. LE Audio also wants to do away with this by sending the same stream to several end devices at the same time - and backwards.

This opens up a whole host of new possibilities, such as seamlessly switching between different sources or headphones. Or that one pair of headphones can play several sources at the same time. Or audio sharing via Bluetooth.

The employees are not quite finished with their work yet. However, the standard is expected to be adopted in the first quarter of 2020. The first compatible end devices are expected to be available in two to three years, it was announced in Las Vegas. <p