OS and Software > All Things Macintosh > [iPhone] Bigger Fail Than Maps ...

reply to BronsCon

Re: [iPhone] Bigger Fail Than Maps ...

I have to admit I like the technical discussion going on. But at the end of the day, if the music sounds good for us, that's all we care about. And typically whether we're in the car or at home, we rip at a high enough bitrate that the sound quality is pretty good throughout. I went and did a huge purge of everything that was lower than 256 kbps. Most everything we have now is at 320 kbps. Good enough for us. Again, we're not audiophiles.
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“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." - Barack Obama, UN Speech 9/25/2012. Ever hear of the First Amendment, BO? Vote Romney/Ryan and take America back.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

If I wanted concert quality sound, I'd be recording from virgin vinyl at 24-bit 96khz, to be played back from an SSD installed in a vehicle-mounted PC connected directly to a pair of $5k 2Kw digital amps powering an array of speakers costing no less than $20k.

But, since I just want to enjoy my music without having to fiddle with cables or spend 3mo salary, Bluetooth works great.

whatever, if you're saying that your audio equipment, your sound files or your ears cannot discriminate between BT and wired audio then fine.

Yes, that's right, I can tell when a file has been transcoded, usually including the from and to which codec, often down to which encoder was used, but my ears are the reason I can't tell the difference between bluetooth and analog. It has nothing to do with the *fact* that the audio is being sent without transcoding; nope, that can't have anything to do with it.

Except it isn't being sent that way. You're making false assumptions. »soundexpert.org/news/-/blogs/blu···ity-a2dp

Notice that even though many devices support MP3 and other codecs, in practical use nothing uses it. Your device maybe transcoding to a 320 kb stream, but it's still re-encoding the file.

That's assuming SBC is the only available codec. Why do you claim nothing uses MP3 w/ A2DP?

BronsCon is correct that if the sender and receiver both support MP3 in their bluetooth stack, then it's possible no transcoding takes place (I have no idea if this is how Android does it.. I couldn't find very clear guidelines like that Apple tech document. Android does support SBC/MP3/AAC for A2DP though). You could check by comparing CPU usage while playing an MP3 locally and then playing the same MP3 via BT (more usage may indicate the MP3 is being re-encoded).

If you're using an iOS device, your chances of getting good quality audio over BT is likely much lower as only AAC at a specific bitrate is supported. So your only options are re-encoded AAC or SBC, depending on the receiver. I bought a $10 bluetooth receiver off eBay awhile ago for use with my iPhone. Unsurprisingly, it sounded like shit (most likely only supported SBC).
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University of Southern California - Fight On!

In the article I referenced he pointed out that although the Bluetooth headphones he was discussing supported MP3 over Bluetooth, in practical terms the devices used SBC regardless.

I doubt much has changed in A2DP - but like you I just haven't found a lot of published technical info to really prove or disprove that. The most recent development I'm aware of is the adoption of apt-X codecs in some higher-end bluetooth devices - though it isn't widespread at this time.

I'm not sure which transmitter he was discussing though it seemed to me that he was generalizing to say that "for simplicity or compatibility everyone just uses SBC".

As I've said in two other posts already in this thread, I can tell the differenece between SBC and MP3, it's a pretty big one. I have a cheapie bluetooth headset (actually a receiver that I can plug headphones into) that I regret buying that only supports SBC and the difference between plugging my good headphones into that vs plugging them directly into my phone is night and day. The difference between plugging my phone into my stereo or using bluetooth is negligible, with bluetooth offering slightly better quality (comparable to plugging un a USB stick and playing the files directly), if anything. That would be because both devices support MP3 as a transport protocol and I happen to be playing MP3s.

That's all the documentation I need.

reply to Count Zero

reply to BronsCon
More than likely you're only hearing the difference between high and medium-low bitrate SBC.

reply to TheHarvester
Ok so you'd buy 3 ($60) and use them the next 5-10 years. The 30-pin cable wound up working out the same way (buy a few extra ones early and all future iDevices come with one so you wind up with extras in the long run). If that $60 is breaking your bank then you've got other problems.

reply to BronsCon
And if USB and Bluetooth were sending the exact same MP3 I'm very very perplexed as to how BT could sound slightly better...

reply to Count Zero
Notwithstanding your Apple apologist stance, going with a worldwide standard makes things a lot easier if/when a person leaves a cable behind (or loses it somewhere) to get a cheap cable anywhere or knowing that there's likely one at whatever destination a person happens to be going. It's really simple common sense.
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“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." - Barack Obama, UN Speech 9/25/2012. Ever hear of the First Amendment, BO? Vote Romney/Ryan and take America back.

Very true that having a standard is helpful if you forget a cable. But having a proprietary standard isn't always bad if it allows for Apple to ensure the user experience is better by enforcing standards onto the third party community. Plus it keeps Android users from getting access to all the bells and whistles of made for iPhone accessories and that's fine by me

Proprietary is only good if it offers more FUNCTIONALITY. Micro USB isn't proprietary and I have no problem getting quality cables.

Meanwhile Apple-proprietary means great vendors like Hypermac getting sued even when they bought official Magsafe devices to cut the ends off for use in their battery products. So now you have to buy the battery and a stupid airline connector or do the soldering yourself.

The rest of that statement is silly. All made for iPod and no one else means is higher cost for those devices. If they have universal connectivity for Android and iPod it means they sell more and thanks to a little thing called economy of scale we get those goodies cheaper. I don't give a piss what Android users buy but the stuff I buy would be better without an Apple tax.