Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound Is Designed To Improve Virtually Every Aspect Of Mobile Audio.
In our new work-from-home reality, which is rife with countless video conferences, digital communications, and perhaps gaming, and media consumption, most of us have experienced audio-related glitches or random weirdness when using wireless Bluetooth earbuds or headphones at some or another. Personally, I have had severe audio latency issues with my Bluetooth buds when using Microsoft Teams on a desktop PC, that were so bad I had to switch to wired earbuds. And on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+, I’ve had my earbuds randomly drop the audio altogether on more than one occasion and the only way to fix it was to reset the buds, restart the phone, and re-establish the Bluetooth pairing, which is a major pain.
Qualcomm aims to remedy audio issues like these and improve the overall user experience, while simultaneously upping sound quality and reducing latency, with its just-announced Snapdragon Sound ecosystem. Snapdragon Sound is designed to enhance or improve virtually every aspect of wireless Bluetooth audio, from gaming streaming, to music or media consumption, to making voice and video calls, in and across devices. The group of technologies that comprise Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound are meant to address virtually every link a Bluetooth-connected chain, with new chips, software, and end-to-end qualification guidelines.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound Audio Platform.
“The human ear is highly sensitive to glitches, latencies and other challenges which commonly occur when streaming music, video conferencing, or gaming over wireless connections. By focusing end-to-end, we are looking to deliver innovations to solve common consumer pain-points across virtually all audio interaction points,” said James Chapman, vice president and general manager, Voice, Music and Wearables, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. “Qualcomm Technologies is uniquely positioned to provide tremendous value to customers with Snapdragon Sound and help them quickly commercialize products differentiated by great sound quality. Our system-level approach aggregates multiple technologies and the latest products from across our mobile and audio platform portfolios to achieve our vision of delivering high-resolution, wired quality audio, wirelessly.”
Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound will support high-resolution 24-bit 96kHz audio, with lower latency, improved pairing, and clearer, more-realistic sounding voice quality versus existing technologies — take a listen to the demos embedded in this article for examples. In its internal testing, Qualcomm also found Snapdragon Sound-enabled devices to offer Bluetooth latencies as low as 89ms, which was approximately 45% lower than a competing solutions. Snapdragon Sound incorporates the Qualcomm Aqstic DAC as well, which supports audio formats of up to 384kHz 32-bit PCM and DSD with ultra-low THD+N.
There are many additional products and technologies featured in Qualcomm Snapdragon Audio, including:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-series mobile platforms
- Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 mobile connectivity system
- Qualcomm QCC514x, QCC515x and QCC3056 series Bluetooth Audio SoCs
- Qualcomm Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) technology
- Qualcomm aptX Adaptive(tm), 24-bit 96kHz and 89ms latency
- Qualcomm aptX Voice super wideband voice
- Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec and smart speaker amplifier WCD938x and WSA883x)
- Qualcomm Audio and Voice Communication Suite
Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound Chips And Technologies.
For those unfamiliar with Qualcomm’s product stack, these items consist of mobile device processing platforms, wireless communication devices, headset and earbud technologies, and proprietary Qualcomm audio and voice processing technologies. That’s a lot of tech to seamlessly optimize, but to ensure optimal quality and a smooth experience, devices featuring Snapdragon Sound will be tested for proper interoperability in Qualcomm Technologies’ dedicated test facility to evaluate audio quality, latency, and wireless connection quality.
Although devices equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound are note slated to arrive until later this year, multiple partners including Xiaomi, Audio-Technical and Amazon have all announced support for the technology. Xiaomi will be bringing Snapdragon Sound to some if its future mobile devices (including phones and earbuds) and Amazon Music HD will feature a playlist designed to showcase the sound quality that Snapdragon Sound is capable of. Audio-Technica will also be incorporating Snapdragon Sound into some future devices.
“For decades Audio-Technica has been at the forefront of the movement for premium sound. We are proud to work with Qualcomm Technologies to solve some of the challenges associated with connectivity and latency for the next generation of wireless audio, and they are uniquely positioned to help us do this. We believe that with Snapdragon Sound we get closer to our mutual vision of providing wired quality sound, wirelessly and are excited to be one of the first manufacturers to get our products to consumers,” said, Kotaro Narihara, director, general manager of marketing headquarters, Audio-Technica.
Incidentally, I use an Audio-Technica microphone when broadcasting or participating in conferences, which has been phenomenal and worked flawlessly for years.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound Performance Versus Competitive Solutions.
A badge will be featured on Snapdragon Sound-enabled phones, earbuds and headphones when they arrive, to help consumers identify products that leverage the technologies. At some point in the future, Qualcomm is also hoping to bring Snapdragon Sound to PCs, watches and XR glasses as well.
I look forward to the arrival of Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound in consumer devices. Audio is often and under-appreciate aspect of the media-consumption and communications experience, with displays and display technologies garnering the lion’s share of attention. But high-quality, low-latency, reliable, untethered audio can significantly enhance the immersion and overall experience and I’m eager to see what Qualcomm delivers.
