Starting Out With aptX HD: How Far Has Bluetooth Audio Come?

In the past, Bluetooth’s bandwidth was limited to about the equivalent of listening to a 128kbps MP3 music file. Three years ago I tried a cheap Bluetooth audio adaptor for my wife to connect to, and it sucked. But things are changing, and I see a couple of reasons now to write about this topic.

Although these technologies both accomplish wireless data sending and receiving, their purpose and capability are different. Simply put, Bluetooth can be done with or without using WiFi – i.e. if you’re playing files stored on your phone, or using cellular network data to stream from services like Tidal or YouTube, then no WiFi connection is needed. Same way you don’t need WiFi to make a phone call, or play a downloaded podcast. Bluetooth is also the portable option – if you have the aforementioned music files and/or enough cellular data, then you can use it outside, in the car, at the cottage, and so on. It’s “wireless without the WiFi”, if you will. I hope no one’s confused yet. WiFi, on the other hand, tends to be available only at home or at a hotspot – unless you happen to live in a “smart city”.

Given my needs and budget, I soon settled on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro – this phone seemed to offer everything I was looking for (mainly good audio and camera functions), and I could afford it. So far it’s been working out well for me. The Mate 20 Pro is from late 2018, so it was a free upgrade for me on Virgin Mobile (MSRP was $1300 when it came out!). Being about a year behind the latest gadgets is a good way to go if you’re on a tight budget. Now, before anyone rushes out to order a Huawei phone, please do some research – the company is entangled in many legal issues with US and European authorities. Their very latest phones will likely not be supported by the latest Android OS and Google Play ecosystem, which is a big deal. Caveat Emptor. They do make some nice phones though.

What can this Huawei phone do in the Bluetooth Audio realm? Well, quite a bit – but I learned quickly that the dumbed-down user interface/settings force the audiophile to be persistent. If you’re impatient or timid, it mostly just defaults to Sony’s LDAC codec. Not bad at all, but not what I bought this phone for. As configured (running initially on Android 9.0 and now on 10), I had to break into the “Developer Mode” settings and do some trial and error in order to change the audio settings and enable aptX. This is kind of a pain in the ass, and to be honest that alone may be enough to deter quite a few people. It’s not horribly difficult, but it’s not all smooth sailing or convenient either.

Remember, this is a consumer communication device, it’s not in any way designed for audiophiles. That said, my Huawei does have a 32-bit/384kHz DAC. It seems they’re dangling high-res in the audiophile’s face, but assuming that it doesn’t matter to most folks, so let’s not clutter the common settings with all that. Fair enough, these are advanced options. Geeks and brave souls, proceed forward.

 

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a bit of an Average Joe with smart devices, and even digital audio formats. There’s a fair bit I don’t know about this stuff. At times I may be approaching things the hard way – but I deliberately wanted to come at this from the perspective of a “dabbler”. Interested, yes, but I’m not investing my life into this topic. For example, all my tests so far were done in close range – I just assume Bluetooth is going to be troublesome at more than a 10-15ft distance.

In any case, initially I did struggle somewhat to get settings to cooperate – I’ll try to say a little more on that in the individual gear reviews to follow. Most of all, it’s important to remember that unless you connect an aptX HD-capable device to your aptX HD-enabled phone, the connection will be with a lower spec codec, and you won’t have access to the superior/HD processing. Suffice to say that there isn’t a whole lot of easily-parsed info on this topic – by that I mean, yes there’s lots of info for geeks and developers, but I found useful pages directed toward the audiophile to be scarce. This page is a decent primer on the codecs themselves.

With my new phone driving the iFi Zen Blue DAC, music sounds good through my system. Actually, it sounds very good. When I pair my phone to the Bluesound Powernode 2i, or the Hifiman Ananda-BT planar magnetic headphones – well, now this is beginning to approach high-end audio, or a damn close cousin. Something I never would’ve thought possible with a Bluetooth connection. Enough to make me want to ditch the big system? No. But honestly – if this had been around 25 years ago, with a world of music in my pocket….it’s doubtful whether I’d ever have gotten back into big system audio. This is like mid-fi done well. Really well.

What does all this mean? Based on what I’m hearing, it means that better audio quality is becoming available to more consumers than ever before – and it’s not just “for them”. Both audiophiles and those on the periphery can use a modern smartphone as a source of high quality audio, biases aside. Portable/personal audio, cottage audio, your office system – can all be excellent, and without breaking the bank or undertaking big, delicate setups. For Android device users, I think aptX HD has established itself as one of the quality codecs – how many audio-oriented companies will ultimately support it isn’t clear, but some of the ones who do will be getting ink in my reviews this year.

In the next segment, I’ll take a closer look at the C$189 iFi Zen Blue, maybe the best value DAC I’ve seen since the Aq Dragonfly first appeared some eight years ago.