In an interview with reporter Stephen Vicende on February 18, 2022, Apple's vice president of acoustics discussed the limitations of Bluetooth and other factors that hinder AirPods. In an interview, Gary Geaves, Apple developer in charge of AirPods, revealed some interesting information about bluetooth issues and the current state of Bluetooth.
The new AirPods 3 has now replaced the AirPods 2, but in our opinion, this model is still not as popular as the AirPods Pro. The latter has not only been a great success, but also often discounted.
A few weeks ago, What HiFi published an interesting interview with Gary Geaves, Apple's vice president of acoustics. This interview answers some questions and gives us some insight into the future of the AirPods Pro.
Of particular interest in the interview was a discussion of the limitations of Bluetooth, which has a poor reputation among HiFi enthusiasts due to the limited transmission rate of uncompressed audio data. This is the case even with the AirPods Max.
Another problem with Bluetooth is the speed of response – that is, the amount of delay. For example, Apple's Spatial Audio (3D sound) requires a quick response to head movements, and Apple has achieved this with a few tricks and special hardware.
In addition, Bluetooth does not support Apple's new high-resolution music Hi-Res Lossless.
Discussing Apple's new technology, Gevase said: "As far as I know, there is a problem - since the advent of wireless headphones, this bottleneck has been preventing wireless headphones from having a real qualitative leap in sound. I'm talking about Bluetooth, and almost all wireless headphones, including AirPods, rely on it, but it doesn't have a data rate for high-resolution or even lossless audio. ”
Greaves hinted that there would soon be innovation: "We do want more bandwidth, and then... I'll stop there. We want more bandwidth."
How does Apple get extra bandwidth? Apple's AirPods 3 still relies on Bluetooth 5.0. Apple may be planning to launch 6GHz Bluetooth.
6GHz Bluetooth
Bluetooth currently has limitations because it uses the 2.4GHz band. This means that Bluetooth can only be transmitted at low data rates, up to about 2 Mbit, while Hi-Res require speeds of up to 10MB/s, so high-resolution audio, as well as higher quality sound, Bluetooth cannot be used.
But at least the European Union allows the sale of 6GHz Bluetooth devices, so apple is certainly likely to take this move. Apple only needs to prove that the device complies with the CE standard, and it can freely introduce 6GHz Bluetooth.
But there is another possibility: maybe just update Bluetooth 5.2? This new standard has many improvements, such as the new LC3 audio codec. In addition, Qualcomm has an aptX audio standard, which can achieve high audio quality through Bluetooth. However, Apple did not use this alternative.
We're guessing that at the WWDC Developer Conference in June, Bluetooth will take some updates. With the launch of the second-generation AirPods Pro, Apple seems to be mulling more innovative initiatives, such as better audio bandwidth. Theoretically, it is possible to install an update to airPods 3.
AirPods design
Another interesting part of the WhatHiFi interview is that Geaves explains why Apple chose the open design for the AirPods 3 over the completely enclosed design of the AirPods Pro. AirPods 3 is as open as AirPods 2.
The open design means that noise reduction is not possible, but Apple has deliberately designed it because many AirPods 2 users do not want to be so closed. Some users prefer to hear what's going on around them, while others find this design more comfortable.
This can pose a problem for sound design because each ear is in a very different shape. However, this problem can be remedied by using an inward microphone that automatically adjusts bass and midrange. This adaptive EQ feature was introduced for the first time in the AirPods Pro and is one of the innovations of the AirPods 3.
One of the points of contention around headphones is always whether users hear the music that musicians want them to hear. Geaves says Apple has put a lot of effort into this: In addition to using analytics, it has brought in a professional review team of listeners and mixers, many of whom are from the professional audio industry. Therefore, the music played by AirPods should sound very accurate.
In addition to the acoustics team, there are several departments dedicated to the study of spatial sound, such as Apple Music, GarageBand, and Logic.
First, different head shapes are a problem – hrTF (Head-Related Transmission Function) for short. Thousands of measurements have been taken to find solutions that are suitable for as many users as possible. When used for music, Apple's main goal is natural sound, followed by sound effects. For example, Apple uses different settings depending on the output device: the virtual speakers on the Apple TV are set farther away than the iPhone.
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The AirPods 3 is still somehow less eye-catching than the AirPods Pro, which means that many of the former's innovations are less compelling in comparison. This result is not surprising, as the AirPods Pro is more expensive and has the word "Pro" in its name. The new Bluetooth standard is likely to be available for the new AirPods Pro, while bringing about a price increase for the Pro model.
Source: Macworld