Qualcomm claims that its new aptX Lossless audio format does what was thought impossible: deliver CD-quality sound over Bluetooth.

“At Qualcomm Technologies we’re excited about the future of sound, and we’re continually looking for ways to help our customers deliver new and exciting listening experiences.” Qualcomm vice president James Chapman says. “Lossless audio means mathematically bit-for-bit exact, with no loss of the audio file and up to now the necessary bit rate to deliver this over Bluetooth has not been available. With many leading music streaming services now offering extensive lossless music libraries, and consumer demand for lossless audio growing, we’re pleased to announce this new support for CD lossless audio streaming for Bluetooth earbuds and headsets which we plan to make available to customers later this year.”

“CD quality” is defined as 16-bit/44.1 kHz audio quality, and aptX Lossless will give users a choice between that quality and a more bandwidth-friendly 24-bit/96 kHz lossy quality. And it can auto-detect when content supports lossless and enable CD lossless audio automatically.

Qualcomm says that the new format will also minimize audio drop-outs, a key problem with Bluetooth audio today, by working in conjunction with Qualcomm Bluetooth High Speed Link technology to “help deliver the required sustainable data throughput.”

You can learn more at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound website.

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