For context, LDAC is one of the few wireless audio codecs stamped Hi-Res by the Japan Audio Society and its encoder is open source since Android 8, so you can see just how long Windows is sleeping on this. I’m excited about the incoming next gen called LC3plus, my next pair is definitely gonna have that.
Sony did drop the ball with LDAC quite quickly, it could’ve been the new standard.
But with the release of the WH-1000XM3s (or was it the 4s?) they basically made most of the selling points incompatible with LDAC, so now almost no one uses it anymore.
Yes, LDAC and multipoint do not mix hence I’m looking forward to LC3plus that replaces it. To be fair it’s not a big issue to roll back to AAC or even SBC to use multipoint, because you probably aren’t gonna notice a difference when you don’t listen to high res apps like Tidal. It also should be known that a good codec does not fix mediocre drivers and/or chips. Regardless, Linux shines in letting you use a feature you did pony up for. :)
AAC hurts my ears. Not sure why since I can’t hear a difference between it and LDAC without listening very carefully, but after half an hour or so I need to switch it to something else because it becomes more and more uncomfortable.
Switching between LDAC/multipoint mode means rebooting the headphones and connecting them again, so it’s a massive hassle. That makes multipoint absolutely useless to me. I personally won’t be buying sony headphones (or anything else that comes with an app) in the future because of that.
Aac has a higher frequency response and I think some decoders don’t filter transients as well with a fir filter. I’ve noticed this too.
LDAC and Multipoint do in fact mix, just not on Sony products.
I see, so Edifier and Soundcore shall do some homework as well: LDAC and multi point don’t work there either.
Have a look at Technics A800/AZ60/AZ60MK2/AZ80, all support simultaneous use of LDAC and multipoint. I recall something else working with both simultaneously too, possibly Huawei TWS.
They do step down a quality tier to do so, and low bitrste LDAC is generally considered poor, but it’s otherwise all there and possible.
Oh LDAC conflicts with mutli-connection? That’s why I can’t get it on my 1000xm4?? It’s good to finally have an answer.
On my headphones, you can either use LDAC with one device or SBC/AAC with two devices. I can only change it via the app. Is there a similar setting for you?
The ios app is the only way that I can command the headphones to connect to a second device. When 2 device mode is going on, I have no idea what the connection is like in ios but Linux plainly tells me that it can only do SBC and SBC-XQ. When I turn off 2 device mode, and pair it again, LDAC is finally offered. My 1000xm4 doesn’t offer AAC, I don’t think I have anything around that sinks AAC. My Steamdeck can work as an Opus sink lol.
it was the wh-1000xm3. I own a pair and can confirm most features don’t work with ldac
LDAC never could have been the standard because it’s marketing crap, ctrl+f my name on this post and I have pointed out why multiple times