Develop Bugs

Bluetooth codec, aptX-HD, AAC, LDAC, etc

Does the Nokia 6.1 (with Pie) support HD bluetooth codecs? Did someone tried to pair with sony or others headphones and check if LDAC is working?

I'm not much of an audiophile myself. I've never tested any of these out, but here's what bluetooth codec selection looks like in developer options.

jason2678 said:
I'm not much of an audiophile myself. I've never tested any of these out, but here's what bluetooth codec selection looks like in developer options.
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Click to collapse
yeah but it seems it does not work, everytime you exit the option, it go back to default.

I tested a BT speaker Sony XB40 and a car stereo Pioneer NEX, and both have "HD Audio" in their bluetooth properties displaying "HD Audio: AAC". I cannot change it, I tried to change the codec in the dev option, but it does nothing.

I don't think the developer options are meant to be changed. I think they are there to show what the phone auto-selects when playing.
This screenshot is from another phone, while playing to an AptX device. I think it works the same way on Nokia.

Audio Codecs

So i ride a R1 and bought a Cardo Slimtalk bluetooth speaker system for my helmet, and one of the users in their forums suggested i switch the bluetooth audio codec, in dev options
So i go and change it from "Use system selection" which is usually "SBC" to APTx or LDAC and it switches back immediately, what gives? how can i take advantage of this?

masri1987 said:
So i ride a R1 and bought a Cardo Slimtalk bluetooth speaker system for my helmet, and one of the users in their forums suggested i switch the bluetooth audio codec, in dev options
So i go and change it from "Use system selection" which is usually "SBC" to APTx or LDAC and it switches back immediately, what gives? how can i take advantage of this?
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your bluetooth speaker doesn't support anything higher than SBC

DeeZZ_NuuZZ said:
your bluetooth speaker doesn't support anything higher than SBC
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i even tried this on my jabra 65t actives and nothing would work either.
Anyway I can force the phone ?

masri1987 said:
i even tried this on my jabra 65t actives and nothing would work either.
Anyway I can force the phone ?
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The jabra seems to have aac, try that. Should work fine automatically, otherwise use the app if available on Android.
And if the dev settings won't stick, you can't force it otherwise. Some devices have apps which can be used for them and also to force things like that (Sony for example does this)
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using XDA Labs

Enabling aptx

Hi all,
How do i enable aptx codec? I did it in developer options but it keeps jumping back to sbc. I have an exynos version of Note 10 plus and my tws is a Sabbat E12 Ultra.
Thank you.

All depend on the headset u connecting to. If support, the setting will not reset

weretiger said:
All depend on the headset u connecting to. If support, the setting will not reset
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The Sabbat E12 Ultra does support aptx.

Samsung S20 Exynos and bluetooth audio codecs

Regarding the Exynos variants of the S20 family (standard, plus and Ultra). Do they natively support Aptx and AAC bluetooth audio codecs?
If so, how is the experience? When connecting a supported TWS, does it automatically transmit via the best codec available (presumably Aptx > AAC > SBC)? Or do you need to manually switch to AptX/AAC in the Developer Options, with the phone reverting to SBC whenever it is reconnected to the device?
Haha yes, I'm fully aware that both phone and earbuds need to support said codecs. It is just that I'm reading conflicting reports online. Even reports confirming that it does support AptX and AAC, often they say they need to fiddle in the developer options to make the connection stick to the desired codec – so it is either the user not really knowing their hardware or Samsung user experience on these devices being suboptimal.

The Samsung Scalable codec is the highest resolution codec for the Buds. LDAC is better if the audio device supports it, few do.
Normally SSC is auto enabled when you connect the Galaxy Buds. You can manually set it (or view current codec setting) in Developer options.
The phone will shift codecs on the fly depending on the source.

No Galaxy Buds in my case, mate. I've got an assortment of TWS and they vary between aptx, aptx HD and AAC codecs.
The conflicting reports I've read are indeed all about third party audio devices and the spotty codec implementation. In theory looks like at least the snapdragon S20s should be able to deal with them, but (1) I've yet to see it confirmed regarding the Exynos phones and (2) people still report having a hard time making the phone stick with Aptx or AAC without it reverting to SBC.

I go with either LDAC wireless buds or headphones.
Or the Galaxy Buds+. I have the Buds+, with Poweramp they sound pretty good, great for calls, very good battery life and link up fast.
The highest available resolution codecs for the bt chipset on the phone are LDAC then SSC; Aptx and AAC are inferior to the two former ones.
This is a chipset hardware limitation; no firmware upgrade can improve it ie no AptX-HD will be possible.
All the latest Sammy's phones have this huge short coming.
Take my first suggestion and be happy... good as it gets.

Haha thank you! I'll probably clear my cart though. Never had a samsung phone and was closing the deal on a S20+ when it crossed my mind that Aptx et al is a Qualcomm codec, so I should not take it for granted on an Exynos phone.
Unfortunately I have no interest in switching to the galaxy Buds. It's been a long way on the TWS road already - MPOW, Shanling, Edifier, Fiil, Bomaker. They all have different codecs but they usually sound their best either with AAC or Aptx. Listening through SBC on them usually gives a pretty metallic sound like if I had a pair of tin cans for headphones.
I'm sure the buds work wonders with SSC* as it's been highly reviewed time and time again but I'm not willing to take a leap of faith with my devices nor to invest even more on a new TWS.

Hi,
I have a sony wh-1000xm4 which supports ldac. But I cannot select the ldac codec in the developer option. It is fixed at aac. I can only downgrade to sbc. I have s20 exynos version.

Phinixs said:
Hi,
I have a sony wh-1000xm4 which supports ldac. But I cannot select the ldac codec in the developer option. It is fixed at aac. I can only downgrade to sbc. I have s20 exynos version.
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Click to collapse
In order for you to select the LDAC codec you need to do the following:
1. Connect your headset via Bluetooth to your S20.
2. Install the Sony app for the headset
3. Configure your headset in the Sony app with the following setting: SonyApp > Headphones > Sound Quality Mode > Priority on Sound Quality
4. Go to the general Bluetooth settings (swide down and hold your finger onto the Bluetooth icon) and from the list of connected bluetooth devices press on the "wheel" icon next to your Sony device.
5. Turn on the switch where it says: Codecs > LDAC
Now what you also should know is that LDAC is only superior to the other codecs, yes even the Samsung's scalable codec, if you turn up the Bluetooth Audio LDAC Codec's Playback Quality to the max "990kbps/909kbps".
If you don't turn that up you're better off with one of the aptX codecs than LDAC. Search the internet for all the details.
Do the following steps only after you've done the above steps to configure your S20 to use the highest quality for the LDAC codec:
Activate "Developer options" on your Android (skip this step if you already did that):
1. Go to Settings > About phone > Software information > repeatedly tap on the text "Build number" and agree to unlock developer mode.
Configure the LDAC codec on Android to its full potential:
2. Go to Settings > Developer options > Bluetooth Audio LDAC Code: Playback Quality > tap on the text > choose "Optimized for Audio Quality (990kbps/909kbps)"
Please note that till date (June 2021) Android still automatically resets this playback quality setting to the lowest if you disconnect your headset and reconnect, so it is necessary to do this step everytime you connect your headset. Unfortunately, Google nor Samsung seems to have any intention whatsoever to fix this issue with the developer options. Some ppl actually are going full Stockholm and try to convince themselves and others that this is normal behavior for the dev settings, they argue that the dev settings isn't a normal app and therefore it's actually supposed to not remember your settings for it.
I think if you already spent the money on a decent headset like yours, why not use it to its fullest potential? After all good sound enhances your overall experience of life.

Got this from Samsung executive via Chat feature on their website:
S20 FE 5G:
"terms of Connectivity there is Dual Band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth® 5.0 + LE, A2DP (HD codecs: AptX, AptX HD, LDAC, AAC), NFC, Samsung-exclusive MST feature is available. "

Question LDAC greyed out

I have a pair of Sony WF100 XM4's on want to use the LDAC setting on the phone. I go to Dev options, but it's greyed out. Is there anyway I can resolve this? I've seen another thread which isn't the 6 Pro that says you have to reset your wireless settings or something similar. Do I have to do this?

I have exactly the same pair of headphones and have been wondering the same some time ago.

LDAC works 100%
mightywhites29111971 said:
I have a pair of Sony WF100 XM4's on want to use the LDAC setting on the phone. I go to Dev options, but it's greyed out. Is there anyway I can resolve this? I've seen another thread which isn't the 6 Pro that says you have to reset your wireless settings or something similar. Do I have to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what does Sony say about the issue?
LDAC works on the 6 Pro (I have different headphones and BT DACs, as do many others) but not Sony's.
have you tried deleting the headphones from BT settings, resetting the Sony's and re-pairing?
If "HD Audio" doesn't show up in the Bluetooth Device Details for the Sony headphone (where you see Contacts, Phone Calls and Media Audio), then it won't show up in developer options.

Alekos said:
LDAC works 100%
what does Sony say about the issue?
LDAC works on the 6 Pro (I have different headphones and BT DACs, as do many others) but not Sony's.
have you tried deleting the headphones from BT settings, resetting the Sony's and re-pairing?
If "HD Audio" doesn't show up in the Bluetooth Device Details for the Sony headphone (where you see Contacts, Phone Calls and Media Audio), then it won't show up in developer options.
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I have unpaired and repaired - makes no difference. HD Audio is selected in Dev options, but LDAC greyed out. I haven't contacted Sony about the issue yet, but will do some Googling to see if it's an issue with these earphones first before contacting them. I am not sure what your last paragraph means?

mightywhites29111971 said:
I have unpaired and repaired - makes no difference. HD Audio is selected in Dev options, but LDAC greyed out. I haven't contacted Sony about the issue yet, but will do some Googling to see if it's an issue with these earphones first before contacting them. I am not sure what your last paragraph me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mightywhites29111971 said:
I have a pair of Sony WF100 XM4's on want to use the LDAC setting on the phone. I go to Dev options, but it's greyed out. Is there anyway I can resolve this? I've seen another thread which isn't the 6 Pro that says you have to reset your wireless settings or something similar. Do I have to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My LDAC headphones will work in 990 mode but only with the screen off, otherwise the sound skips. It works fine in 660 mode with the screen on. I've tried different fixes but nothing has worked. The only time LDAC is greyed out on my phone is when the headphones aren't on and connected.

I Googled it and found this:
https://www.sony-asia.com/electronics/support/articles/00264224
So followed that and it shows that LDAC is on so why doesn't it show in Dev options?

mightywhites29111971 said:
I Googled it and found this:
https://www.sony-asia.com/electronics/support/articles/00264224
So followed that and it shows that LDAC is on so why doesn't it show in Dev options?
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Click to collapse
So you installed the app? On my headphones, not Sony, I needed their app to get LDAC to show....

I had the app previously because I had the XM3's. Its not obvious in the app until you see the instructions I posted. It's still greyed out in Dev options which I don't get.

You maybe need to enable quality mode in Sony headphones app. My xm3 working good. But only in adaptive ldac settings

I had Quality mode enabled even before and it was still grayed out. Went to Stable mode and back to Quality mode and its still grayed out.

mightywhites29111971 said:
I have unpaired and repaired - makes no difference. HD Audio is selected in Dev options, but LDAC greyed out. I haven't contacted Sony about the issue yet, but will do some Googling to see if it's an issue with these earphones first before contacting them. I am not sure what your last paragraph means?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So LDAC will show up in the bluetooth information for the device, for example: HD Audio: LDAC, but only if LDAC is enabled on the device through an app or natively (but its usually an app)

It looks like I got it working, but only in 660kbps mode. Go 990 and it skips all over the show. Also, every time I connect the headphones I have to change the setting to 660 in Dev options. Isn't there an option to save it to this setting for my Sony's because I can't seem to see it!

How or what did you do to make it work at least in 660 kbps ?

mightywhites29111971 said:
It looks like I got it working, but only in 660kbps mode. Go 990 and it skips all over the show. Also, every time I connect the headphones I have to change the setting to 660 in Dev options. Isn't there an option to save it to this setting for my Sony's because I can't seem to see it!
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Click to collapse
My P6P always defaulted to ”best effort”. Then I installed the Sony apps on my phone and selected high quality. Even though I don't have Sony earbuds, when I connect my LDAC earbuds it defaults to 990. This would be fine if 990 actually worked...

Is there any way to get it to default to 660?

mightywhites29111971 said:
Is there any way to get it to default to 660?
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Click to collapse
I haven't found a way to do that. It would be nice if the update that's coming out in a few hours would fix the LDAC 990 problem but I'm not holding my breath.

Matterhorn said:
My LDAC headphones will work in 990 mode but only with the screen off, otherwise the sound skips. It works fine in 660 mode with the screen on. I've tried different fixes but nothing has worked. The only time LDAC is greyed out on my phone is when the headphones aren't on and connected.
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Disable Wi-Fi it will fix stuttering. For me it runs smooth on 990 Xperia 1 III

LDAC works for me on the Sony WH-1000XM3 out of the box.

OH MY F* GOD. Disabling "Connect to 2 devices simultaneously" enabled LDAC. That's so dumb and someone should have said about that.
You can disable it in Sony Headphones app under System tab.

Matterhorn said:
I haven't found a way to do that. It would be nice if the update that's coming out in a few hours would fix the LDAC 990 problem but I'm not holding my breath.
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It's still broken, unfortunately. 990kbps has constant disconnects. Sort of defeats the purpose of the nigh bitrate codec. I wonder why google has such poor development with each of these updates.