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Comment by codethief | Hacker News Reader

> Bluetooth audio isn't fantastic in my experience.

I had been thinking the same but then I still gave it a shot and bought some new headphones with Bluetooth (and aptX support), in my case the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 (in-ear), and the Sennheiser Momentum 3 (over-ear). Turns out they can easily compete with (or are even better than) the cable-bound ~$250 in-ears I used to have.

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When playing FLAC music over aptX HD, the next step for improvement is to avoid any resampling. The music is generally at 44.1 kHz and the default for Android is 48 kHz. It requires root to change the audio config file to 44100, and it's also necessary to change the bluetooth settings (in the developer options).

Something similar goes for Linux.

The resampling shouldn't matter much in theory, but in practice it's pretty noticeable. It seems to be optimized for CPU usage instead of audio quality.

It seems to be optimized for CPU usage instead of audio quality.

Presumably on an Android phone, it makes sense to lower CPU usage (and thus prolong battery life) rather than go for the best audio quality.

You can get OEM bluetooth in-ear buds straight from China quite easily these days. They are cheap and punch well above their weight. My wired ear buds are subjectively better sounding to me. My wired ear buds connected to a BT receiver also sound better. But the OEMs cost on the order of 50AUD/35USD...

Standard aptX (not HD) sounds just as good as older codecs, and keeps a similar bandwidth, so the advertised improvement is mostly marketing

Does the momentum 3 sound better when you use the cable for it?

I haven't noticed a difference to be honest.

I would say the difference is not easily noticeable but I haven't done exhaustive testing as I've only really used the cable when FPS gaming on them

Do you play on team / communicate using your microphone? Man, was I bummed out when I realized that the microphone only works over Bluetooth and neither via USB or the audio cable. :(

Such a mindblowingly stupid product decision – it makes my blood pressure rise every time I think about it.

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