SIGNALS

I have issues with Bluetooth. I see it as a force of nature, a veritable tsunami, against all that good sound quality stands for. That is because that oh-so-convenient wireless link limits functionality and degrades audio fidelity. Now, with the advent of the 5.0 spec, Bluetooth is poised to expand its dominance. But, the spec also has a glimmer of hope for us audiophiles.

First, let's talk about the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. One of their many cool features is enhanced Bluetooth capability; in particular, these are the first phones to use the new Bluetooth 5.0 spec. Compared to Bluetooth 4.2, 5.0 can send data twice as fast (2 megabits/second) and four times as far (maybe up to 800 feet, depending on obstacles), and has eight times the data broadcasting capacity. This will greatly improve functionality, and beef up signal integrity over longer distances.

There's something else. Most Bluetooth speakers are dumb. You pair with one, and that's it. If you want to pair with another, you sign off and switch pairing. That greatly limits their utility. More sophisticated WiFi-based speaker systems, which can provide terrific transmission fidelity, often let you run multiple wireless speakers, controlling them individually and managing them as a system. Now, Bluetooth 5.0 allows mesh networking.

With mesh networking, Bluetooth 5.0 will let devices move data across a group of connected devices, in a IoT-type arrangement. You don't need a central hub or gateway, just Bluetooth 5.0. When this is fully implemented, in a smart home for example, many devices could talk to each other, regardless of which ones are currently on the network. I don't know if 5.0 supports it, but it would be keen if you could set up independent left- and right-channel speakers. For now, the Samsung Galaxy S8 will support two headphones simultaneously.

There is one more important tidbit. Reportedly, Bluetooth 5.0 has the potential of better sound quality thanks to new data compression technology. The S8 doesn't support that and in any case, legacy Bluetooth devices such as headphones and speakers won't support it. Still, a new codec with higher audio quality would be good news. When I get confirmation and more details, I will do follow-up post.

I'm not a fan of current Bluetooth technology, but a higher-fidelity Bluetooth, along with the increased functionality, might help me to finally love Bluetooth.