Earlier this year, the Bluetooth SIG announced that the Bluetooth community will once again change the way we connect with the world around us. With the release of LE Audio, a new generation of Bluetooth audio will significantly enhance audio performance. This article will introduce LE Audio’s highly anticipated new feature-LC3, and explore its secrets.
Higher quality, lower power consumption
Over the years, although developers have made amazing innovations in the parameter range of the SBC codec, the Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3) will open up new possibilities and continue to break through the limitations of wireless audio .
LC3 is a new low-power audio codec that can provide high-quality audio even at low data rates . This feature provides developers with great flexibility, allowing them to achieve a better design balance between key product attributes such as audio quality and power consumption.
According to Nick Hunn of WiFore Consulting, LC3 has higher efficiency, lower power consumption, and shorter delay time. The entire encoding, transmission and decoding process only takes 20 milliseconds. “The codec is an important part of all wireless audio systems. It is responsible for compressing the audio signal into a smaller signal and sending it over the wireless link, and then decoding it at the other end and converting it back to music without any loss of quality. We are fortunate to have a very professional codec design company to help us develop new Bluetooth codecs.”
“This new codec is really exciting. Over the past ten years, technology has made tremendous progress, and we now have a codec that is equivalent to SBC quality but only requires half of the airtime scheduling. This reduces the need to allocate The power to the radio can therefore provide users with devices that are smaller in size, can run all day, or do not require bulky earplugs.”
– Peter Liu, board member of Bluetooth Technology Alliance
Differences of LC3
Markus Schnell, head of the Fraunhofer IIS low-latency audio coding team, said that LC3 can upgrade Bluetooth headsets to the industry’s top audio quality. Currently this technology has been used in HD Voice+ VoLTE networks. At the same time, the introduction of the enhanced voice service (EVS) standard audio codec has brought a higher level of voice and audio quality to mobile services. Today, this high quality can also be achieved with Bluetooth accessories.
The decoder can reduce the data rate by half, thereby extending battery life or reducing device size.
In terms of music services, LC3 solves two fundamental quality challenges: one is to ensure the excellent transmission quality of all kinds of audio, the other is to reduce the data transmission rate by 50%, and lowering the bit rate means extending battery life or equipment Reduction in size.
Schnell said: “According to a large number of audition tests, even if the transmission rate is reduced by 50%, the sound quality of LC3 is better than the SBC codec in classic audio. Developers can use this low power consumption feature to develop a longer battery Life-span products, or if the current battery life is sufficient, reduce the size by using smaller batteries.”
Better user experience
From reducing power consumption to improving audio quality to improving usability, developers can use LC3 to significantly improve the user experience. Since LC3 can obtain higher audio quality while transmitting at half the bit rate, it can reduce power consumption by half. Developers can use this low power consumption feature to design products with longer battery life, or if the current battery life is sufficient, reduce the size of the product by reducing the battery size.
LC3 will also standardize the support of hearing aids for Bluetooth technology, so that the hearing impaired can also enjoy the powerful features of Bluetooth audio like standard Bluetooth headset users, such as wireless calling, listening and watching. The release of LC3 indicates that the second of the three key basic modules is now complete.
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