Lossless music is as accessible as it’s ever been. Before, you’d have to seek out CDs to rip or buy truly lossless files from boutique digital storefronts to get it. Most mainstream streaming services today support lossless quality, and many include that perk at no additional cost. If you’re paying for a monthly subscription, surely you should enjoy music streaming at its highest possible quality, right? It’s more complicated than it seems — unless you’re using one of three popular Bluetooth audio codecs, your wireless earbuds or headphones are ruining the quality before it even reaches your ears.
If you’re listening to lossless music with wired headphones and a USB-C DAC, you already know what you’re doing. I use wireless earbuds and headphones for convenience, like most people, and they are the weak link in your lossless music chain. Stick with the default Bluetooth codecs like AAC or SBS, and lossless audio doesn’t stand a chance. These are the three Bluetooth codecs that actually have a shot at making the most of lossless music files.
A lossy Bluetooth codec ruins your lossless music
If your phone is using AAC or SBC, you’ve already lost
By default, Android phones use either the Subband Codec (SBC) or the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec for Bluetooth. SBC is mandatory for all Bluetooth devices, and it’s built into the standard Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP). It’s required for every Android phone with Bluetooth support and is part of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Meanwhile, AAC is the default for Apple devices, and it’s also widely supported by Android phones.
The thing both SBC and AAC have in common is that they are both lossy Bluetooth codecs. This means that music played via Bluetooth using SBC and AAC won’t be lossless, regardless of the quality of the original file. These lossy Bluetooth codecs can only share a limited amount of data per second, and thus they need to compress the original audio file to stream it. This is how a lossless file becomes lossy during the Bluetooth transmission process.
Specifically, the important metric is bitrate. This figure is usually expressed as kilobits per second (kbps), and it tells you how many bits can be processed in a single second. The higher bandwidth a wireless standard supports, the more bits can be processed. In relation to lossless audio, the baseline for CD-quality sound is 16-bit, 44.1kHz. The first number signals the bit depth, and the second one notes the sample rate. Multiply them together, and by the number of channels (two for stereo), and you get the bitrate.
A standard lossless audio file is encoded in 16-bit, 44.1kHz quality, and that means it has a 1,411kbps bitrate. For that file to remain lossless during the Bluetooth transmission process, a wireless audio codec would need to near that 1,411kbps bitrate without adding compression. SBC has a max bitrate of up to 328kbps and AAC typically runs at 256kbps, so both standard Bluetooth audio codecs don’t come close to providing the bitrate required for lossless audio transmission.
Bitrates aren’t everything. The efficiency of a codec matters too, so it’s possible a Bluetooth audio codec could deliver lossless quality without hitting the exact 1,411kbps bitrate of a lossless audio file. That’s exactly what Qualcomm’s aptX Lossless aims to do. Efficiency matters at every tier, though. AAC is typically regarded as the better-sounding codec compared to SBC despite its lower typical bitrate.
These Bluetooth codecs make lossless worth using
LDAC, LHDC, and Qualcomm’s aptX suite are the major options
There aren’t any Bluetooth audio codecs that can match the quality and consistency of a cable. However, there are a few that get close. If your goal is to stream lossless audio over Bluetooth, you should use either LDAC, LHDC, or aptX Adaptive/Lossless. These Bluetooth audio codecs earn a high-resolution designation, and while they may not be completely lossless, they are certainly better than SBC or AAC.
In order to use a hi-res Bluetooth audio codec, both your phone and wireless headphones must support it. Sony’s LDAC is most often found on the company’s own headphones and earbuds, and it supports a bitrate of up to 990kbps. If you have Sony earbuds or headphones, this is the codec to use. Be careful, though, because LDAC’s calling card is its variable bitrate functionality. This means it won’t always hit that top bitrate unless it is set to the “Best Effort” option. At lower bitrates, LDAC can perform worse than lossy codecs like AAC.
Google added support for LHDC v5 (Low Latency High-Definition Audio Codec) alongside Android 17, and the niche hi-res Bluetooth audio codec was already available on some Android phones. At its best, LHDC can hit bitrates of up to 1,000kbps, and supports optional low latency modes. This codec also uses variable bitrate tech to adjust based on the situation. Like LDAC, LHDC will sound far better than SBC and AAC at the high end.
Other codecs worth mentioning are in Qualcomm’s aptX suite, which includes the flagship aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless codecs. The absolute best Bluetooth codec available is aptX Lossless, as it maxes out at up to 1.2Mbps. However, it requires a phone with Snapdragon Sound and the right Bluetooth earbuds, and aptX Lossless just isn’t mainstream yet. Maybe one day it will be, but for now, LDAC and LHDC are more accessible.
If you don’t use a hi-res codec, skip lossless
You’re wasting the quality benefit that comes with lossless files
Put simply, to stream lossless files, you want to be using either LDAC, LHDC, or aptX Lossless. Otherwise, you’re filling up your phone’s storage space with lossless music your Bluetooth earbuds or headphones can’t play at the same. Using the default Bluetooth audio codecs of AAC or SBC will result in your files being compressed. Your devices might already support hi-res Bluetooth audio, but they probably aren’t using it by default.
To surface Android’s Developer options menu, open the Settings app and tap the About phone tab. Find the version number or build number listed. Tap it seven times to enable Developer options.
You can set a custom Bluetooth audio codec for your Android phone with supported headphones or earbuds connected in the Developer options menu. To get there, navigate to Settings → System → Developer options → Bluetooth Audio Codec. Here, you can choose from the available Bluetooth codecs your devices support. If you care about lossless streaming, choose LDAC, LHDC, or aptX Adaptive/Lossless.
Bluetooth technology can’t match the quality and stability of a cable, but hi-res audio codecs are better than the alternative. If your streaming service supports lossless quality, make sure you’re not ruining it by using a lossy codec like SBC or AAC.