As unfortunate as the naming misdirection is, I have to say: LDAC sounds significantly better (to me) than other Bluetooth codecs I have tried. It also works on Linux and android with no issues whatsoever. Open source is good.

I use it with a pair of Sony XM5's, which can also be used in wired mode, so you kind of get the best of both worlds.

[–] sus 23 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

at high signal strength LDAC should default to 990kbps.. which is kind of ridiculous since it's so high it's higher than some lossless codecs, like uncompressed 16-bit 48kHz. (which is higher than standard CD quality)

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Uncompressed 16 bit 48KHz stereo is 1536 kbps, which is just slightly higher than what bluetooth 5 is capable of.

[–] sus 21 points 2 days ago

Oh I forgot about stereo, ha.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

That's assuming raw PCM data, no compression (lossy or lossless) whatsoever.

LDAC can do lossless redbook audio (16 bit 44.1 KHz) at 990kbps. All other modes are lossy.
It's probably doing something much like FLAC- lossy encoder + residual corrections to ensure you get the original waveform back out, but with less bandwidth than raw PCM.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The bitrate is manually enforceable on Linux, too

*specifically using PipeWire

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Pipewire or the pulseaduo Bluetooth codec add-on. The pipewire implementation seems to be mimicking the old pulseaudio plugin.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I highly doubt that. Do a proper ABx test (such as the one on digitalfeed.xyz) I have yet to meet someone who can pass the tests with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

You highly doubt my personal experience?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Do you mean abx.digitalfeed.net?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Are you using the Hifi Power Cable to? Very important to have