The Sony WF-1000XM3 are the best real wireless headphones you can buy right now – and they may be about to get even better, with rumors that the wireless headphones are about to get a support for Hi-Res Audio.
The headphones appeared very briefly on the Qualcomm aptX website, being described as “aptX HD enabled”; this post was quickly removed, but not before it was spotted by The Walkman Blog.
Although we do not know if this was an error or a premature message on the website, it could mean that AptX HD support arrives on the Sony WF-1000XM3 in the form of a firmware update.
aptX HD is a Bluetooth codec that can wirelessly transmit high resolution audio files at 24 bit / 48 kHz – something the Sony WF-1000XM3 has so far been unable to handle.
What is the advantage of aptX HD?
Unlike lossy MP3 files, Hi-Res Audio codecs are capable of reproducing the full range of sounds from recordings that have been mastered from higher quality music sources than CDs, sound that faithfully reproduces quality with which the musicians and engineers worked. in the studio at the time of recording.
Hi-Res Audio’s increased bit depth improves the dynamic range (or sound of a track), essentially providing you with a wider range of things to actually hear from the recording, making the tracks wider and more detailed. .
Audiophiles swear by high-resolution streaming services like Tidal, Amazon Music HD and Qobuz for that reason – and if the Sony WF-1000XM3 can appeal to this market by bringing the fidelity of high-resolution audio to the convenience of real wireless headphones, it could reinvigorate its already shiny headphones.
Support for aptX HD is a feature that only a few true wireless headphones can claim, including the Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 and the Master & Dynamic MW07. Newer Apple AirPods and AirPods Pro certainly don’t come with high resolution audio support.
If the Sony WF-1000XM3 does receive aptX support, this raises questions about the brand’s own high resolution wireless audio codec.
Like what Hi-Fi? points out that Sony already has its own 24-bit compatible codec, called LDAC, which it could use for free – unlike aptX, for which Qualcomm charges license fees.
That said, the WF-1000XM3 never supported LDAC, and its advanced earbuds, the Sony WH-1000XM3 supports both aptX HD and LDAC, and comes with a processing chip very similar to their real wireless brother. It is therefore quite possible that the buds will one day be able to manage the two codecs.
With rumors that another competitor is coming to the market (the AirPods Pro Lite, to be exact), adding Hi-Res Audio support in any form would be a wise move by Sony – and could guarantee the place of the WF-1000XM3 to the real wireless first place for the rest of 2020.