The quest for wireless hi-res audio is the philosopher's stone to audio fans — to be able to listen to the best quality audio without the need for a pesky cable to get in the way and tangle itself into a mad, unapproachably convoluted knot. String theory at work, folks.
Yet it looks like Samsung has just taken a step towards a wireless hi-res future, thanks to a technology called "Ultra-Wideband". Now, this isn't an official release, but instead a patent filing so it's worth tempering our expectations — but it sure is exciting to see what could be coming in the future.
More detail in your buds?
So why hasn't hi-res audio in wireless headphones been possible before? The answer lies with Bluetooth itself. The old technology (and it is old now) can only carry so much data wirelessly, and for even the best codecs, it has to have music tracks compressed to 16-bit before playing it over your earbuds or wireless headphones. That means you can't call the track being played hi-res, no matter how many marketing catchphrases you stick on the box.
So enter UWB, or Ultra-Wideband, a technology that uses a higher wireless bit rate to transfer your music from device to driver. It allows for much higher quality music tracks to make their way to your ears, without the need for a cable — huzzah!
How's Samsung's going to work?
Samsung looks, according to the patent (first spotted by 91mobiles) to be using Bluetooth for the initial connection, and then using UWB to connect the headphones together. Once the UWB connection is established, the Bluetooth will deactivate, and the UWB tether will govern the quality of the music played over the buds.
If that sounds complicated, it's because it kind of is — although we, the end users, aren't going to have to worry about it too much. It's all going to be done automatically, and thanks to that initial Bluetooth connection, it's likely not going to be any more difficult to connect the earbuds to your device as it would with the other best wireless earbuds you can buy.
Why earbuds?
What HiFi makes an excellent point — why earbuds? Earbuds aren't capable of the detail and accuracy you might want for the highest resolution tracks, so to put UWB in a pair feels like overkill. A pair of over ears might make more sense, perhaps, given their larger drivers and ability to play more detailed sound.
But, if nothing else, it's exciting that a main line company is taking interesting UWB, and its ability to play higher quality music. Perhaps we'll see a pair of the best wireless headphones appear with UWB at some point in the future.
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