AudioFeature
Lossless audio over Bluetooth is finally here. Can you hear it?
New codecs promise CD quality without a cable. We ran a blind test with 30 listeners to find out whether it matters.
By Sofia Marchetti
For as long as there has been Bluetooth audio, audiophiles have had a simple rule: if it’s wireless, it’s compressed. That rule is finally breaking. A new wave of earbuds and phones supports lossless streaming at CD quality — under the right conditions.
The blind test
We recruited 30 listeners, from casual streamers to two professional mastering engineers, and played them the same tracks over lossless and standard high-quality Bluetooth on identical earbuds. Nobody knew which was which.
- 18 of 30 listeners could not reliably tell the two apart.
- Both mastering engineers picked lossless on acoustic and classical tracks.
- In a noisy café, nobody could tell at all.
“It’s real, it’s measurable, and for most people on a bus it will not matter one bit.”
Lossless Bluetooth is a genuine technical achievement, and it’s nice to have if your phone and earbuds already support it. But fit, noise cancellation and tuning still matter far more to how your music sounds.
Written by
Sofia Marchetti
Audio & Home Editor
Sofia tests headphones, speakers and smart-home gear from a flat that is now more hub than home. She studied acoustic engineering in Milan.
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