Nowadays, Bluetooth and smart living go hand in hand. This short-range wireless technology has rapidly adapted to the growing demands for health- and entertainment-related IoT applications. Succeeding Bluetooth 4.2, the latest 5.0 iteration boasts twice the speed and four times the range.
This new version is already setting a high standard for wireless headphones, by offering a more stable connection with less power consumption than its precursor. The audio quality, however, remains somewhat independent of the two versions. Meanwhile, brands including PLAY are heralding this new 5.0 generation by integrating the latest technologies in the audio world for a seamless user experience.
Bluetooth 5: The new benefits while listening to audio
- Larger range
Bluetooth 5.0 has a range of 800 feet, while its former version could operate only up to 200 feet. This range is advantageous only when using Bluetooth speakers outdoors. But, a pair of Bluetooth 5.0 headphones would generally be near to the smartphone and most likely, would not cross 200 feet. Regardless of the upgraded range limit, it cannot transmit through walls.
- Bitrate
In the world of modern electronics, bitrate is defined as the amount of data transmitted in a specific period and is measured in megabits per second. Higher the bitrate, more is the level of data transmitted. Now, Bluetooth 5 supports 2 Mbps instead of 1 Mbps which Bluetooth 4.2 had adopted. Even though it seems the new version would support high quality audio, the audio size is still compressed through codecs.
Users eager to switch to Bluetooth 5.0 headphones should check which codecs are being used on them. For instance, the PLAYGO BH70 headphones by PLAY come with the superior Qualcomm® aptX™ codec tech that compresses and decompresses audio for a rich listening experience.
Irrespective of the version, the audio is largely unaffected, and this same compression technology was also supported earlier.
- Latency
While the audio lag was not significantly noticeable on Bluetooth 4.2 headsets, problems often occured while watching videos, as the audio and video would not synchronise. However, as this version of Bluetooth clocks in at 2 Mbps, users would enjoy listening to music with minimal latency.
- Dual Audio
One unique but much-needed upgrade from all the older Bluetooth versions is the dual-audio support. Two pairs of Bluetooth 5.0 headphones can simultaneously be used with one Bluetooth-enabled device.
Choosing between Bluetooth 5.0 and Bluetooth 4.2
It can be seen that there is not much of a difference in audio quality, whether one is using a Bluetooth 5.0 or Bluetooth 4.2 headphone pair. However, there is a good potential for the new version to provide high-quality, uncompressed sounds by developing new codecs in the future.
