Bluetooth Could Hit Home Audio

By Ian Bell Updated July 25, 2014

“Audio and video are the killer apps,” said Robin Heydon, a technical consultant for Bluetooth chip maker Cambridge Silicon Radio. Stereo audio headsets will be coming out very soon, he said, taking the concept of a Bluetooth headset a step further.

On the other hand, a home automation working group has received confirmation, Cook said, signaling that the technology may soon seek to challenge Zigbee and other home automation protocols. In addition, a global navigation systems study group has formed, a natural evolution of Bluetooth’s success in hands-free communication inside automobiles.

The SIG is also monitoring feature requests from various groups, among them a non-audio signaling for hands-free communication from a group of watchmakers, who are investigating blinking the watch’s dial or vibrating the chassis to alert the user to an incoming call. Additional feature requests for running Sun’s JINI protocol over Bluetooth, displaying battery information, or extending audio links to greater distances are also being considered, Cook said.”

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Audio / Video

New leak hints at Sonos’ future: Bluetooth, spatial audio, and lots more home theater

Rendering of a reportedly unreleased Sonos speaker created by The Verge.

You have to imagine that Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is getting a little tired of leaks originating from within the company's walls. For the second time in 2022, The Verge's Chris Welch has published details of an unreleased and unconfirmed Sonos product that Welch claims is code-named Optimo 2. According to this information, which he claims was gleaned from work-in-progress images of the Optimo 2, it's a speaker that will likely take over from the current Sonos Five, a product that hasn't been meaningfully updated since it debuted as the Play:5 in 2009.

If the report is accurate -- and it's worth noting that Welch's prior reporting on the Sonos Ray ahead of that product's debut was very close to what was eventually announced -- the Optimo 2 could represent the beginning of a new era for Sonos. It reportedly contains the mics needed for Sonos Voice Control, as well as plenty of RAM for future updates. A wireframe render of the speaker created by The Verge (which is what you do when you need to protect the source material) illustrates an unusual mirror-image shape -- it looks vaguely like a VR headset -- which appears to be designed to direct sound outward in at least two directions -- forward and backward -- though Welch says that some of the Optimo 2's drivers will aim sound upward, too.

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Get ready for a new generation of wireless headphones: Bluetooth LE Audio is now a done deal

A man listens to his cell phone audio via bluetooth headphones.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) -- the entity tasked with evolving the Bluetooth wireless standard over time -- has announced that it has completed its work on the new LE Audio specification, which officially opens the doors to a new wave of wireless headphones, earbuds, speakers, and hearing aids that work with the new standard.

Bluetooth LE Audio is fully backward-compatible with older Bluetooth versions, so you don't need to worry about buying a new set of earbuds or headphones only to discover that they don't work with your phone or computer. But it does add several new capabilities like Auracast (a broadcast-style audio sharing feature) and the LC3 codec, which promises better audio quality while reducing latency and extending battery life. To enjoy these additional features, both the transmitting device (like your phone) and the receiving device (headphones, earbuds, etc.) will need to support them.

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Lossless Bluetooth audio? Qualcomm says it’s coming in 2022

A man listens to his cell phone audio via bluetooth headphones.

Qualcomm has revealed its next-generation Bluetooth chips for makers of wireless earbuds and headphones, and the company predicts that 2022 will be the year that we see a whole slew of new innovations like lossless hi-res audio, audio sharing, lower latency, and Bluetooth broadcasting come to our phones and personal audio gear.

The giant mobile chipmaker says that its two new sound platforms, S3 and S5, will be provided to customers like Yamaha, Cambridge Audio, Master & Dynamic, and Audio-Technica -- just to name a few -- and that we can expect to see the first S3- and S5-based products by the second half of 2022.