Explained: Audio quality via smartphones and does wired connection offer better audio quality – Times of India

Ever since the headphone jack disappeared from smartphones, wireless headphones and earphones, especially TWS earbuds, have become the go-to option for listening to songs and taking calls.
While wireless headphones and earphones offer ‘no strings attached’, there’s one department where they have always lagged behind the wired ones — the audio quality. Arguments about wireless earphones offering audio quality as good as wired earphones have been there for a while now.
No doubt, wireless earphones have become better with the advent of technology and newer codecs like aptX, LDAC, etc. However, they are still heavily dependent upon the smartphone’s ability to push the maximum bitrate.
For instance, even the maximum quality of audio from streaming services can push the Bluetooth codecs limit. And, with the world slowly moving towards lossless audio quality, Bluetooth earphones are failing to catch up.
In this case, the wired connection is the only solution left. Read on to know how and what are the other ways that can help you boost the audio quality of your smartphone and take the advantage of high-quality streaming that most streaming apps offer.
Audio quality through a wired connection
While headphone jacks have disappeared from most modern smartphones, entry and budget smartphones still come with the regular 3.5mm jack. But, there’s a limitation.
The audio quality via a wired connection from your smartphone is as good as the capability of the USB Type-C headphone adapter that it has. Basically, it’s the native bitrate support that the smartphone comes with. Most smartphones can deliver up to 24 bits @ 48 kHz which is much better than what Bluetooth offers. However, it is relatively low compared to what a DAC can push. Usually, a regular dongle can deliver up to 24 bits @ 96KHz. Which is more than sufficient for high-quality audio.
Also, in comparison to the wireless connection which, with better codecs like LDAC or Qualcomm aptX can deliver up to 16 bits @44KHz, the wired connection is still far ahead in terms of audio quality.
However, there’s one more thing that you’ll need except getting the hardware to upgrade the content. You’ll either need to get some high-res audio or lossless audio or a streaming service that supports lossless audio.