When people talk about LE Audio, the feature most often cited is Auracast, the protocol that lets one transmitter send the same audio to many devices at once. According to ZDNET, the standard brings other, less discussed upgrades covering call quality, battery life and mobile gaming.

Psst!Add AlexTech.ai asPreferred Source on Google

Clearer voice calls

LE Audio uses the LC3 codec (Low Complexity Communication Codec), which together with the TMAP profile handles audio streams and voice calls at the same time. Classic Bluetooth relies on two separate profiles, A2DP and HFP, that must alternate. According to ZDNET, that alternation produces very poor voice quality during hands-free cellular calls and video calls on Zoom or Teams, and it also degrades voice when chatting while playing a mobile game. With LE Audio the two profiles are unified and audio becomes bidirectional, preserving voice quality on wireless headphones.

Fraunhofer IIS, which developed the codec, says LC3 enables super-wideband speech quality in VoLTE calls via Bluetooth headsets. The standard is maintained by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group and, according to Wikipedia, is a royalty-free codec that succeeds SBC.

Less battery imbalance between earbuds

In classic Bluetooth the phone sends audio to one earbud, which retransmits it to the other. This is why one earbud always drains faster. Premium earbuds work around the problem with independent streams, but many midrange and budget models don't. LE Audio builds independent streams into the Bluetooth stack, so manufacturers no longer need their own workarounds. According to ZDNET, the first big steps came with Sony's WF-1000XM6 earbuds, released in February with LE Audio built in, and with a firmware update for JBL's flagship headphones.

Fewer ecosystem barriers

Audio quality often depends on which ecosystem you are in: Sony's LDAC is only on compatible Sony devices, and Qualcomm's AptX codecs are not widely available on phones, so many users stay on SBC and AAC even when their headphones support better ones. According to ZDNET, LE Audio reduces this fragmentation, especially in wireless gaming, with lower latency, better voice streams and no asymmetrical audio.

For now, according to the same source, support requires a compatible Android phone, and several headphone, earbud and Bluetooth speaker models already work with it. As more manufacturers update their devices, ZDNET says the technology looks increasingly reliable.