Bluetooth 6 could make Apple's UWB chip redundant.
  • exanime@lemmy.worldEnglish
    302·
    11 days ago

    yes yes yes but… will I finally be able to boot my wife off the bathroom speaker so I can play my music without running around the house naked yelling at her to disconnect?!

      • exanime@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        11 days ago

        As with many (all?) speakers I have had, the pairing button is the same power button. I am supposed to start with the speaker off, press and hold until it turns on and then starts pairing.

        The problem is that it usually connects (to the last phone it connected to, my wife’s in this scenario) before it even gets to the pairing stage. Even if I get to the pairing stage, it still prefers the previously connected phone :-(

  • sachamato@lemmy.worldEnglish
    44·
    11 days ago

    All my bose devices pair like a charm. One of the uphills of choosing that brand.

    • AstralPath@lemmy.caEnglish
      42·
      11 days ago

      If you don’t mind trading sound quality for convenience, I suppose. Bose has been a snake oil provider for decades.

        • xthexder@l.sw0.comEnglish
          3·
          10 days ago

          I’m not sure I would call Bose snake oil, but the audiophile space certainly is full of it. On the one hand, you’ve got overpriced equipment that’s not very good value but works, and on the other you’ve got literal scams like gold plated fiber optics and “audiophile-grade” network switches that are literally incapable of changing the quality of your audio because the signals are digital and have error correction, so it will either work or it won’t. Placebo effect + choice-supportive bias are enough to get these things positive reviews though.

    • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      11 days ago

      I can see multiple uses for the tech. Unfortunately, many are a but dystopian, but some are legitimately useful.

        • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          10 days ago

          Of course not, that would be immoral. They’ll track trollies and baskets, then tag it to the till and your loyalty card. It would be a lot more consistent, and harder to dodge.

  • Defaced@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    11 days ago

    Does it improve the bandwidth so higher quality codecs can be used without having to switch between good quality sound and shitty mics to shitty sound and good mics? I mean seriously, we’re in 2024 and we still can’t have quality parity with a wired headset when using Bluetooth because the bandwidth sucks so much ass that better codecs just can’t be used. Bluetooth can die in a fucking fire.

    • ugjka@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      11 days ago

      For desktop you can get headphones with a wireless dongle that doesn’t have to adhere to Bluetooth limitations and in fact most of them also have Bluetooth for phone use

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    10 days ago

    Hope it does better than 5. 5 so far chops out whenever i go to the mudroom on the other side of my 1300sqft house

    • rigatti@lemmy.worldEnglish
      54·
      11 days ago

      When you read the article:

      We also get latency improvements through Isochronous Adaptation Layer (ISOAL) Enhancement. This allows the Bluetooth device to cut larger data frames into smaller chunks while ensuring its timing information remains accurate. This would help reduce latency and potentially make Bluetooth audio devices a viable solution for wireless audio, especially in gaming.

      That was unnecessarily snarky, but I couldn’t help myself. I don’t even know what any of that means or if it will actually actually reduce audio latency.

      • Chozo@fedia.io
        6·
        11 days ago

        My layman’s understanding (so please correct me if I’m wrong) is that BT audio works by taking the audio stream from your playing device, and breaks up pieces of that stream into small packets. These packets get sent individually to your speaker, which then plays them all seamlessly in order as they flow in. But because these packets have to be cut out from the main stream in the first place before they can be sent, you’re always hearing something from just a few moments ago, as you can’t start playing a packet until it’s finished playing and transferring from the main device, first.

        So by breaking these packets up into smaller pieces, you’re reducing how far back your speaker is, chronologically-speaking. So let’s just say that the current version of BT breaks up audio into 0.5-second increments (it doesn’t, this is just an example). This means that every 0.5 seconds, your device snips a half-second of audio into a packet and sends it to your speaker, which then plays that packet. But the transfer takes time, too, so let’s say 0.25 seconds to send (again, just made-up numbers for the sake of explaining the concept). So everything your speaker would be playing in this situation would be, at minimum, 0.75 seconds behind. Not a huge deal for listening to music, but it quickly gets out of sync with video content.

        So pretend the new BT version instead breaks up the original audio into 0.1-second increments. So instead of generating 2 packets every second, it’s generating 10. Even if we keep the same transfer rate of 0.25 seconds in mind, this reduces the delay from 0.75 seconds to 0.35, which puts the audio much closer into sync with video content.

        • AlotOfReading@lemmy.worldEnglish
          8·
          11 days ago

          Not bad, but you’re missing that the Bluetooth device can report audio latency back to the source so it can delay anything that needs to synchronize. In practice there’s half a dozen more buffers in between and a serious tradeoff between latency, noise sensitivity, and bandwidth.

      • mox@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        241·
        11 days ago

        The “especially in gaming” bit is encouraging. That might mean they are finally, after 26 years, addressing the demand for good quality, low latency, multichannel, full duplex audio…

        …but I won’t hold my breath. They seem to think gaming means playing on hardware like this.

    • vividspecter@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      11 days ago

      A major improvement already happened in 5.2+ but few devices support it yet (LE Audio with LC3 codec).

  • quinkin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    11 days ago

    improves device pairing

    V6 seems a little soon for this unnecessary feature. Maybe push it back a few versions.

  • Railing5132@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16229·
    11 days ago

    I will die on the hill that Bluetooth always has and always will suck ass. Pairing sucks. Latency sucks. Random-ass disconnects suck. Fuck Bluetooth in the neck sideways with a rusty screwdriver.

    • exanime@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      11 days ago

      Not sure what your use case is (or what devices you bought) but I only ever experienced some disconnects from a crappy AliExpress speaker. For the rest, in my 14 years or so of using BT regularly, I have never had any of those issues you mentioned

      • xthexder@l.sw0.comEnglish
        2·
        10 days ago

        I haven’t had it randomly disconnect, but I certainly have had my headphones randomly connect to my phone in the middle of a video call on my laptop. The crappy multi-device support for Bluetooth is the bane of my existence.

      • Railing5132@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 days ago

        Wouldn’t say I buy cheap shit, not Apple (I’m not Musk or Bezos rich), but flagship Samsung and pro earbuds, Logitech trackball, jbl speakers, and headsets from Bose and Jabra. Now the BT receiver for the stereo, that was cheap Amazon garbage. I’ll give you that one.

    • MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      11 days ago

      I have all kinds of cable extensions specifically to reduce my reliance on BT. Wired bedside headphones and keyboard are the best

    • tonyn@lemmy.mlEnglish
      732·
      11 days ago

      The bluetooth antennas on your devices have sucked. I have no problems with my pixel 7 pro. Pairs quickly, play music from across the house, through walls and floors even. Previous phones of mine would lose connection to my bluetooth headphones if my.phone was on the wrong hip, obviously an antenna issue.

      • Railing5132@lemmy.worldEnglish
        105·
        11 days ago

        I’m talking phones to cars (for hands-free and music), mice to desk and laptop, earbuds and headphones to both, keyboards to anything from computers to fire TVs, BT speakers, adapters for older receivers… They all suck. Multiple phones, devices and cars. (although the 2012 Chrysler was the worst so far, and the 2021 Subaru is better)

        • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          11 days ago

          BT on my 2016 Subaru has been solid. Actually there’s some sort of bad connection in the data path so the BT is more reliable than the wired connection

      • ggppjj@lemmy.worldEnglish
        66·
        11 days ago

        Until we can finally kill HSP/HFP, I’m never gonna be happy with Bluetooth. Using a headset mic shouldn’t blast you back to the telephone era.

          • ggppjj@lemmy.worldEnglish
            18·
            11 days ago

            It’s the Handset Protocol/Handsfree Protocol that was developed for simultaneous sending and receiving of voice data. They’re the only protocols that support sending and receiving voice at the same time, and they do that by sending mono telephone quality audio and receiving mono telephone quality audio.

            It’s why most gaming headsets, even ones with Bluetooth, include a small RF dongle separately. Bluetooth is technically incapable of high-quality audio when recording.

    • subtext@lemmy.worldEnglish
      132·
      11 days ago

      I mean my AirPods are fantastic. I think they’re great at playing my podcasts and I’ve not had any problems with random disconnects. Granted I’ve only ever used them with my phone but still.

      • flames5123@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        11 days ago

        Exactly. I just click a button on my laptop and it pairs. Start playing a video on my phone? It instantly jumps to my phone. No lag, no pairing waiting. Didn’t want that? Click the “connect” button on the laptop bc it just noticed that it jumped to my phone. My Apple TV notices when the AirPods are around. Did I ever have to pair them to the Apple TV? No! They’re connected to my account and can see the other devices easily.

        • boonhet@lemm.eeEnglish
          91·
          11 days ago

          This shit right here is why people buy Apple. You sell your soul to the devil and get convenience in return.

          Don’t get me wrong - both my work laptop and my gaming PC run Linux. But my phone is still an iPhone and if I ever have need for a personal laptop again, it’s gonna be a Macbook Air again.

          • stephen01king@lemmy.zipEnglish
            3·
            11 days ago

            I get the same seamless switching on my cheap soundcore headphone, so it’s not just Apple devices that can do this. What Apple is good at is consistency in its reliability. On other ecosystem, it can be a hit and a miss.

          • flames5123@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            10 days ago

            Exactly. I fuck with software and device issues all day at work. I don’t want my free time to always be fucking with my phone. I was jailbroken for so long back in the day but it’s just a hassle now when I just want to go home and relax.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        14·
        11 days ago

        Shiny new AirPods + shiny new iPhone = minimal issues. Certainly preferable to cords for many, even if no dongle were required for many corded headphones.

        In fact AirPods + iPhones have been all but rock solid for years, at least since first gen kinks were worked out… so five years worth of high reliability.

        • pixely@lemmy.worldEnglish
          7·
          11 days ago

          My AirPod Pros have also worked perfectly on my Linux PCs - just as solid as connecting to an Apple device.

          • brbposting@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            10 days ago

            That is great to hear. Do you still have to pay the Apple tax if you want the full experience of say using your computer with the AirPods, getting a phone call which pauses your music and having them automatically switch over to the phone until you end the call?

      • MisterD@lemmy.caEnglish
        121·
        10 days ago

        Apple uses a modified version of Bluetooth

        Edit: for Apple-only version

        • vaionko@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          514·
          11 days ago

          No one uses standard bluetooth. I’m pretty sure it can only transfer files in its base form

          • zik@lemmy.worldEnglish
            21·
            11 days ago

            That’s absolutely not true. Bluetooth has many “profiles” which define different capabilities. Here’s a list of them. These are all defined in the official bluetooth standards.

            Maybe you were thinking of the “core specification” which defines the underlying protocol but doesn’t define the profiles? But that’s just the way they broke up the spec documents. The profiles are still official parts of bluetooth.

            Apple’s proprietary extensions for audio are not part of any official specification though.

            • vaionko@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              8·
              11 days ago

              Thank you for the correction. I was indeed thinking of the profiles and misremembered how it all works.

    • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      202·
      11 days ago

      I have had no pairing issues with anything since 5.0. Also, a good set of buds 5.2 or more doesn’t have much lag. I wouldn’t pc game with it, but beyond that it’s good. Vlc let’s you easily offset audio and whatever netflix does stays synced real nice for me.

    • Artyom@lemm.eeEnglish
      425·
      9 days ago

      Don’t forget that the data bandwidth is so low it can’t play higher quality mp3s.

      • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radioEnglish
        37·
        11 days ago

        Depends on the particular device. LDAC has been around for years and supports higher bitrates than mp3s (assuming we’re putting 320kbps mp3s in the “higher quality” category)

        • vividspecter@lemm.eeEnglish
          18·
          11 days ago

          LDAC is a very inefficient codec, and isn’t lossless even at its highest bitrate. But they are all close to perceptually lossless even at relatively low bitrates so it’s a much of muchness.

    • filcuk@lemmy.zipEnglish
      2·
      11 days ago

      I mean, yes, depending on the signal strength and interference. Can’t have tiny, efficient, powerful, reliable and wireless all. There are gonna be compromises.

      Any decent earphones will offer different codec and encoding support for high quality, good connection, or best latency.

      • CombatWombat1212@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        10 days ago

        Who are you, mr Bluetooth??

        Just kidding I hear ya, it just sucks from a UX standpoint but the world ain’t magic. I just wish we kept aux jacks at the very least smh

  • pulaskiwasright@lemmy.mlEnglish
    31·
    10 days ago

    Will this centimeter level tracking only work for paired devices or will retailers be tracking us even more closely now.