Defining the future of wireless audio, with Snapdragon Sound and our new earbud platforms [video]

Sound is more important than ever, as it’s at the heart of so many of our technology interactions – like making calls, playing games, listening to our favorite music, and watching video clips on social media.

In fact, research from our 2021 State of Sound Report indicates that 62 percent of smartphone users now rely on their audio devices as part of their daily lives. In 2021, use of true wireless earbuds increased across all activities, illustrating the acceleration of all-day wear behavior, and listeners’ diversifying requirements for sound. More importantly, and unsurprisingly, 73 percent of smartphone users say listening to music has a positive effect on their wellbeing – which is why we believe the benefit of premium sound experiences should be shared by all.

Underpinning these ever-evolving adoption trends are advances in sound technology, like the studio master sound quality offered by Snapdragon Sound technology. An optimized chain of audio software, Snapdragon Sound brings together the best audio, connectivity, and mobile innovations designed to provide a premium, low-latency, robust sound experience for music, calls, and gaming.

It's because of innovations like these that end-users can benefit from wireless audio devices that deliver sound that's as good as a wired connection. And that their increasingly high expectations for how they experience their technology interactions are being met.

This is why we continue to invent world-leading audio tech, like our two new feature-packed, ultra-low power platforms – the Qualcomm S5 Sound Platform (QCC517x) and Qualcomm S3 Sound Platform (QCC307x) – for true wireless earbuds, speakers, and headsets.

With Snapdragon Sound technology, these platforms include a ton of exciting innovations – and are purposefully designed to help our customers stay one step ahead with the most-wanted features and new use cases in sound, including:

• 16-bit 44.1kHz CD quality lossless audio, a first for wireless earbuds. Demand for lossless sound is growing, and leading streaming services are offering lossless music libraries. It is only possible to achieve CD lossless quality over Bluetooth using a systems level approach like ours. We optimized several of our core audio and Bluetooth technologies to scale up to the bandwidth of over 1.1Mbps needed for lossless music streaming. With this tech on board, these platforms can offer seamless quality scaling – with both CD lossless audio and 24-bit 96kHz high-resolution audio – for truly superior sounding earbuds.
• Stereo recording – for all content creators who will be able to bring their audiences right into the center of their recorded soundscapes by using their true wireless earbuds to capture left and right external audio streams.
• Gaming mode with a voice back channel for in-game chat. At just 68ms low-latency (25 percent lower than our previous gen platforms), this will benefit the rapidly growing majority – 68 percent – of smartphone users who game on a regular basis. Stereo recording and gaming mode are new Snapdragon capabilities based on the LE Audio standard for Bluetooth. These user experiences are driven by the smartphone, and our implementations with dual-mode Bluetooth radio on these new sound platforms are part of a Snapdragon ecosystem that’s optimized across the audio chain. We went beyond the standard to make sure these features are ready for our customers’ real-world applications.
• A superior noise cancellation experience. Baked right into the platform with a dedicated hardware block, our third-gen Qualcomm Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) delivers on active noise cancellation for both performance and behavior. We’ve introduced new sophisticated filters that enable the Qualcomm Adaptive ANC performance to be pushed to the max. The result is stronger, wider, and deeper noise cancelling performance compared to leading competitors, especially at low frequencies and at the peak attenuation range. We’ve also designed this Qualcomm Adaptive ANC for a powerful yet seamless user experience, so it adapts to wind noise, adapts the leak-through depending on the users’ environment, prevents howling noises and provides a consistent level of performance day to day, from user to user, no matter how the earbud fits.

• Incredible, clear-sounding voice calls. Voice calls are important to everyone; and being heard matters just as much as being able to hear on your call. With Qualcomm aptX Voice Audio and Snapdragon Sound technology, these platforms are designed to deliver super wideband voice quality with 32kHz sampled audio and a flat 16kHz frequency response. And we’ve added support for up to 3-microphone Qualcomm cVc Echo Cancelling and Noise Suppression (ECNS) – this tech uses beamforming to cleanly capture the sound of your voice when you talk, so the person listening can hear you perfectly.

We’ve made it possible to deliver all this, and a whole lot more, by re-architecting our flagship ultra-low power Bluetooth audio design to provide double the compute (compared to the previous gen), with no compromise to our ultra-low power performance.

We've also delivered three times the memory in the Qualcomm S5 Sound Platform compared to our previous gen platform, with new optimizations for AI. Not only has this helped our platform be efficient, but our inventive customers now have the ability to implement AI-based audio features.

Snapdragon technology is defining how sound should sound. We’re leading the future of wireless audio, delivering premium sound experiences that smartphone users deserve – and helping our customers stay one step ahead when creating their audio designs.

Learn more about the exciting new Qualcomm S5 Sound Platform and Qualcomm S3 Sound Platform.

Snapdragon, Snapdragon Sound, Qualcomm S5 Sound platform (QCC517x), Qualcomm S3 Sound Platform (QCC307x), Qualcomm aptX, and Qualcomm Adaptive ANC are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.