Key Takeaways
- Qualcomm has introduced new audio platforms, the S7 and S7 Professional, that provide improved ANC and different capabilities for headphones and earbuds.
- The S7 Professional, particularly, introduces micro-power Wi-Fi, permitting customers to have prolonged vary and hearken to music or make calls with out staying near the supply machine.
- These platforms provide enhanced audio experiences and assist options like lossless music streaming, however customers will want appropriate earbuds/headphones and telephones outfitted with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.
You are most likely already very aware of the title Qualcomm. It is the corporate that builds a number of the finest smartphone chips and modems round, together with these that may go into the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. However it’s additionally an organization that makes smaller, lesser-known chips like those that may energy your headphones or earbuds. And it is these chips that may very well be about to alter the best way we use our headphones ceaselessly.
Introduced throughout the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit 2023 occasion, the brand new S7 and S7 Professional platforms are designed to provide headphones and earbuds new capabilities, together with improved ANC options and extra. However whereas there are a number of enhancements throughout each chips, it is the S7 Professional that may little doubt seize probably the most consideration. As a result of it has the potential to alter how we hearken to music, watch content material, and make telephone calls in a method that maybe final occurred with the arrival of the very first AirPods.
Overlook Bluetooth, it is all about Wi-Fi
Qualcomm shared particulars about its plans via a press release, saying that the brand new platforms are designed for earbuds, headphones, and audio system. Each the S7 and S7 Professional are the corporate’s “most superior audio platforms ever, which with the mixture of high-performance, low energy compute, on-device AI, and superior connectivity will ignite a brand new period of audio innovation to ship breakthrough person experiences.” That every one sounds spectacular, of that there is no doubt. However it’s once you get to the S7 Professional and discuss of Wi-Fi that issues get attention-grabbing.
“The S7 Professional additionally consists of micro-power Wi-Fi to increase the vary of audio units far past what is feasible in the present day utilizing solely Bluetooth – permitting customers to stroll round a house, constructing, or campus whereas listening to music or making calls,” Qualcomm says. The thought is that you’ll hearken to music, make telephone calls, and extra additional away from the supply machine. No extra having to remain comparatively near your telephone or pc – as long as you’ve gotten Wi-Fi, all the pieces will work. And you will profit from precise lossless audio as effectively, bypassing the info bandwidth limitations enforced by Bluetooth.
“These platforms set a brand new benchmark for high-performance sound at ultra-low energy. They’re filled with premium applied sciences that work along with on-device AI to ship immersive and personalised audio experiences wherever you go – whether or not in a gathering, socializing, gaming, listening to music or simply needing some quiet time,” Dino Bekis, vice chairman and normal supervisor, Wearables and Blended Alerts Options, mentioned by way of that press launch. “The S7 Professional Platform with our micro-power Wi-Fi and revolutionary Qualcomm XPAN know-how additional transforms the sound expertise by enabling complete residence and constructing audio protection, assist for as much as 192kHz multi-channel lossless music streaming and enhanced multi-channel spatial audio for gaming.”
You’ll, nonetheless, have to be utilizing earbuds or headphones with this tech put in, however that is not all. You may additionally want a telephone operating Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which will not land in telephones till early 2024. That additionally guidelines out iPhones, so Apple customers must hope that the identical lossless audio function AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) have when linked to the Vision Pro headset will roll out additional in the end.
As for everybody else, these new audio chips will not arrive in new merchandise for just a few months but – so telephone makers ought to have loads of time to get their geese in a row, too.
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