Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon Sound for Better Sound on Mobile Devices

Chip manufacturer Qualcomm introduces Snapdragon Sound. With this platform, the company unites various technologies under one umbrella and aims to improve the sound experience on mobile devices.

The Snapdragon Sound platform focuses on better sound quality, a more stable wireless connection, preventing signal interference from other Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, low latency audio, easy pairing and minimal energy consumption.

If a smartphone wants to support Snapdragon Sound, it must contain a mobile chipset from the 800 series in combination with the FastConnect 6900 connectivity system. Bluetooth headphones and earbuds must use the QCC514x, QCC515x or QCC3056 series socs.

Snapdragon Sound uses the following codecs and technologies, according to Qualcomm: aptX Adaptive codec that achieves 24-bit 96kHz audio with a low latency of 89ms, the aptX Voice codec for enhanced vocal sound, Aqstic audio codec and Qualcomm’s proprietary Active Noise Canceling Technology. The platform also supports the WCD938x and WSA883x smart speaker chipsets.

It is still unclear whether future devices that receive the Snapdragon certificate will also support all the above codecs and technologies. According to Qualcomm, the Chinese Xiaomi and the Japanese Audio-Technica have already signed up for Snapdragon Sound. “With the Snapdragon Sound platform, our dream of offering wired audio quality wirelessly is now one step closer,” said Kotaro Narihara, Audio-Technica’s general manager of marketing.