compatibility with the new LE Audio Bluetooth is going to change a lot of things in the world of wireless audio, and the upcoming AirPods Pro 2 may debut it soon.
Presented in 2020, the global pandemic has delayed its implementation, but the new LE Audio is here to stay and will bring important changes that will considerably improve the experience of using wireless headphones. LE Audio is a new standard that is ready for manufacturers to start adding it to their devices and that replaces the Bluetooth Classic used until now.
One of the first advantages is the lower energy consumption, something that manufacturers can take advantage of to make your devices smaller, or to make batteries last even longer. The generalization of charging cases with integrated battery in True Wireless headphones has made the battery stop being a major problem, but it is always good news to know that the autonomy of a portable device is greater.
The other big improvement will come from the hand of the sound quality. LE Audio is powered by the new low-power, high-quality LC3 codec. It replaces the classic SBC codec and will allow higher sound quality at the same bit rate, even with half the speed the quality will be better (always according to theory) than with the classic SBC. Surely the most audiophiles will be quite skeptical of this statement, and they do not lack reasons to be. Will have to check when it's available.
The improvements do not stop there, because we will be able to connect several headphones to the same source Sound. Yes, we can now connect an iPhone to a pair of AirPods, but we're talking "several" not just two, and you won't be restricted to AirPods, any compatible headset will be able to do it. The change of device will also be history. We already know the automatic change of the AirPods when connecting to our iPhone and iPad, for example, but now it will not be automatic, it is that there will be no change directly, there will be no interruptions since your headphones will be simultaneously connected to your iPhone and iPad, or Mac.
The new AirPods Pro 2 could be unveiled at the iPhone launch event, and there's little doubt they'll support this new standard. There has even been talk of Apple would be preparing a new HiRes codec to be able to listen to "lossless" (or nearly so) audio via Bluetooth.