Author: DOuG pRATt

For something that was intended to be simple, Bluetooth audio presents some difficult challenges. The one device I have that doesn’t give me trouble with Bluetooth audio is a lowly Amazon Fire HD10 tablet I bought a few years ago for $75.

Windows has never displayed the Bluetooth audio codec that it negotiates with another device, let alone provide an option to select a preference. My Sony Bluetooth speaker supports AAC and aptX, in addition to the required SBC codec. Windows 10 supported Qualcomm’s aptX audio, but Windows 11 doesn’t.

When playing videos, my Dell laptop PC with a Qualcomm arm64 processor has a significant audio sync problem with my Sony Bluetooth speaker. Because Windows 11 doesn’t support aptX, I have to assume it’s resorting to AAC. That must have also been happening with the Lenovo laptop that has since been moved downstairs. I don’t know why its Intel i7 x64 architecture doesn’t have the Bluetooth AAC sync problem.

I put a cheap Bluetooth adapter on the aux port of the Sony speaker. It supports only SBC, and there was no sync problem. I would have continued using the adapter, but Windows has a nasty habit of disconnecting connections that are idle. The Sony speaker has a switch in back that keeps its side of the connection open, even when there’s no audio stream. Occasionally it fails, probably due to Windows refusing reconnection, but it usually works.

So, what I wanted was the ability to select SBC and, ideally, Qualcomm aptX within Windows 11. It’s ironic aptX doesn’t work, considering the laptop is running a Qualcomm Snapdragon Plus processor.

Bluetooth Goodies to the rescue.

https://www.bluetoothgoodies.com/a2dp/

I asked about support for arm64 and added an e-mail address to their mailing list. I must not have been the only one asking about Windows on arm64, because soon afterward there was a beta version of a driver to try. While I was in the process of confirming it did what I wanted it to do, a WiFi problem came up. I’m not certain it was related, but I removed the driver anyway, by returning to a system restore point I had set.

Later, Bluetooth Goodies said a release version of the driver was available. I installed it and, so far, it’s been okay. The connection is using aptX, and there is no audio sync mismatch. If nothing comes up before the end of the trial period I’ll buy a license.

Food isn’t the only thing that can be overly processed. I was surprised and pleased to hear this segment on Marketplace, about the “improvements” that are found in the latest televisions.

Computer monitors continue to “look correct,” but television technology is going in the wrong direction, as far as I’m concerned. 8K? Really? But is returning to the old, discontinued plasma technology the best way to go? For some, but not for me.

A couple of friends have plasma TV’s (you know who you are!). They continue to use them and are pleased with the picture quality. I once tried a plasma TV, but for whatever reason, my eyes with cataract replacement lenses had trouble with it, as I explained at the time.

Plasmatic reaction

This video shows the effect of phosphor lag that, I suspect, some models of plasma TVs had more than others.

I see HDR (high dynamic range) as being another industry misstep, like 3D TV was. The idea seems to be that too bright isn’t bright enough. As I have said multiple times, I am happily hanging in with my two Samsung LCD/CFL sets and my very beloved JVC video projector. No HDR, no 3D, no motion smoothing, and no built-in “intelligence.”