Shopping for a pair of wi-fi earbuds often entails deciding between a legacy audio model and the corporate that makes your smartphone. Audio stalwarts like Sony and Bose make compelling choices, just like the Sony WF-1000XM6. Nonetheless, there is a main incentive to select a telephone and earbuds from the identical firm — like an iPhone and AirPods, a Google Pixel and Pixel Buds, or a Samsung Galaxy and Galaxy Buds. When paired collectively, telephones and earbuds made by the identical model provide unique options you will not discover if you happen to combine and match.
If you happen to purchase a Samsung telephone and a pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds, you may unlock an additional audio codec: the Samsung Seamless Codec Extremely Excessive High quality (SSC UHQ) codec. This mode is not enabled by default, and turning it on requires tapping by means of a number of settings menus — that is how most Galaxy customers miss it. Whenever you allow it, your Samsung telephone and linked Galaxy Buds can stream hi-res audio with the next sampling fee, bit depth, and bitrate than the default SBC or AAC codecs. That is the way it works, how one can allow it, and whether or not it is even value it.
Galaxy units have a high-res audio codec
If you happen to do not use it, you are defaulting to lossy SBC or AAC
Credit score: Brady Snyder / MakeUseOf
Bluetooth audio is inherently lossy and compressed, however there are a couple of wi-fi audio codecs that declare to ship hi-res audio or lossless audio with no cable. The most well-liked two are Sony’s LDAC and Qualcomm’s aptX suite. Each so-called lossless Bluetooth audio codecs include caveats. LDAC is essentially the most suitable, supported by a variety of audio merchandise and host units, however it tends to stutter or turn into unreliable at its most 990kbps bitrate. aptX Lossless, by comparability, gives the best most bitrate of any Bluetooth audio codec however is uncommon and solely accessible on a handful of earbuds.
Folks are likely to overlook about Samsung’s hi-res audio codec, referred to as the Samsung Scaleable Codec (SSC). It’s kind of complicated, as a result of you’ve the older Samsung Scaleable Codec and the newer Samsung Seamless Codec constructed atop it — the latter contains the Extremely Excessive High quality (UHQ) mode for Galaxy telephones and Galaxy Buds. This codec helps dynamic bitrate changes between 88kbps and 512kbps. That would go larger when utilizing SSC UHQ, as Samsung hasn’t printed an official most bitrate for that codec.
Credit score: Brady Snyder / MakeUseOf
What we do know is that SSC UHQ helps 24-bit/96kHz audio high quality on the Galaxy Buds 3, Galaxy Buds 3 Professional, Galaxy Buds 4, and Galaxy Buds 4 Professional. To make use of it, you may want to attach with a Galaxy S23, Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy Tab S9, Galaxy Z TriFold, or any newer units in these lineups. SSC UHQ additionally requires One UI 6.1.1 or larger.
Because the Galaxy Buds do not help extra suitable hi-res audio codecs like LDAC or LHDC, customers are left with the lossy AAC and SBC codecs if they do not manually make the change to SSC UHQ. AAC is notoriously unreliable on Android units, and SBC gives a low bitrate and excessive compression. As such, SSC UHQ may be the one Bluetooth codec value utilizing on Galaxy earbuds.
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This audio format is definitely higher than lossless
Lossless codecs like ALAC and FLAC seize headlines, however AAC is the very best audio format for many on a regular basis listeners.
Pair a Galaxy telephone with Galaxy earbuds to make use of it
UHQ audio is not enabled by default, and it solely works with Galaxy units
Switching to the SSC UHQ audio codec is trickier than you may count on. It is hidden behind a number of pages within the One UI 8.5 Settings app, and also you’d most likely by no means encounter it with out particularly looking for it out. To seek out it, pair your Galaxy Buds 3 or Galaxy Buds 4 collection earbuds with a supported Samsung telephone or pill and open the Settings app. Right here, you may have to faucet the Galaxy Buds tab that solely seems beneath your Samsung account data when the earbuds are linked.
Faucet Sound high quality and results, and you will find options like 360 Audio, Loudness normalization, and App sound settings. Nonetheless, the toggle we’re in search of is beneath the Superior high quality choices tab. Tapping this tab opens a brand new web page with the Extremely Excessive High quality (UHQ) Audio toggle. Flip it to modify from AAC or SBC to SSC UHQ, unlocking higher sound.
Samsung does warn that “sound response might lag in some apps” when utilizing the SSC UHQ mode. This is not unusual when utilizing higher-fidelity Bluetooth audio codecs with a extra demanding bitrate. Do not forget that utilizing SSC UHQ will use extra battery, so count on a shorter listening time when utilizing hi-res audio playback.
Now, you are prepared to begin streaming in hi-res audio — take into account you need to play again or stream hi-res supply information for the utmost profit. Taking part in FLAC information saved on-device or utilizing a hi-res lossless streaming service like Apple Music, Tidal, or Amazon Music Limitless will yield the very best outcomes.
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Need to use Apple Music or Spotify’s lossless audio help? You will want some additional gear to take advantage of it.
Is it actually lossless, and may you hear the distinction?
No, however which may not matter due to the effectivity of SSC
Credit score: Brady Snyder / MakeUseOf
Hello-res audio and lossless audio are generally confused phrases, however they are not the identical. Hello-res is brief for “high-resolution,” and it represents audio sources with a constancy larger than CD-quality, which is 16-bit/44.1kHz. Samsung’s SSC UHQ listening mode is certainly hi-res audio because it helps 24-bit/96kHz playback. Nonetheless, lossless playback requires greater than a excessive bit depth and pattern fee — it additionally wants an audio codec with a excessive sufficient bitrate to breed these hi-res information with out compression artifacts or high quality loss.
The perfect bitrate for an audio file is decided by multiplying the recording’s bit depth by its pattern fee and channel depend. So, for a CD-quality file encoded as 16-bit/44.1kHz in stereo, you’d need a bitrate of roughly 1411kbps or larger. There is a bit extra to the story than that, as a result of encoding processes can cut back the perfect bitrate of a file by means of a course of referred to as lossless compression. In different phrases, the pointless or inaudible audio particulars — often these past the scope of human listening to — are tossed out to create a compressed FLAC or ALAC file that’s nonetheless “lossless.”
This explains why Bluetooth cannot be really lossless, even after we’re speaking about earbuds just like the Galaxy Buds and their UHQ mode. Bluetooth codecs might by no means play again 24-bit/96kHz audio on the bitrates required to keep away from compression. That is not essentially a foul factor, although. Compression is ok whether it is “clear,” which suggests the audio sign hasn’t been meaningfully altered in a means people can hear. You possibly can compress 24-bit/96kHz audio utilizing the SSC UHQ codec and nonetheless get a clear listening expertise.
To sum up, SSC UHQ on Samsung Galaxy Buds is not lossless and never everybody will be capable to hear the distinction. It is okay if you happen to do not, however some folks will. In comparison with SBC and AAC, utilizing SSC UHQ on the Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 4 collection actually improves high quality. If you’d like higher sound, have a hi-res streaming or playback supply, and are prepared to reside with shorter battery life, it is completely value enabling it.
IP ranking
IP57
Supported codecs
AAC, SBC, SSC UHQ
Spatial Audio
Samsung 360 Audio
Options
9-band EQ
Particular characteristic
24-bit/96kHz audio
The Galaxy Buds 4 Professional are Samsung’s newest and finest truly-wireless earbuds. They characteristic a two-way speaker, ANC 2.0, reside translation, and hi-res audio help. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Professional work with the Samsung Seamless Codec and its Extremely Excessive High quality mode when paired with a Samsung system.
