Does Bluetooth 5.x / LE Audio also improve calls? (HSP/HFP profiles)

user_1872399 0
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This article describes my main annoyance with Bluetooth: They are perfectly fine for listening to music with AptX (and the new LC3).

But till now, it was impossible to replace a "traditional" headset (whether wired or with a proprietary USB dongle) with a bluetooth headset because as soon as you activate the mic, it switches to the HSP/HFP profiles, which use low bitrate, bad codec mono audio, and quality drops to terrible.

That means I can't drop into discord and watch a movie. (Well I can, but audio will suck)

Has there been any progress on this with Bluetooth 5.x / Bluetooth LE Audio? Have the HSP/HFP profiles been updated to also use LC3, or are there new bi-directional profiles?

bluetooth
2 Answers
user_18723990

The LE audio website hilariously only focuses on hearing aids. The information content regarding microphone quality is damn near 0 (and the spec isn't out yet), but in one side remark of a talk there was a slight hint that microphone quality could be better.

This impression is aided by the new architecture allowing high quality audio and some microphone transmission simultaneously. The use case presented was talking to a voice assistant while listening to music, but one can hope it'll also apply to acceptable quality voice calls.

However, as for some reason regarding the topic, none of the so far available press releases by Qualcomm or Nordic Semiconductor are mentioning this as a feature.

user_28507700
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