Qualcomm has just introduced its S7 and S7 Pro chips for wireless earphones and headsets. Next-generation circuits that promise better sound quality and more stable, latency-free transmission via their Wi-Fi connection
If Qualcomm is well known for its processors for smartphones – the famous Snapdragon SoCs which equip many high-end models – the American company is also a key player in the wireless audio market. Headphones and earphones wireless from Jabra, Bose or even Sennheiser are often powered by its chips which provide a multitude of functions, in particular active noise reduction – ANC for Active Noise Cancellation, in English, this signal processing technology which suppresses ambient noise. And Qualcomm intends to go even further in this area to maintain its privileged position in the market. On the occasion of its annual event, the Snapdragon Summit, the manufacturer unveiled its latest innovations in this area, and more precisely its new chips for high-end wireless headphones and earphones, the S7 and S7 Pro. Powered by AI, they will allow a direct connection via Wi-Fi, in addition to Bluetooth: a solution which promises both a larger broadcast radius and better quality sound, without latency.
Qualcomm S7: next-level sound
The S7 and S7 Pro Gen 1 Sound chips are Qualcomm’s most advanced audio platforms to date. According to the company, they offer six times more computing power, three times more memory for sound signal processing (DSP) circuits, and nearly one hundred times more artificial intelligence power than the company’s platforms. previous generation, which will be useful for analyzing ambient noise. Qualcomm also took advantage of its event to announce the arrival of its fourth generation of active noise reduction which, coupled with the new hardware architecture, supports low-latency, multi-channel and low-speed active noise cancellation. energy consumption. In addition, cores are entirely dedicated to “curation”, that is to say the identification and classification of surrounding noise, to improve active noise reduction or compensation of hearing loss from personalized sound .
The S7 and S7 Pro benefit from an adaptive transparent mode, which adjusts according to surrounding noises – very useful for staying aware of what is happening around us while continuing to listen to music. A bit like Apple’s Adaptive Audio mode found on the AirPods Pro 2 in the end! In addition, the new chips have a core dedicated to sound processing by machine learning and support the Bluetooth 5.4 standard with its Auracast extension. Enough to improve sound quality while reducing energy consumption!
Qualcomm S7 Pro: direct connection via the Wi-Fi network
But as incredible as it is, the most interesting new feature undoubtedly comes from the Qualcomm S7 Pro platform. In fact, this chip benefits, in addition to Bluetooth, from a new technology called Expanded Personal Area Network (XPAN) which makes it possible to obtain a stable, latency-free connection. To do this, XPAN uses the Wi-Fi network when the Bluetooth range is no longer sufficient. So earphones or headsets equipped with the S7 Pro chip are designed to switch from directly connecting to the phone or laptop to connecting via the Wi-Fi network when out of Bluetooth range . Enough to avoid disconnecting the wireless audio device when you are too far from the smartphone, tablet or PC connected to Bluetooth. Better yet, as Wi-Fi offers a wider bandwidth than Bluetooth, this mode would, according to Qualcomm, allow the transmission of an audio signal without loss (lossless) at 48 and even 96 kHz: enough to ensure audiophile-type sound quality, significantly higher than what the classic lossy compression codecs used for Bluetooth allow.
Obviously, this XPAN technology is not perfect. Since the sound signal will pass through the Wi-Fi network, the smartphone must be connected to Wi-Fi. Also, the function cannot be used while traveling or on public transport, i.e. say in 4G or 5G. In addition, to benefit from it, the phone must be compatible with the technology, and therefore must be equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which the manufacturer has just presented. Finally, obviously, the headphones must be equipped with an S7 Pro chip. Suffice to say that only a handful of high-end devices will be able to benefit from it at first. You will therefore not only have to wait before discovering the first compatible products, but also have a smartphone and compatible headphones or headphones to take advantage of XPAN. In short, it’s incredible, but it’s not within the reach of the first user – or the wallet – who comes along!