Not surprisingly, I could hear a difference between them. To put that in perspective, aptX Lossless uses more than 300% more bandwidth at 1 megabit per second (1,000 Kbps). It is a good codec, but it’s been around a long time and it has a hard limit on its bitrate when used with Bluetooth of 320 kilobits per second (Kbps). The iPhone uses the AAC codec when available, and the NuraTrue Pro supports AAC. My first comparison was between the Asus Zenfone 9 and an iPhone 14. My job was to listen to the same 15- to 20-second clip from a specific track twice, and then tell her which one sounded better to me. For all I knew, she could have been using the same phone for each track or a different phone. Sitting in a quiet room, with the volume set to 60% on each device, my daughter volunteered as DJ and pressed play and pause on each track, never telling me which phone I was listening to. To perform the test, I took advantage of the NuraTrue Pro’s Bluetooth Multipoint capabilities to connect them simultaneously to two phones at once. It doesn’t matter if your devices work with AAC, aptX, LDAC, aptX HD, or any number of other Bluetooth codecs - they’re all lossy, which means that some of the original information from the music playing on your phone was being sacrificed in order to fit down the fairly narrow wireless pipe that is Bluetooth.

Bluetooth audio always has used what’s known as “lossy” compression. The low-down on lossless Simon Cohen / Digital Trendsįirst, a quick recap on aptX Lossless and why you should care. A few weeks ago, however, Nura took pity on me and sent me an Asus Zenfone 9, and I was finally able to put the NuraTrue Pro through their paces.Īs it turns out, I probably could have written the full review without the Zenfone. Like all Bluetooth codecs, aptX Lossless needs to be supported on both ends - the earbuds and the phone - and I didn’t have an aptX Lossless smartphone. ANC, calling, controls, and battery life.

Lossless cut video