Bluetooth seems to be everywhere, but it may not be the best way to get sound to your Virtual Reality (VR) headset.
Bluetooth Audio Quality: A Showdown! LDAC vs APTX HD vs AAC vs SBC!
A new Apple patent suggests that the company could use optical audio transmission from VR headsets to AirPods. Optical audio systems use fiber optic cables and laser light to send digital audio signals between two devices. Apple is among companies exploring alternatives to Bluetooth for audio.
"While wireless technology is liberating in many ways, it typically offers relatively slow data transfer speeds, with 25 Mbps being the standard," David Ciccarelli, CEO of audio engineering company Voices, told Lifewire in an email interview. "For context, a high-speed Internet connection is considered to be at least 100 Mbps. Simply put, this means that Bluetooth is not an ideal method for transferring large amounts of data, such as video or audio files."
Apple's patent (first noted by Patently Apple) is generic, but suggestive.
