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Many Android phones, including the OnePlus 3, don’t come with the how to Activate aptX HD needed to stream high-quality audio over Bluetooth. Phone makers have to pay a license fee to use the technology, which most of them don’t want to do.
But most phones with Qualcomm chipsets already have the hardware support they need. They just need some proprietary drivers to turn on their latent aptX support. These drivers have now been made and put into a file that is easy to install. Here’s what to do first.
What is aptX HD?
When you stream music over Bluetooth, your devices use something called “Audio Codecs” to compress signals and send them to your Bluetooth device. This determines how good the music is that gets sent wirelessly. A lot of Bluetooth devices use an SBC Codec to stream audio. (which supports a bit rate of max 320kbps). This causes a big drop in the quality of the sound.
Qualcomm came up with aptX and then aptX HD to reduce this loss. aptX HD can handle 24 bits of audio data at 576 kbps. To give you an idea of how big that is, a CD can hold 16-bit audio at a speed of 352kbps. So, you can use your Bluetooth devices to listen to better sound.
But buying headphones that work with aptX HD isn’t enough. You also need it on your music player or smartphone, if that’s how you stream music over Bluetooth. f you’re on an older one (Android Oreo i.e 8.0 or 8.1 OS), you needn’t worry either, these phones support aptX which is really easy to activate. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to:
How to Activate aptX HD on Smartphone
- Go to the ‘Settings’ app. Depending on the phone you are using, you will have to follow one of the following patterns:
About Phone -> Build Number
About Device -> Build Number
About Phone -> Software Information -> Build Number
About -> Software Information -> More -> Build Number - Tap ‘Build Number’ 7 times. Once done, you will get a message telling you that you are now a developer.
- Go to Settings again and look for ‘Developer Options’ on the menu.
- In ‘Developer Options’ select ‘Audio Codec’. You will get a list of all the codecs your phone supports (including aptX).
- Now, simply select aptX, connect your (aptX-enabled) headphone and enjoy high-quality audio in no time.
FAQ
The S22 series also includes aptX HD and LDAC for high-quality wireless audio over Bluetooth, but only supports digital USB Type-C devices, so you’ll need an external DAC for wired audio.
Does Bluetooth 5.0 support aptX? Absolutely. The two technologies were designed to work together perfectly. The only thing you need to check is whether your device supports Bluetooth 5.0 and aptX.
Casual listening: For listening to music, you need a codec that offers high-audio quality that maintains consistency even if you’re away from your phone. aptX and aptX Adaptive are great choices for this purpose. However, if you want the best sound possible, LDAC is the clear winner.
That includes the latest Sony Xperia 1 III, OnePlus 9 Pro and Google Pixel 6 flagship handsets. Notable exceptions include Apple’s iPhones – they don’t support the aptX codec at all – while Samsung’s recent generations of Galaxy and Note devices (including the new Galaxy S22 handsets) support aptX but not aptX HD