How can I tell if Bluetooth audio is using lossless AptX coded on my Windows 10? My computer - Lenovo T430s - is connected to a Philips AEA2700 receiver.
16 Answers
My LG HBS-730 headset supports aptX and it has a indirect indication to tell whether the headset is connected with aptX codec. Just press and hold the volume up and down buttons simultaneously for 1 second, this is supposed to switch EQs, but has no effect if aptX is working, although you can still hear the beep sound.
Using this method, I found that my regular Intel Bluetooth adapter in Skull Canyon NUC on Windows 10 is actually connected to my headset with aptX codec.
I've no idea whether this has restriction on the Bluetooth adapter hardware, but the built-in adapter of NUC is such a common chipset which is widely used in most Windows laptops.
First of all, your bluetooth audio receiver (Philips AEA2700) supports decoding aptX. That's listed in its specification.
Then it comes to the transmitter. AFAIK there are two types of transmitter for bluetooth audio.
The first type is a USB audio class device (i.e. a USB sound card) with hardware codec. Examples are the ones from Creative, such as BT-W2.
For this type of transmitter, you can safely assume that it will automatically use the "best" codec (i.e. aptX Low-Latency > aptX > SBC) available on both itself and the receiver. And I don't suppose you have ways other than checking its specification to know whether aptX is available.
The second type is a general bluetooth transmitter that supports the A2DP profile. The ones that are equipped in laptops are pretty much always of this type.
This type of transmitter usually relies on software codec(s), which are provided its driver / software stack, such as CSR Harmony.
Take CSR Harmony as an example, when it is used to connect to a aptX-capable receiver, an aptX logo with text such as "You are now connected to an aptX-enabled headset" will pop up for a while.
It appears to me that CSR Harmony has been discontinued though. If true, one of the reasons could be the fact that Windows 10 has aptX codec built in, according to this. I have yet to notice any other indication that aptX will be used if you use the Windows-builtin bluetooth driver / stack though.
P.S. aptX is NOT a lossless codec.
2It's an old thread, but the situation hasn't changed much since then. So here you go.
I created an application that displays CODEC information (device capability and the OS selection). It's still in beta, but if you're interested, you can download from the following site:
4You can log which codec is being used with the Windows Performance Toolkit in the Windows ADK
3I have the same problem, there is no indication of aptX. Here is my work around. Watching youtube video, e.g. drummer, piano... If video/audio delay is minimal, aptX is working. Is there a visible difference between audio and video, then aptX is off. My results:
LG G4 + Philips AEA2700 = aptX ON!
Medion 1232t with Win10 and original Microsoft bluetooth driver + Philips AEA2700 = aptX OFF
1There are two requirements to have the AptX codec working. First, you must have a bluetooth driver of Windows 10 supporting AptX codec from Lenovo company. Second, your Philips AEA2700 receiver can support the AptX codec. You can tell from the specification of the receiver, or see if there is a AptX mark on the receiver or not.
If there is no AptX mark, then your receiver is not support the AptX codec. If Lenovo company does not provide the bluetooth driver supporting AptX codec, then the AptX codec can not work. Only if these two requirements are meeting, you can hear music through the AptX codec. If one of them is missing, you can not.
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