Bose is planning to add 24-bit audio to QuietComfort Earbuds II (QCE II) in spring 2023 via Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound.

The company announced the news at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit that was held in Hawaii.

Snapdragon Sound takes advantage of the company’s processors, Bluetooth audio SoCs, and codecs like aptX Adaptive to achieve playback of hi-fi music up to 24-bit 96kHz and aptX Lossless, which is capable of delivering bit-perfect playback at 16-bit/44.1kHz CD quality.

These are the codecs that QCE II will be using as well.

 

In fact, Bose was already using Qualcomm’s S5 sound platform inside the QCE II.

After Snapdragon Sound launch last year, James Chapman, Qualcomm’s VP of voice, music, and wearables, described it as “a chain of audio innovations and software” to improve audio quality when listening to music through wireless headphones, earbuds, and other devices and offer “high-resolution, wired quality audio, wirelessly.”

The certification also means the earbuds will offer very low-latency performance when conditions require it — as low as 48 milliseconds — and they will support aptX Voice for better-sounding voice calls.

This is quite an upgrade for QCE II which listeners are already happy with, so it will be interesting to note the improvement in performance next year.