Alex Klassen

mus 406 K. McNally

November 5, 2016

Is wireless ready for the world?

For my research paper I propose to look into the state of bluetooth technology in the audio
world. The subject is becoming increasingly pertinent as companies with large stakes in the
Bluetooth protocol push consumers towards wireless audio peripherals. While the technology has
been dogged for years by latency issues that kept it at or below CD quality and therefore
unusable for studio purposes, the question of whether the transmission is an improvement over
the current 1/8th inch headphone jack is relevant at the base consumer level. I aim to test the
frequency and time response of transmission over bluetooth against 1/8th inch jack transmission
and compare both against a control signal. I will also give a historical overview of developments
in bluetooth technology.
For reference I will consult the bluetooth standard and accompanying documentation at
bluetooth.com and several papers from the AES including:
Bluetooth and Wireless Networking: A Primer for Audio Engineers J. Audio Engineering
Society, vol. 50 no. 2, Nov 2002 http://www.aes.org/journal/sample_issue/
JAES_V50_11_PG979.pdf
J. McClintock Can Bluetooth ever replace the Wire? AES convention paper 9538, May
2016 http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=18236
G. Spittle The Applications and Challenges of Processing Audio Over Bluetooth, UK
23rd Conference: Music Everywhere, April 2008 http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?
elib=17305

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