Samsung’s Unpacked event revealed a number of new devices in the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Watch 5, but among those announcements was a new wireless earphone in the Galaxy Buds Pro 2.
The earbuds come support a new Samsung proprietary technology called Seamless Hi-Fi Codec that, in short, claims to enable a higher quality listening experience over Bluetooth.
For more on how it works and which devices it works with, read our explanation of Samsung’s Seamless Hi-Fi Codec.
What is Samsung Seamless Hi-Fi Codec?
The latest Galaxy Buds Pro earphones come stocked with features such as 360 audio, but what caught our eye was the reveal of Samsung’s updated Seamless Codec.
Called Seamless Hi-Fi Codec, it builds on the Scalable Codec Samsung introduced a few years ago. According to South Korean brand, the codec is able to encode full 24-bit audio, transmit it to the Galaxy Buds Pro 2, which is then able to decode the signal and maintain the 24-bit high quality sound throughout the device chain.
24-bit compared to 16-bit allows for higher resolution, more detail, clarity and improved dynamic range (i.e. the loudness of music). 24-bit is a truer representation of how music was recorded and mastered, retaining more information in the audio signal than 16-bit lossless is able to. From a technical standpoint, sound quality in a 24-bit file should be better.
Samsung hasn’t gone into much more detail about its Seamless Hi-Fi Codec, but the headphones only support SBC and AAC codecs with no aptX HD, LDAC or LHDC support.
What devices does the Seamless Hi-Fi Codec work with?
There is a caveat with the Seamless Hi-Fi in that it only works with Samsung devices. A Samsung Galaxy device with One UI 4.0 or higher is required to listen to 24-bit audio with the earphones.
It also requires audio that’s in 24-bit to transmit it to the Galaxy Buds Pro 2. The likes of Spotify and Deezer won’t provide that, but potentially Tidal Hi-Fi and definitely Qobuz have tracks in 24-bit.