LC3plus Certified for Hi-Res Audio Wireless by Japan Audio Society

The LC3plus codec, co-invented and licensed by Fraunhofer IIS, has received the Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification logo issued by the Japan Audio Society, following an extensive objective and subjective testing process. This shows that LC3plus High-Resolution meets the criteria set by the Japan Audio Society, in particular the support of a 96kHz sampling rate, at least 24 bits per audio sample, and the ability to reproduce frequencies of 40kHz and above.

Japan Audio Society (JAS), the internationally respected audio research organization, has certified MQA's new SCL6 scalable codec for use with its Hi-Res Audio Wireless logo. This new codec carries the technical name of SCL6 and is coming to market as MQair. In the announcement, JAS confirmed that both the new SCL6 (MQA) and LC3plus (Fraunhofer IIS) codecs will receive this new level of certification, created specifically for wireless audio, and expanding the existing Hi-Res Audio certification.

This article is a review of the recently distributed book, Introducing Bluetooth LE Audio, by Nick Hunn, Chair of the Bluetooth SIG Hearing Aid Working Group, Vice Chair of the Generic Audio Working Group and a key contributor to the Bluetooth LE Audio specifications. This is an important book for everyone who wants to understand Bluetooth LE Audio. But has the industry momentum for Bluetooth LE Audio been lost? Two years after the original Bluetooth LE Audio announcement in 2020, all we have is a Book.

In order to meet the quality expectations of their users, high-end consumer electronics manufacturer Bang & Olufsen decided on the new open standard LC3plus codec from Fraunhofer IIS for their wireless streaming devices. LC3plus is currently the most advanced solution that combines support for high-resolution audio with low delay. LC3plus has been standardized by ETSI as TS 103 634, and is the first solution to support high-resolution music streaming services also over wireless accessories.

audioXpress is proud to publish a contributed article by Manfred Lutzky, Head of Audio for Communications at Fraunhofer IIS, Audio and Media Technologies division and one of the members of the team responsible for the development of state-of-the-art speech and audio communication codecs such as EVS, AAC-ELD, and LC3/LC3plus. In this article, he provides a valuable perspective about the technologies and audio codecs that we depend upon to make audio and video conferencing calls. This article was originally published in audioXpress, October 2020.