While full-streaming Hi-Res Audio over Bluetooth is still a long way off, audio expert Astell & Kern says it's making the world's first Bluetooth speaker to support LDAC and aptX HD codecs for CD-quality wireless streaming.
It's called the Acro BE100 and it's part of the company's line of ACRO loudspeakers. What makes the BE100 different from other Bluetooth speakers, aside from its codec support at least, is that it uses a dedicated 32-bit Hi-Fi DAC and 55W class-D amplifier, developed in-house by Astell & Kern.
Granted, you still won't be able to hear uncompressed, lossless audio over Bluetooth, because there's currently no way to do that, but you'll hear CD-quality sound, as long as you pair the speaker with a device that supports either codec. like a Google Pixel phone.
The other caveat? At $499 / £449 / AU$549, the Acro BE100 isn't cheap, especially by Bluetooth speaker standards where you can pick up models for under $200. Our current favorite, the Sonos Roam, is just $179, which makes it half the price of what the Acro BE100 will cost when it launches on March 7.
Review: A Bluetooth speaker for audiophiles
We've been talking a lot about audiophile gear lately with our Sennheiser HD 8XX Drop+ and MassDrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX reviews, but it's rare that you hear the words audiophile and Bluetooth speaker in the same sentence. This is simply because wireless audio will always be compressed.
However, what Astell&Kern offers here is a set of options for audiophiles: there's a standard 3,5mm audio jack if you want to listen to your music uncompressed from a digital audio player or PC, but you can also stream it to the speaker using one of two CD-quality codecs for a similar experience.
Inside the box, the Acro BE100 houses a 4-inch Kevlar woofer for precise and solid bass reproduction and two silk dome tweeters. Compared to the single woofer or woofer-tweeter combos you find in other Bluetooth speakers, this should provide a noticeable difference in sound quality. It also helps justify the extravagant cost, which again helps you play for your audiophile audience.
Only time will tell if it can hit that high bar, but given that its units have almost single-handedly kept the digital audio player alive for the past few years, anything could be possible here.