S3 Gen 3 is also in, adding more premium Voice and Music perks
Qualcomm has been busy. But then again, when is it ever idle? Today (March 25) the company famous for its wireless solutions, software, and semiconductors has introduced two next-generation Snapdragon Sound offerings to improve the audio experience not just at the premium end of the market, but also to mid-tier earbuds (and possibly even the best budget wireless earbuds), headphones and speakers – namely, the S5 Gen 3 and S3 Gen 3 Sound platforms.
The big headlines? Let’s start with the more premium S5 Gen 3, which promises «almost 50x more AI power» (more on this later), a better digital-to-analog converter with improved signal-to-noise ratio and a 40% lower noise floor (to boast 24-bit/48kHz better-than-CD-quality sound using the more efficient Bluetooth LE Audio), and Qualcomm’s 4th-generation adaptive active noise cancellation.
S5 Gen 3 also boasts 50% more memory than the Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 Sound Platform it succeeds and, says Qualcomm, «dedicated cores for audio curation, including hearing loss compensation, ANC, transparency and noise management». Yes, we’re looking at a future where your listening gear will not only support Auracast audio sharing (using Bluetooth 5.
