yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
AptX is a bluetooth protocol. It's an audio codec. . Standard aptX goes up to a bitrate of 352kbps. Best mp3's only have a bitrate of up to 320 kbps, so the remaining 32 kbps don't really matter.

There are some other versions of aptX such as aptX lossless with the capability of much higher data rates.

The advantage of aptX is its convenience. Adapter attached to the sound system, switch bluetooth on on your aptX device and connect it. Done. Now you can listen to your mp3 collection without any further losses in quality.

For guys who like to listen to lossless music it's not the right choice of course.

But you cannot hear the difference between a 320kbps mp3 and a let's say 800 or 1000 kbps flac anyways. If you don't believe me do a blind test with foobar and if you are one of the fortunate few, who actually are able to hear the difference, well congrats.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] @rbiter:
If the recording is exceptional I can take that challenge.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Ok, if you have a great recording maybe you can hear the difference when you really focus on the recording. But where's the joy in that?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] @rbiter:
Well, try it yourself. Get a QUALITY 96/24 or 192/24 or heck even a quality 48/16 file and encode it to FLAC or mp3 on your own. I have a bunch of classical, flaming lips, Gabriel, king crimson etc recordings and the difference is night and day on a capable system or with some good cans. Not everyone can appreciate and many more will care less because they've never heard the difference. You'd be amazed at differences that can be heard playing a movie at reference level and what ever is considered loud in your household. I myself rarely get to enjoy movies at that level. Mp3 and aac needs to die already. Recording artists are partly to blame for this.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Maybe they are able to develop a codec in a few years, that has the size of a mp3 but is lossless. But back to topic.

I hate it when they announce a new product like the Note 3 with all the features and stuff and the customer support doesn't know **** about their own products. Some say yes, some say no. Some say they don't have the info. Who else has the info if not the manufacturer? Ridiculous.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] gavinfabl:
apt-x as far as I knew is included with the Note 3.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
I need this confirmed. No speculation.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] uvaman:
As I said ask Supercurio he is the only one maybe beside Samsung who knows the answer...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Will do. Thanks'!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] WILD9:
It has it :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X67ys65So3Q#t=18

back of the box at 17 seconds in
[Galaxy Note 3 General] NZtechfreak:
Considering Samsung purchased CSR who OWN Apt-X it seems unlikely in the extreme that they would go backwards and not support this since it has been on all their high-end stuff since the S3 (and lots of their less high-end stuff also). Add to this that they make a number of Apt-X capable accessories and it seems even less likely.

EDIT: ...and yes, it is very obviously on the box in that unboxing video.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
It seems there are different versions.

[MENTION=1366914]WILD9[/MENTION]: Thanks for the video. As the guy mentions in his video it's the Korean version. On the video I posted on the first page, he shows the back at about 11 seconds. There's no aptX mentioned on the back. I don't get it why they release different versions without aptX... .

Here's the link of the video I posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxf3btdm0C4

EDIT: After watching your unboxing video, it's pretty ****ed up to see what kind of accessories they all have included.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] WILD9:
Possibly something to do with Exynos? Does he mention which processor it has, I have no sound here.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
In the description it says 2.3 Ghz Quad Core. I'll ask which one it is.

Is there a way to edit the thread name? I would like to mention that the Korean version supports it whereas the European and US versions do not. Or at least it seems they don't.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
That wouldn't be very accurate now would it? You're totally assuming that the lack of confirmation that aptX is present means it's not there. Huge assumption on your part. You also realize aptX is just a codec, right? That means it costs Samsung next to nothing to include it in their devices which is probably why they bought CSR (the company that owns aptX) because it was cheaper to own the company then pay them royalties. And since it's just a s/w codec why on earth would they only include it in Korean devices? It would also be hugely dumb on Samsung's part to up the audio support of a device to lossless and then dump a format they've used since the SGS3 to support it. By all means make your decision however you choose but don't assume everyone's going to accept it. It's just not logical (at least to me) meaning aptX is on ever N3 but the packaging fails to highlight it in certain regions.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Kamran9558:
What is beneficial for Smasung, only they know best. If the Samsung support people (as mentioned in earlier posts) say that it doesnt have apt-x support then I am afraid that could be the case as they are bound to know this info. Also, companies love to put loads of labels of supporting features on the boxes, why would Samsung not put something on a box which the phone has, considering that its a very marketable feature.

I dont think Samsung is a stupid company.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
If you think low paid CSR's and product boxes are definitive sources of information you've got more to worry about than aptX being present or absent. ;)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Kamran9558:
I wasnt implying that they are definitive sources but I was only trying to see the other side of the picture. Why would a company not attempt to highlight a sought after feature when they highlight many less important ones. We all are assuming everything aren't we :)

I would like someone in the UK who already have their devices to kindly check the feature and enlighten all of the speculating crowd.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
I would have mentioned that it only is an assumption at the moment. After my first live chat with the Samsung Tech Support, as shown in my first post I had a second live chat, just to make sure their statements don't vary.

The second staff member specifically asked if I wanted to know about the aptX support for an US device. So I said yes. She put me on hold for 5 minutes to gather the information. Unfortunately, I did not save the transcript this time, but she listed all bluetooth profiles and aptX was not among them. She did not have aptX confirmed.

Both, the German and the US Support don't know the official release date. September 25th. As mentioned in the Keynote as well as numerous blogs and tech websites.

So I can only say what Samsung, the manufacturer who is supposed to know about their own stuff, tells me and what I see on the unboxing videos.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
You give Samsung too much credit if you think their global staff of 230K is kept informed of nuances such as the inclusion of aptX and global and regional launch dates. In huge multinational distributed companies it's easy to make mistakes of omission. As an example, HTC told the media that customers should call customer service to have a Wi-Fi defect repaired and the parts weren't yet available and the contact centers weren't informed first. At the N3 launch event USB 3.0 wasn't mentioned. Does that mean it's not there? No. Either the things they did talk about were considered a higher priority or they just forgot to include it in their presentation. Not everything said or unsaid by monolithic companies is part of a conspiracy. As Freud says - "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Well, we'll find out after the release then. I changed the name of the thread.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] hykhleif:
this info needs to be sorted asap as this makes a huge difference for people who listen to music over bluetooth

I would be very disappointed if i bought a version of note3 that does not have aptX support
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Same here. I have many devices, a bluetooth headphone with aptX support(Harman/Kardon BT) and an aptX bluetooth receiver for my sound system.

A Note III without aptX would be a definite deal breaker. The Korean version has it. I hope the German version has it too.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] calinormy:
Sony Xperia Z Ultra with the same snapdragon 800 has the aptx. There is a list of aptx enabled devices on the net. All the flagships from Samsung including s4,s4mini,s4 active are on the list. I'm 100% that will be there.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Yeah, exactly.

Here's the list.

http://csr.com/technology-solutions/av/audio-products-powered-by-csr-aptx/smartphone

The Note III is not listed yet. But it seems it has aptX. At least the Korean version as seen in the unboxing video WILD9 posted here one page back.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] hykhleif:
man I need to know this info asap, as I think I am totally confused which version of N3 shall I order, as aptX is very important to me
[Galaxy Note 3 General] betoNL:
If it's that important to you , why not just wait a week or 2, till more devices arrive to the shops and /or all those pre-orders start to drop in?

Some kind of " can't-wait-for-the-next-flagship device-Cold Turkey" ??

:D

.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
If the information is correct tomorrow is the release. I will check it out at a Media Markt.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] betoNL:
And here some more info from a chinese site:

.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
The iPad3 does not support aptX. It needs an additional transmitter.

UPDATE: Went to German retailer Media Markt. They have it now for €749 (~$1000). AptX is not on the back of the cover like on the Korean version. CSR still doesn't have it listed.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] xManMythLegend:
Any one who has one now able to confirm?

I'm interested in ditching the galaxy hub and using an Aptx BT receiver for audio.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dgco86:
Don't remember seeing APTX on the back of my Snapdragon 800 Note 3. Tested in the car and it sounds okay, but my car's sound system is pretty bad. Is there any software I can use to check if APTX is in use?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] hykhleif:
thats so not cool of smashing, it seems i will skip note 3 as this is a deal breaker for me
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
I have the Harman Kardon BT headphones which support aptX and they have a certain LED flashing pattern when connected via aptX bluetooth. And you should hear it of course. The problem is though, I cannot try them out at my local Media Markt retailer because they won't let me unless I'm really interested in buying them.

But for €749(~$1000) I'm not. So I'll wait a few more weeks. Maybe aptX is confirmed by then or someone else can confirm it.

If it also supports it, they could have made it a lot easier, by just putting the aptX logo on the back of the box just like on the one of the Korean device.

Btw, I have the S4 and it has aptX. But it was confirmed way before release and CSR has listed it, BUT it is also not on the back of the European box.

You need a car radio that supports aptX. If the device doesn't support it, the phone automatically uses a different bluetooth codec.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] SonicSamZ:
Firstly let me thank you guys for looking into this. I am an avid fan of APT-X and it seems whenever I ask anyone about it nobody knows what it is or seems to care. I bought Sennheiser MM 550-X headphones months ago and currently using with my crappy HTC One V (the cheapest phone posible with APT-X, traded from my HTC Desire).

The Google Edition ROM forthe S4 supports APT-X (as confirmed by logcat), so if someone has their hands on a Note 3 they could potentially look at the logcats when they start playing music to see if the APT-X codec is used or SBC?

Thanks again guys, this will ultimately decide if I get a S4 (Google Edition) or a Note 3 (Touchwiz). Thanks!

I messaged CSR_aptx on Twitter a while ago and did not get a response regarding Note 3 APT-X support.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dgco86:
Sorry, I was referring to my APTX compatible Samsung HS3000 which is hooked up to my car's AUX port. I'll take a look at the logcat soon.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
As I said they should have just put the aptX logo on the back of the box like on the Korean device and we wouldn't need this thread.

But there was a funny thing though. I went to Media Markt in Germany and asked if it had aptX. The guy looked it up on Google. Of course he didn't find anything.

Then he told me, if it's not on Google it probably doesn't have it :laugh: Made my day.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] mathieulh:
I couldn't get anything related to either apt-x or SBC in logcat while playing music or pairing my Sennheiser mm-550x I am not rooted though so I probably miss logs.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] hykhleif:
still no confirmation on the aptX thing I am so annoyed why sometimes when u wait so long for a phone to have all you get hit by unexpected things like this. I started to hate all the android phones, as non honestly has it all.

Sony: Z Ultra great but too big should have been only 6 inch or reduced the size of the bezels to make phone smaller, and no a pen, and audio speakers suck

Note 3: Looks suck and feels cheap, and no major upgrade from note 2, too many versions, TW ui looks bad, now aptX maybe missing

LG2: small screen and nothing extra ordinary and not even looking into it

Sony Z1: screen small lacks pen, bad speakers

I don't know how decisions are made in those companies, but if I were a manager there I would be aware of those major issues and work on implementing all features before releasing a new product.

Maybe after all this 2013 is the worst year in innovation and should be dropped from our calendar for new smartphones
[Galaxy Note 3 General] m4sta2k:
I have the n9005 qualcoom, I can find some bluetooth headset in the store to try it out with to see if it supports that thingy I can give answer later today
[Galaxy Note 3 General] calinormy:
aptx

100% the N3 has aptx. On the box is printed: bluetooth / smart ready. The same is written on the box of my S4 I9505.

I own car adapter from HTC ( A100 i think), but i cannot tell if the connection is with aptx or simple bluetooth. Anyway, the sound is cristal clear ( from flac files)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
I'm thinking the exact same thing.

The thing that leads to confusion is the missing aptX logo on the back of the box of the European and (probably) US device. They could have made it a lot easier and just added the logo as seen on the box of the Korean device (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOs_cOVkVIY)

On the box of my S4 the logo is also missing, but it was confirmed weeks before release that it will support aptX and CSR had it listed.

So I'm strongly assuming that every Note 3 has it. But customer support denying(Page 1, my transcript) and or not knowing anything about it (further inquries in the US and Germany) confuses people.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] calinormy:
Even the galaxy mega is listed on csr device support.....logically.... By the way..not all the FUCTIONS are printed on the box.....on my European Note 3 :P with snapdragon the 4k video is missing...only full HD is printed (but I do have 4k recording). Maybe Samsung is printing different things based on the market studies. Maybe Europeans don't care as much for aptx or 4k video as the Americans or Asians and that's why isn't printed on the box.

I just remember something. My HTC a100 car adapter has some led and.if I remeber in the manual if aptx is.worling the.led.is.blinking in a specific color ( blue I Guess) I can read the user manual and.in an hour or two I can be sure about aptx. I will be back with news.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] m4sta2k:
Is see the aptx on note 2, box that I have, but nothing on note 3 ? lol
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Exactly, they had it on the old box, but not on the current. Just stupid.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Albaholic:
I would offer condolences instead of congratulations. High end audio is a glorious money pit with accompanying diminishing returns. I wish I never went down that rabbit hole. Good cans.... Not even once.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
But the LCD-3 is a very fine headphone :good: Paired with the Woo WA6-SE. Magnificent :) That's an entirely different discussion though.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] steveoidm:
I cant know for sure but I just tried my jaybird sb2 and I would be very surprised if the note 3 didn't have aptx. It sounded very full, clear and with no crackle. I haven't had that with non aptx blutooth.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
I think we can all agree now, that the Note 3 has aptX.

I really would like to test it myself with my bluetooth headphones. With them connected to the device I could tell pretty quickly if it has aptX or not, because of a certain flashing pattern the headphones have when connected via aptX.

But the price for the Note 3 in Germany is still too high for me at the moment. It now costs €699(~$945). A few days ago €749.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Albaholic:
Geez that makes my Frankenzero to LDII+ to Grado SR325i seem like skullcandy's.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] NZtechfreak:
My kinda people :)

I'm running these off my Audio-GD Reference 10 (and from HeadAmp Pico and Apex Glacier via USB on my Androids):

GS1000i, W3000ANV, T5p (and a second pair of modded T5p, fully balanced with removable cables), LCD-2. Had the HE-6 for a while and totally loved how they sounded, but I kept listening too loud with those so ended up selling them as I was concerned about damaging my hearing like that. Also sold the RS1 and Ed8 and Q701 that I had as I preferred others amongst my collection more. Currently mulling over what I will replace the HE-6 with...

I agree that audio is a dangerous rabbit hole to go down, I never know whether I am doing someone a favour or a disservice when they audition my gear.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Albaholic:
Wow, you've sold off gear that I've dreamed of owning.

You're never doing anyone a favor by letting them audition gear. Consider yourself the neighborhood crack dealer... The first hit is free. ;)

I'll stop there, I don't wanna drag this thread too far off topic
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Now after release in Germany (and the US?) still nobody is able to confirm aptX. German Samsung Support told me to contact them after release, what I did.

They don't know squat.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] uvaman:
Ask maybe Anandtech...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] vegetaleb:
Anyone tried it with HTC Stereoclip??

Its an aptx optimised device which sound very different if you are using an aptx smartphone or not
[Galaxy Note 3 General] calinormy:
Read the full review from gsmarena....it says that note 3 does has apt-X codec.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
According to Samsung Technical Support it does support it. They previously declined it and now, after release, they confirmed it.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] hykhleif:
i think aptx on snap 800 is not there, as i did not see it list as a specification anywhere, or on the box. So sorry guys no aptx for note 3 snap 800.

What a lame thing samsung to not add aptx, this sucks bug time
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
The S4 doesn't have the logo on the box either, but it was confirmed long before release. Also CSR has it listed on the website. US and German Samsung Support confirmed it after release.

I will buy it in 3-4 weeks and test it myself with my aptX headphones, then I can tell for sure.

UPDATE October 16th: AptX confirmed. I tried it with my bluetooth headphones (Harman Kardon BT). It connects via aptX(LED flashing four times)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Luycks:
You mean at the Note 3 or at the S4?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Yep, the Note 3. A friend of mine bought it early in Germany and I had the chance to test it. It has aptX.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] power_tennis:
I have the same Samsung dongle in my vehicle as well (HS3000) which when I initially bought it for $22!!!! , Samsung did not promote the apt-x features on it as well....best BT streamer I've ever used.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dgco86:
Is yours the SD800 version or Exynos?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
It's the Snapdragon. If I'm informed correctly all Western countries have the Snapdragon and the Asian countries the Exynos.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] @rbiter:
You are informed correctly but some asian countries get both versions.

sent from my sm-900t.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] SonicSamZ:
Now that we know that the Note 3 has APT-X, someone with the device can they provide a logcat of the debug messages being thrown when APT-X is initialized? I'm personally curious. If anyone has the time it'd be much appreciated.

Thanks guys!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Gadgety:
Yes, could someone please provide the logcat of the debug messages when intializing APT-X.

I contacted CSR in a mail asking whether the European Spec Note3 and Note8 have APTX. Their Manager for Business Communications, having contacted CSR's South Korean outfit, which in turn asked Samsung, replied that the European Note8 has it. She left the question of the Note3 unanswered.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] td854:
I would appreciate this as well. Just bought some aptx headphones and would like to know if it's working.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
If somebody can tell me how I can do that, I would be more than happy to provide you with the log.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] td854:
As suggested in another thread I used:

adb logcat -v long > logcat.txt

and did a search in the logcat and didn't find any mention of aptx during the use of my headphones but they are definitely aptx enabled headphones so it must be labeled differently. That's what we're looking for.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Installed the log app. But nothing changes when bluetooth and aptx are initialized.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] SonicSamZ:
Hi guys.

Bought a Note 3 SM-N900W8 a few days ago (rooted it on MJ1)

I ran CatLog on my Note 3 and when I uninstalled CatLog I accidentally removed the log I saved for apt-X.

Having said that, apt-X is definitely utilized as there was a "apt-X initializing" set of log messages...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
So you have to root the device to get the aptX log? Hmm..I won't do that.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] td854:
So I used catlog just in case my logcat program wasn't working appropriately and I still don't get any results with aptx or apt-x in the log file. I'm starting to think these headphones don't actually have apt-x enabled. They're the Bluedio R+ in case anyone's curious, they're supposed to have aptX and the chipset when plugged in via USB is definitely an aptX compatible chipset.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] SonicSamZ:
You can run "adb logcat" from a PC if you have USB debugging enabled, I don't think that requires root.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Cavcalade:
Thanks! I will try that.

It worked!

Here's my log and the part we've all been waiting for :)

D/CODEC_IF( 2864): codec_if_open: opening libbt-codec_aptx.so...

D/CODEC_IF_MOD( 2864): codec_open: codec_open

D/CODEC_IF_MOD( 2864): codec_open: apt-x encoder initialized successfully

D/CODEC_IF_MOD( 2864): codec_open: version : 1.0.1.0

D/CODEC_IF_MOD( 2864): codec_open: build : AND2.3-000