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Bluetooth uses less power... than what? Than a headphone jack?

by OrwellianChild 9y ago

criddell 9y ago
Yes. It uses less power than driving headphones.
- lambda_lover 9y ago
  Evidence seems hard to come by on this subject, but a web search yields a lot of results along these lines: https://www.quora.com/Which-uses-less-battery-for-a-car-audio-Bluetooth-or-AUX https://www.quora.com/Which-uses-less-battery-for-a-car-audi... It's hardly a scientific study, but it reinforces my prior belief that aux doesn't inherently require any electricity, while bluetooth is sending information over radio waves which of course has to use electricity. I'm not sure about the difference when it comes to fancy, high-powered headphones, but my (anecdotal) experience with bluetooth vs. analog certainly supports the idea that bluetooth uses more power. I'd appreciate some citations if you have some other information about this subject.
  - WillPostForFood 9y ago
    AUX has to send electricity down the wire to drive the speakers in headphones. The Quora article you link to is weirdly written but confirms this, "the signal is from your phone and your phone uses it's battery to make it." I.e., headphones work by taking electricity from your phone and converting it to sound.
    - criddell 9y ago
      The Quora article also mentions car audio. In a car, Bluetooth uses more power than a 3.5 mm cable plugged into an AUX port on the head unit.
      - WillPostForFood 9y ago
        Yes, it is saying the car uses more power for the bluetooth connection, than receiving the AUX in from the phone. Not that the phone uses less power.
  - coob 9y ago
    > aux doesn't inherently require any electricit Yes I'm sure those headphone drivers magically shake themselves.
  - aforty 9y ago
    What on earth do you need a scientific study on? There are speakers in the headphones that produce audio. Where do you think the power for that comes from?
- OrwellianChild 9y ago
  While driving the headphones, sure - I'll believe that in certain cases with high-draw headphones. But from a daily power drain perspective, I find that very hard to believe. Bluetooth transmitting is going to be orders of magnitude higher draw than corded earbuds. And when you're not actively listening, standby is still digging Bluetooth further in the hole.
- btym 9y ago
  No, overall, you'll be using more power (DAC vs encoding + decoding + DAC). It's just split across two devices you have to charge independently.
  - criddell 9y ago
    Sure, but battery power in the phone is valuable. Modern Bluetooth headphones can play 30-40 hours of music per charge.
modzu 9y ago
its up to the phone how much amplification there is on the analog output. the latest BT specification is pretty low power, but which is lowest will depend. in my own experience, it seems like i get longer battery when using the jack over the BT radio, but i have not tested this rigorously https://www.quora.com/How-much-power-current-goes-through-an-aux-cord https://www.quora.com/How-much-power-current-goes-through-an... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level https://www.turntablelab.com/pages/headphone-buying-guide-what-is-headphone-impedance https://www.turntablelab.com/pages/headphone-buying-guide-wh...

Bluetooth uses less power... than what? Than a headphone jack?

criddell 9y ago

Yes. It uses less power than driving headphones.

lambda_lover 9y ago
Evidence seems hard to come by on this subject, but a web search yields a lot of results along these lines: https://www.quora.com/Which-uses-less-battery-for-a-car-audio-Bluetooth-or-AUX https://www.quora.com/Which-uses-less-battery-for-a-car-audi... It's hardly a scientific study, but it reinforces my prior belief that aux doesn't inherently require any electricity, while bluetooth is sending information over radio waves which of course has to use electricity. I'm not sure about the difference when it comes to fancy, high-powered headphones, but my (anecdotal) experience with bluetooth vs. analog certainly supports the idea that bluetooth uses more power. I'd appreciate some citations if you have some other information about this subject.
- WillPostForFood 9y ago
  AUX has to send electricity down the wire to drive the speakers in headphones. The Quora article you link to is weirdly written but confirms this, "the signal is from your phone and your phone uses it's battery to make it." I.e., headphones work by taking electricity from your phone and converting it to sound.
  - criddell 9y ago
    The Quora article also mentions car audio. In a car, Bluetooth uses more power than a 3.5 mm cable plugged into an AUX port on the head unit.
    - WillPostForFood 9y ago
      Yes, it is saying the car uses more power for the bluetooth connection, than receiving the AUX in from the phone. Not that the phone uses less power.
- coob 9y ago
  > aux doesn't inherently require any electricit Yes I'm sure those headphone drivers magically shake themselves.
- aforty 9y ago
  What on earth do you need a scientific study on? There are speakers in the headphones that produce audio. Where do you think the power for that comes from?
OrwellianChild 9y ago
While driving the headphones, sure - I'll believe that in certain cases with high-draw headphones. But from a daily power drain perspective, I find that very hard to believe. Bluetooth transmitting is going to be orders of magnitude higher draw than corded earbuds. And when you're not actively listening, standby is still digging Bluetooth further in the hole.
btym 9y ago
No, overall, you'll be using more power (DAC vs encoding + decoding + DAC). It's just split across two devices you have to charge independently.
- criddell 9y ago
  Sure, but battery power in the phone is valuable. Modern Bluetooth headphones can play 30-40 hours of music per charge.

modzu 9y ago

its up to the phone how much amplification there is on the analog output. the latest BT specification is pretty low power, but which is lowest will depend. in my own experience, it seems like i get longer battery when using the jack over the BT radio, but i have not tested this rigorously https://www.quora.com/How-much-power-current-goes-through-an-aux-cord https://www.quora.com/How-much-power-current-goes-through-an... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level https://www.turntablelab.com/pages/headphone-buying-guide-what-is-headphone-impedance https://www.turntablelab.com/pages/headphone-buying-guide-wh...