Lossless audio is wasted on Bluetooth headphones, but 2027 might bring the solution

Realme Buds Air 8 were given to the author as a farewell gift during the Realme 16 Pro launch event in January 2026. The earbuds are advertised with LHDC and a Hi-Res Audio badge, but the author discovered that Bluetooth codecs compress lossless audio, resulting in data loss. A blind test between the author and their sister using Spotify lossless streaming showed that the MP3 versions were more often recognized than the FLAC files.

This suggests that lossless audio through Bluetooth may not be noticeable to most listeners. Qualcomm's aptX Lossless is currently only functional with Snapdragon Sound on both the phone and the headphones. In October 2025, the Bluetooth SIG announced that High Data Throughput (HDT) would be added to the Bluetooth specification in November 2027, raising Bluetooth LE's maximum data rate to 7.5Mbps and paving the way for standardized lossless wireless audio.

However, HDT requires new radio hardware, meaning that existing devices like the OnePlus 13R and Realme Buds Air 8 will not support it through software updates. The author concludes that if lossless audio is the main priority, waiting for 2027 hardware would be the best option. In the meantime, the Realme Buds Air 8 will default to AAC when used over Bluetooth, and the author continues using wired headphones for lossless audio.