Comparison Soundcore Motion+ vs Tronsmart Element T6 Plus

— Bluetooth. Wireless technology for transmitting sound from mobile phones, tablets, etc. Allows you to connect the device wirelessly at a short distance from the signal source. Bluetooth quality and general features vary by version:

Bluetooth4. Each version brings improvements over the previous one. So in version 4.0, three standards were actually combined: traditional Bluetooth, a high-speed channel and an energy-saving mode for small amounts of data. This allowed us to optimize channel usage and battery consumption. In version 4.1. noise immunity has been improved when working near 4G LTE modules. And version 4.2 introduced mostly general speed and security improvements.

Bluetooth 5.0. One of the most important innovations of the Bluetooth 5.0 standard was the expansion of the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) mode: if necessary, the device can increase the range by reducing the speed, or speed up transmission by reducing the range. In addition, a number of improvements have been introduced regarding the simultaneous operation of several connected devices.

— Bluetooth 5.1. A significant upgrade of version 5.1 was the ability to accurately position the transmitter (receiver) of the signal. If previous versions could only determine the distance, then version 5.1 is able to determine the direction. Thus, navigation beg...an to function better and more accurately, which improved the work with the smart home system, searching for connected devices, etc. In addition to this, the improvements again touched on saving energy consumption and simultaneously working with several connected devices.

— Bluetooth 5.2. The next, after 5.1, is the Bluetooth 5th generation update. The main innovations in this version are a number of security improvements, additional power optimization in LE mode, and a new audio signal format for synchronized parallel playback on multiple devices.

— Bluetooth 5.3Bluetooth v 5.3 wireless protocol was introduced at the dawn of 2022. Of the innovations, it accelerated the process of negotiating the communication channel between the controller and the device, implemented the function of quickly switching between the state of operation in a small duty cycle and high-speed mode, improved the throughput and stability of the connection by reducing susceptibility to interference. In case of unexpected interference in the Low Energy mode of operation, the procedure for selecting a communication channel for switching is now accelerated. There are no fundamental innovations in protocol 5.3, however, a number of qualitative improvements are seen in it.

—Mini-Jack (3.5 mm). Standard Aux input for connecting speakers to an audio source such as a laptop or smartphone.

— USB. The presence of a USB connector allows you to connect a USB flash drive, mobile phones, MP3 players and other similar peripherals to portable acoustics. Accordingly, such models have a built-in player and allow you to use connected gadgets exclusively as a drive.

— Card reader. Like the USB described above, this item implies the presence of a built-in player in acoustics. And the card reader also allows you to use memory cards as a drive on which songs will be recorded.

— FM receiver. A built-in tuner that allows the speaker system to work as a full-fledged FM radio receiver — this is the range that is popular among music radio stations (in particular, due to the ability to broadcast sound in stereo).

A band is a certain part of the frequency range reproduced by the acoustic system. In single-way acoustics, only universal speakers are used that are responsible for the entire operating range. The presence of several bands means the use of specialized speakers, “sharpened” for certain frequencies: for example, in two-way speakers, separate high-frequency “tweeters” are most often provided, and in three-way speakers, frequencies are divided into low, medium and high.

For different frequencies, the optimal speaker design will also be different; thus, the multi-band design allows to achieve better sound quality. On the other hand, single-way speakers are lighter, more compact and less expensive.

Hi-Res Audio support for portable speakers. The corresponding format is designed to provide sound close to that recorded in the studio. Hi-Res Audio refers to a digital signal with parameters starting from 96 kHz/24 bits, and for analogue equipment there is a requirement for an extended frequency response - from 40 kHz. Audio tracks in this format sound as close as possible to the original ideas of the authors of the compositions. The Hi-Res license marks premium solutions for avid audiophiles.

The total power of all channels of the speaker system. The higher the power, the larger the size of the room in which the audio system can be used, however, more powerful portable speakers usually have larger dimensions and weight.

The range of audio frequencies reproduced by the audio system. The wider the range, the richer the sound, the more details the speakers can convey, especially in the low and high frequencies. At the same time, we note that the average human ear is able to hear sounds in the range of about 16 – 20,000 Hz, and it makes no sense to provide a wider range in speakers — a person simply will not hear it. Also note that a wide frequency range alone does not guarantee good sound quality.

Initially, sound transmission via Bluetooth provides a rather strong signal compression, which can greatly spoil the impression when listening to music. To eliminate this shortcoming, various technologies are used (the most popular of which is the aptX codec). Of course, to use any of the technologies, it must be supported not only by acoustics, but also by the Bluetooth device with which it is used.

— aptX. A Bluetooth codec designed to greatly improve the quality of Bluetooth audio. According to the creators, it allows you to achieve quality comparable to Audio CD (16-bit/44.1kHz). The benefits of aptX are most noticeable when listening to high-quality content, but even on regular MP3 it can provide a noticeable improvement in sound.

aptX HD. This codec is a further development and improvement of the original aptX technology, which allows you to transmit sound in even higher quality — Hi-Res (24-bit / 48kHz). According to the creators, this standard allows you to achieve signal quality that is superior to AudioCD, and sound purity comparable to wired communication. The latter is often questioned, but it can be argued that, in general, aptX HD provides very high sound quality. On the other hand, all the advantages of this technology become noticeable only on Hi-Res audio — with a quality of 24-bit / 48kHz or higher; otherwise, the quality is limited not so much by the characteristics of the connection as by the propert...ies of the source files.

aptX Low Latency. A specific variation of the aptX described above, designed not so much to improve sound quality, but to reduce delays in signal transmission. Such delays inevitably occur when working via Bluetooth; they are not critical for listening to music, however, when watching videos or playing games, there may be a noticeable out of sync between the image and sound. The aptX LL codec eliminates this phenomenon by reducing latency to 32ms, a difference that is imperceptible to human perception (although it is still too high for serious tasks like studio work with sound).

— AAC. A codec used primarily in Apple portable technology to improve Bluetooth audio. In this sense, it is similar to aptX (see relevant paragraphs), but noticeably inferior to it in terms of capabilities: if the sound of aptX is compared with Audio CD, then AAC is at the level of a medium-quality MP3 file. However, this is quite enough for listening to the same MP3s, the difference becomes noticeable only on more advanced formats.

— LDAC. Sony proprietary Bluetooth codec. In terms of bandwidth and potential sound quality, it surpasses even aptX HD, providing performance at the Hi-Res level of 24-bit / 96kHz sound; there is even an opinion that this is the maximum quality that it makes sense to provide in wireless headphones — further improvement will simply be imperceptible to the human ear.

Theoretically, a higher capacity allows to achieve greater battery life, but in fact, the operating time also depends on the power consumption of acoustics — and it can be very different, depending on the characteristics and design features. So this parameter is secondary, and when choosing it is worth paying attention not so much to the battery capacity, but to the directly claimed operating time (see below).

Operating time of a portable audio system without connecting to an external power source (network or USB port, depending on the capabilities). Note that manufacturers tend to indicate battery life in their specifications under optimal conditions for energy saving: at low volume, without using additional functions, etc. Therefore, in fact, this indicator may be noticeably lower than the claimed one, and speakers with a long operating time will not sound at full volume for the specified hours.

The time it takes to charge a fully discharged device to 100% charge.