[Editorial] Remora exploits UWB for a new standard for wireless audio transmission

The fact that audiophiles have never appreciated the Bluetooth connection is no secret, especially for headphone high quality audio. The quality of the data transmission, particularly with the old protocols, did not allow the uncompressed flow of audio data.

Inquiring minds at Remora, a company that is developing a transmission protocol based on Ultra WideBand (UWB) technology, were clearly thinking the same. The declared technical data of this new wireless standard include:

The first step has been the creation of the Remora PRO, a wireless transmitter/receiver device based on UWB (UltraWideBand) that will open up the path to the highest quality experiences in audio and pro uses. Or so they say. In fact, this system will allow you to use any type of headphones equipped with another connection system. To do this, the Remora design team incorporated AntennaWare's BodyWave antenna technology.

Johnny McClintock, commercial director of AntennaWare, Gary Spittle, CEO of Sonical, and Mark Wade, product manager of Remora, presented the new Remora PRO design at the latest High End 2024 in Munich, Germany.

At the same time, PSB Speakers, MQA and Sonical plan to launch the world's first set of wireless headphones that use this technology, instead of Bluetooth. The planned headphones will use Antennaware's UWB antenna, which the partnership says can address any issues associated with body bulk, which may occur with wireless wearables. UltraWideBand waves can easily pass through objects. PSB Speakers will produce new headphones and these will be integrated with an operating system known as Sonical's CosmOS. The audio will be transported over the UWB link using MQair (also known as SCL6), the recently announced wireless audio codec from MQA, the company of digital audio founded by Bob Stuart of Meridian Audio.

As with Qualcomm's aptX Bluetooth codecs, any UWB headphone will need a compatible phone or other device with built-in UWB transmission. At the moment there are not many smartphones that have it, but those that already have it are largely popular, as they represent a huge slice of the mobile market: UWB is built into every iPhone 11 and later, and every Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and Ultra model and later, and also Google Pixel 6 Pro and 7 Pro.

After all this pompous commercial blurb, however, a question arises: given that the latest implementations of the Bluetooth codec (e.g. aptX HD) already allow CD-quality audio transmission, are we 100% sure that being able to transmit audio at even higher resolution is...useful or, say, desirable? How many listeners can actually hear the difference between a 16/44 file and a 24/96 or a higher resolution audio file?

Personally, I have always looked with extreme suspicion at the “always new” audio formats, starting from SACD which has finally revealed to be a substantial commercial flop, as we already argued in unsuspecting times, when everyone in the press was pushing this new digital format. My feeling is that for the majority of the customers a good mp3 file is more than enough. The continuous introduction of new standards and formats seems, in my opinion, just a way to create needs that don't exist in reality. Now, it's true that this is the purpose of consumerism, i.e. to create new needs, but in the audio field it seems to me that we have gone beyond all reasonableness.

As usual, we wait serenely along the river bank to see who will pass by first ;-)

Did you enjoy this article? You can support our free, advertising-free magazine with a small Paypal donation using the button below. Thank you!

DISCLAIMER. TNT-Audio is a 100% independent magazine that neither accepts advertising from companies nor requires readers to register or pay for subscriptions. If you wish, you can support our independent reviews via a PayPal donation. After publication of reviews, the authors do not retain samples other than on long-term loan for further evaluation or comparison with later-received gear. Hence, all contents are written free of any “editorial” or “advertising” influence, and all reviews in this publication, positive or negative, reflect the independent opinions of their respective authors. TNT-Audio will publish all manufacturer responses, subject to the reviewer's right to reply in turn.

September 2024 Editorial

Exploiting UWB, a new standard for wireless audio transmission that could replace Bluetooth