The technology samples the original analog signal at 44.1kHz with 16-bit precision (1.41Mbps), a sampling rate sufficient to capture all the sounds humans are capable of hearing across the 20kHz bandwidth of the ear. The benchmark for high-quality digital sound is the CD. One of these ploys was to limit sampling of the original analog voice signal to reduce the amount of data that needed to be wirelessly transmitted. Much of this success was due to the design engineers developing innovations to overcome the limitations of Bluetooth’s one megabit per second nominal raw data throughput (around 721kbps in practice) to ensure it was adequate to cope with voice transmission.

In addition to earning a “Best in Show Technology Award” at (the now defunct) COMDEX, an influential computer trade event, the headset provided an early pointer to Bluetooth’s commercial success. Soon after Bluetooth 1.0 was ratified in 1999, the first Bluetooth consumer product, a hands-free mobile headset, hit the shelves. The Bluetooth ® Special Interest Group (SIG) identified audio as a key market for Bluetooth wireless technology virtually from its adoption.

Stereophile wifi vs bluetooth