LDAC

LDAC is Sony's proprietary Bluetooth audio codec.
It support 3 bitrates: 990, 660 and 330kbps.
990 is about 3 times as much as the standard SBC codec.

It can transmit PCM audio up to 24 bit / 96 kHz.

From Android 8 (Oreo) on, LDAC is included as one of the Bluetooth drivers.

You can get a driver for Windows as well.


 

Nice looking pictures by Sony.

It almost suggest LDAC is lossless but is it?

 

The bit rate of CD audio= 2*16*41100=1411 kbs
The bit rate of a 24/96 recording is 3072 kbs

 

Obvious although you can feed LDAC 24/96 it must be lossy compressed to fit into 990 kbs.
The same applies to CD audio.

It is thinkable that a lossless compression will stay below the 990 but it is not quaranteed.

 

Robert Triggs has a technical description of how LDAC (possibly) might work.
It is lossy but in a clever way.

 

Lossy or not, at 990 kbs it has a substantial higher bit rate compared with the 320 kbs mandatory SBC codec.

Reference
  1. What you need to know about Sony's LDAC - Robert Triggs 2017
  2. The ultimate guide to Bluetooth headphones: LDAC isn't Hi-res - Robert Triggs 2018
  3. It is now possible to stream LDAC from Windows without VM, dongle, or other shenanigans - Audio Science Review 2023