I think it’s a general consenus wired headphones> BT headphones in terms of SQ. But what about say using BT in on a Dac like fiio q5 or dx7pro using LDAC vs say USB in on the same sampling rate (44.1khz or 96khz) music, am I losing anything in terms of SQ going via BT?
Nnnot exactly. More like the consensus is that wired transmission is better than BT transmission, all else being equal. If you take the whole headphone it’s not so clear: you can still have crap wired headphones sound worse than the best BT headphones.
Mathematically, yes, without a doubt, because we’re talking lossy compression vs. lossless transmission via USB. The real question is if you will hear the difference. That depends on a lot of things: what headphones you’re using at the output, how much of a trained listener you are, what LDAC settings you’re using, e.g. 32/96 transmission in 330kbps mode will sound worse than the plain old SBC codec at 328kbps, while 16/44.1 transmission at 909kbps could be indistinguishable from lossless to the vast majority of people (keep in mind that already SBC at 328kbps can be indistinguishable from lossless to most people, if all components in the chain are high quality, particularly the DAC/amp after the BT receiver).
In-depth technical analysis of BT codecs, if you want to know more: Audio over Bluetooth: most detailed information about profiles, codecs, and devices / Habr
Thanks for your explanation. I am using the Anandas which should be revealing enough. I’m really not hearing too much of difference using my phone tidal hifi - BT ldac- gustard a18- thx 887. Reason I’m asking is I’m looking at portable dac amps and wonder if it’s worth getting Bluetooth ready ones like q5s or xdsd, like am I sacrificing performance for the convinence. I guess only way to find out if I can hear the performance change is to demo them