Hacking Why I think even with CFW, Nintendo Switch won't support controllers with a headphone jack for audio

[delete12345]

Please correct me if I am wrong.

I was curious if it's possible for Nintendo Switch to support Bluetooth audio and have it so the controllers with headphone jacks can output audio. Especially when CFW may allow this once we have a full understanding of the hardware.

So, I searched for news and details about Switch hardware specs, and have found this article from 2016:

http://www.player.one/nintendo-swit...-bluetooth-functionality-confirmed-fcc-574794

Accordin to this article, the Switch supports Bluetooth Low Energy. I never heard of the term, "low-energy Bluetooth", and assumed it's probably a new Bluetooth standard. I was curious about where we are with Bluetooth technology, so I looked it up.

According to Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_Low_Energy

Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, is targeted to health and fitness, small devices, and home entertainment industries. The Switch is part of the home entertainment industries, so that's great. BLE is not backwards compatible with Bluetooth Classic, which is what we referred collectively as Bluetooth that we know right now.

But then for audio, there is this information:

http://www.businessinsider.com/bluetooth-audio-future-update-low-energy-2016-10

Here, the article stated the next planned Bluetooth Low Energy standard (BLE 5.0) begins in 2017, the year the Switch debuted. This new standard will come with features including streaming audio.

So it leads to me that the current BLE standard is 4.0, and with the development of the Switch, they use BLE 4.0 (or BLE 4.X, if there were later revisions I am not aware of), and therefore don't have the hardware capability to support Bluetooth audio streaming to your future controllers with headphone jacks.

Sad to say, but I think the Switch will never have support for those types of controllers, as they do not have the ability to stream audio via Bluetooth directly, and must use a driver that enables Bluetooth Classic to send audio over. I think this is what the Sony Playstation Bluetooth headset with USB dongle uses, for the Switch to transmit audio over.

But fear not, if a hardware revision is planned for 2019, with new RAM, CPU, etc., then we may also well have a new module that supports BLE 5.0 for Bluetooth audio streaming. Which is what I hoped.

 

[TR_mahmutpek]

Thats is some good research, but I didnt read even XD

 

[delete12345]

Thats is some good research, but I didnt read even XD

XD

 

[chartube12]

Bluetooth LE was a separate standard and alternate version of early 3.5. However it has since become built in and apart of the main 'branch' of standards starting with bluetooth 4.0. With each new update of 4.X, the power usage has only gotten lower. Soon using newer tech, bluetooth will use has much power as a modern digital watch. Seemingly use next to zero power.

 

[blinkzane]

I agree, I thought this was a shitpost and someone ACTUALLY did research. you need to stay here and contribute more. Granted I already knew the answer to this but others did not. Very knowledgeable and I give 11/10

 

[chartube12]

cause it is a shitty post. Every link is filled with some out dated information. bluetooth is currently on 4.3 with 4.4 on it's way. BTW, every version of bluetooth supports audio streaming. You can have music, other game sounds and phone calls going on at the same time. the only limitation is the speaker/mic and the software of the host device

 

[yardie]

cause it is a shitty post. Every link is filled with some out dated information. bluetooth is currently on 4.3 with 4.4 on it's way. BTW, every version of bluetooth supports audio streaming. You can have music, other game sounds and phone calls going on at the same time. the only limitation is the speaker/mic and the software of the host device

bluetooth is at 5.0
even you're out dated

 

[chartube12]

bluetooth is at 5.0
even you're out dated

5 wont be out for awhile yet in comsumer devices

 

[PaBo]

just put a small bluetooth transmitter into your audio jack. problem solved for 20 bucks...
been using that since day 1

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

5 wont be out for awhile yet in comsumer devices

quite the contrary...

https://geizhals.eu/?cat=umtsover&xf=158_Bluetooth+5.x

just a quick list of smartphones with bluetooth 5.x

 

[TerraPhantm]

It supports bluetooth low energy, but that doesn't mean it *only* supports bluetooth low energy. The controllers are bluetooth 3.0 devices (which by definition would not be bluetooth LE). This is the chip used in the Switch, it supports everything to 4.1

http://www.cypress.com/file/298796/download

 

[yardie]

i love know it alls

 

[guily6669]

I'm almost sure the Bluetooth module in the Switch is up 4 that, but the controllers probably each use their own protocol for the sound and might need different support from like a Xone controller to a DS4

 

[delete12345]

Thanks for the feedback. After all, I did request to be corrected by others.

So recapping, Switch supports both Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy, and should support audio streaming, but technical reasons prevented it from being able to stream audio to Bluetooth headsets and Bluetooth controllers with headphone jacks.

I guess that means, we can create a module for the Switch to communicate with other Bluetooth headsets/speakers/controllers. So, it's not off the table yet.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted User]

OP: Posts interesting information for people who didn't know the answer (including me).
First Response: Nice info!
Every other response: *illegible shitposting and arguments*

Ah, how much I love this community.

Anyways, nice info, I read it and appreciate it.

 

[Shadowfied]

Thanks for the feedback. After all, I did request to be corrected by others.

So recapping, Switch supports both Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy, and should support audio streaming, but technical reasons prevented it from being able to stream audio to Bluetooth headsets and Bluetooth controllers with headphone jacks.

I guess that means, we can create a module for the Switch to communicate with other Bluetooth headsets/speakers/controllers. So, it's not off the table yet.

Thanks.

Just another case of Ninty sucking huge dicks I guess. It's a fucking tablet. Technically it can do everything most Android tablets can, just that Ninty wont do shit. I have high hopes for software when it comes to homebrew on the Switch.

 

[andijames]

I have a feeling it doesn't support it yet due to possible interference with the joycons. They can be temperamental enough on their own so introducing another device on a similar frequency could be causing issues at this time and hence not officially supported

 

[JustBrandonT]

As someone who has worked on bluetooth micro-controllers and coded for iOS, Android, and SurfacePen (these devices use BLE), I can tell you that the switch does indeed support BLE and will allow you to stream Audio. That is a given fact. There is nothing in the BLE standard that says you can't. However, it's entirely up to the device to determine how to decode that audio (some devices come with hardware to decode specific formats otherwise they fallback to raw formats). By that I mean the developer of the software has to write code to decode the formats such as HEVC, MP4, M4A, ACC, MP3, etc.. and pass it as a series of bytes (.wav format or .pcm format) to the audio file (on linux it's like /dev/audio/... or /dev/pcm/something..).. You write to a file in linux and it makes noise.

Not sure what you do on a switch but it doesn't matter. That's the easy part. BLE allows you to pair with almost any Bluetooth supporting device (especially headphones).. and "cars".. You'd just need to handle authentication (if any) and pairing and sometimes power management (filter out devices that are too far for your software to be reliable).

New standards of BLE are usually backwards compatible unless the encryption scheme changes (Bluetooth is usually encrypted to prevent blue-snarfing and stuff).

Maybe the switch might be different, but I somehow doubt it.

 

[Clydefrosch]

Uhm, whats the point of a headphone jack in the controller?

 

[Cuphat]

Uhm, whats the point of a headphone jack in the controller?

So you could wear a wired headset without a cable connecting your head directly to the console.

That being said, last time I checked (which to be fair was a while ago), not even PC supported those headphone jacks when connected via bluetooth.

 

[guily6669]

You can buy some wireless headset of your choice there's a list of currently supported devices on switch just use Google...

I my self hate Bluetooth headphones, I use sometimes the in-ear phones from Sennheiser that amplify a lot more and require less volume so even less battery power, it only require just a few mW to amplify loud...

The most expensive headphones I have are wireless, but the use a proprietary transmitert\receiver from creative and I don't use them or like them, I hate having to charge things.