Sony WI-1000XM2 hits the FCC, is this the HDX-2941?

I was writing an article about a new Bluetooth certification from Sony, the HDX-2941, when surprisingly the device I was writing about appeared on the FCC, the WI-1000XM2. The new Mark 2 will come with Bluetooth 5.0 and appears to have the same  BT chip as the WF-1000XM3.  Question is, will it feature additional codec support like LDAC or aptX?

Update: I can confirm that the HDX-2941 is not the WI-1000XM2, the WI-1000XM2 code is HDX-2928.

The appearance of the WI-1000XM2 on the FCC at least confirms another wireless headset is coming from Sony and this lines up nicely with the newly discovered HDX-2941 from the Bluetooth certification site.

The FCC documents again do not reveal much but we are looking at a similar general design as the WI-1000X but with an updated look to match the current WF-1000XM3, including the colour options as well, so black and silver. With Sony moving towards a USB type-C future, I would expect we would also see this present on the new headset.  Battery life should increase and we might be looking at 12 hours with NC on and up to 15 hours with NC off.  This is just my estimation based off the increase in battery life for the WF-1000XM3 from the WF-1000X.

Of course the HDX-2941 could be something else but the code does not match anything else from Sony that is unannounced. Both unannounced headsets, the WI-XB400 and WH-CH510, I have identified as HDX-2937 and HDX-2936 respectively, with only the WI-C200/310 duo not being 100% confirmed. But I have narrowed them down to HDX-2934, and I suspect that the WI-C200 is HDX-2933 and the WI-C310 is HDX-2934, so we can cross those out as well.

The only model whose internal code I have not identified yet is the WH-XB900N, but the XB900N only features Bluetooth 4.2 and not 5.0, so it cannot be this model and can be ruled out.

So even without the FCC documents, the Bluetooth certification (see below), has confirmed this would have been a new wireless headset from Sony. While there was a slight chance this could be a new WH-1000XM4, the appearance of the FCC filing have also ruled this out.

Features similar BT chip to WF-1000XM2

The Bluetooth certification does not provide much apart from that it will use Bluetooth 5.0.

 (Bluetooth Certification)

Using the combined designs (123736, 124814) as search parameters on the cert site yields the following information:

123736 - Mediatek Hummingbird Duo 5.0

124814 - AB15abx , MT28abx; Airoha BT chipset ABwxyz BT5.0 BB/LM/LL/RF/RF-PHY/HCI  

This information does not reveal much and searching for Mediatek hummingbird Duo 5.0 does not provide any relevant information with regards to to any specific BT chip, let alone one which contains MT28xxx. The only Mediatek chips I have seen Sony use are for their Walkman devices, so I feel we are looking at an Airoha chip.  But in the end, Mediatek owns Airoha, so it does not matter at this point in time what Sony is using. What is important is that both the HDX-2941 and WF-1000XM3 (BT cert) use the same combined designs, suggesting both use the same BT chip. This is speculation and I could be wrong.

It would make sense for Sony to use the same hardware for the new WI-1000XM2 as the WF-1000XM3 since both the original WI-1000X and WF-1000X shared the same hardware, the CSR8675 from Qualcomm. It is interesting to point out, even though both the WF-1000X and WI-1000X used the CSR8675, the WF-1000X lacked both aptX and LDAC support, where as the WI-1000X supported both those codecs. So there is hope that the upcoming WI-1000XM2 will have more codec support than the WF-1000XM3.

I do understand many people were not happy to see the new WF-1000XM3 ship without LDAC or aptX support and personally I agree, but I feel the small size of the WF-1000XM3 limited the amount of chips Sony could fit on the small PCBs.  I would imagine any LDAC codec support would need a dedicated chip to decode it and as far as I can tell from the specs on Airoha's website, none of the Bluetooth 5.0 AB153x chips have LDAC support. I could be mistaken and the AB153x chips might have LDAC support but I have not found anything directly supporting this.

This of course does not mean the WI-1000XM2 will not have LDAC support since Sony can easily add a separate chip that decodes LDAC since there is more space for on the larger PCBs.

As for aptX support, most of Sony's previous headphones featured aptX support but they also used Qualcomm's CSR8675 chip and aptX is Qualcomm's codec after all, so it would make sense for the headphones to support it. But that does not mean Sony can add aptX support to the upcoming WI-1000XM2 since again more space on the PCB for more chips. Unfortunately since aptX is Qualcomm's codec, adding support for it in a device means additional cost due to the need for a license from Qualcomm, but LDAC being Sony's codec, there would be no additional license cost for its use. So at point it is unknown if either aptX or LDAC will be supported on the WI-1000XM2, one would hope at least LDAC would but that remains to be seen.

Personally I was holding out for a new WI-1000X model and am looking forward to seeing the new design and improved specifications. I would imagine price would be similar or slightly more than the older model. Debut should be at IFA but could be earlier with Sony seemingly changing their debut style as of late.

As always, if anyone has anymore information, please email me using the contact page or leave a comment, Thanks.