So I've been around the block, and I've seen some confusion around Bluetooth LE (LC3) audio on Samsung devices, and I'd like to clear the air a little bit and put some minds at ease.
So on Samsung's forums, I've seen the question knocking around about BLE and LC3 Codec support in OneUI, how it affects the menu in Developer Options etc.
Firstly, we need to understand what LC3 is, and why it's significant.
The technical specification for LC3 can be found at the official Bluetooth website below.
TL;DR - LC3 is "packaging" high quality audio at bitrates (in kbps) similar to SBC (96-345~ kbps) without any perceptible loss in audio quality (laid out in bits and KHz)
LE Audio using the LC3 Codec is able to transmit 8, 16, 24, 32, 44.1, and 48KHz, at depths of 16, 24 and 32 bits per sample. Up to the aforementioned 345kbps, while 'sipping' power compared to other codecs.
Now in most TWS earbuds, and on supported headphones in general, the loss of raw "kbps" is practically imperceptible while listening to high quality audio.
The caveat to this, is that Android devices, particularly Samsung ones, will define "HD Audio" based solely on those 'kbps' so when you've enabled LE Audio and hopped over to Developer Options only to find the "HD Audio" section greyed out, you may be thinking you're no longer listening to a high quality stream, but this isn't the case.
I've included a snippet from my recently-updated Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds, and you can see the LE Audio option working as advertised on the S24 Ultra running the latest OneUI 6.X.
The important thing to realise here is that you're not being "cheated" out of high quality audio by using the LE standard. You're gaining quality, and saving a ton of battery life in both the connected device and on your phone in the process. So I'd definitely recommend enabling it if you can, and giving it a go!
