The various upgrades that the 360 system system and interface will be receiving in order to prepare for
Kinect will also be addressing at least one issue non-Kinect users will enjoy: improved voice chat. In a report from
Eurogamer, the audio / voice codec that the 360 uses will be receiving an upgrade with the next firmware update.
The bit rate codec that the system has traditionally used is extremely low compared to current industry standards. At the time that the current technology was developed, it was prepared to function on a minimum connection of 64K, which is nothing by today’s standards.
